by Gordon Downs
The Pacific Northwest is a notorious locale of the famed but yet undiscoverable Mountain Yeti. Much like the elusive creature, many of the denizens within the state of Washington, maintain a low profile. Existing beneath the radar of humanity and society, residing in the woodlands, consuming shrubbery and various forms of fecal matter that they happen to come upon. The more I think about it, those denizens should actually be labeled: "Insane Drifters." Though refusing to go on record regarding the infamous Mountain Yeti which has reportedly been sighted on Bainbridge Island within the past several weeks, Michiko Swiggs, musician and performer from the Seattle based outfit known as IQU, (pronounced ee-koo) did consent to a brief interview regarding IQU's new album, "Sun Q" currently available on Sonic Boom Recordings. We join the interview, currently in progress. The topic of conversation: Touring Australia.

How long does a tour of Australia last?
I don't think it's that many days? Maybe...

Two weeks?
Yeah! (laughing) at the most! I know a lot of bands go down there and tour, and they'll hit Australia and sometimes New Zealand, and then a lot of times they'll hit Japan on the way back. IQU has yet to play Japan!

How'd you guys hook up with Sonic Boom Recordings?
Well, our record is their fifteenth release, and they also put out all the Death Cab For Cutie vinyl. They've only been around a few years, it's [also] a record store in Seattle, and there's two owners. One of them is Jason [Hughes] who owns Sonic Boom Recordings. It's a pretty small label but it's good because right now we're the only thing he's releasing in this time period, so he can spend all his energy on us.

"Sun Q's" album art is quite nice, who came up with the concept?
Chuck Dong, he's a designer up here in Seattle, we've been working with him for a while now. He's done a lot of poster art for us and we've done some collaboration work, and he's done art shows and we've played at his art openings. We've just kind of worked with him off and on for a couple of years now. There's this printing company up here called Thing Makers, and it's pretty well known for making limited edition packaging. And it just so happens that Sonic Boom is part owner [of the company.] So when Sonic Boom said they wanted to put out our record they told us, 'Well you can do crazy packaging.' Which was definitely a big bonus. When I told Chuck about that, he kinda just went off and created this crazy package for us.

Yeah, the album art is really great, (pinche firme!) So, is there any music you can currently recommend?
Have you heard of TV On The Radio?

www.iquiqu.com

2004 "Sun Q" (Sonic Boom Recordings)
2004 "Dirty Boy" 12” (Sonic Boom Recordings)
2001 "Teenage Dream" (K)
1999 "Girls On Dates" (K)
1998 "Chotto Matte A MOMENT!" (K)
1997 "Despite" 7” (K)