Dan Lardner, QTY singer and guitarist, has died
It has been announced that Dan Lardner, the singer and guitarist for New York indie rock band QTY, has passed away.
The news was shared on The Lemonheads’ Facebook page, with a photograph of their frontman Evan Dando hugging the late QTY member. It is captioned: “Life is short and unforgiving. RIP Dan Lardner, we will forever love you”. Notably, the QTY co-leader was Dando’s special guest when he opened for the UK post-punk band Psychedelic Furs on their most recent US tour. At the time of writing, no further details about Lardner’s death have been shared.
In a 2023 Rock Cabeça interview, Lardner discussed the tour with Dando, saying: “The tour is going pretty damn well, I was a last minute addition and haven’t played live much since my last band stopped touring so it’s all slowly kind of coming back to me and there couldn’t be a better person for me to get back into it with then Evan.”
He continued: “He’s always been really supportive of my music and I think we’re mutual fans of one and other so it’s a little bit of a dream scenario for me personally. The fact that the shows have been going so well is just an added bonus.”
QTY was formed in 2014 after ex-members of Grand Rapids converged. It comprised Lardner on vocals and guitar, with Alex Niemetz on the same duties, alongside bassist Peter Baumann and drummer Alan Yuch. After Lardner’s roommate sent a demo to the British label Dirty Hit, they became their first US-based band signed. QTY released their self-titled debut album in 2017, produced by former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler.
The group’s name is pronounced by saying each letter individually. It is a play on the Cutie’s clementine oranges, based on Lardner describing Niemetz as a “cutie” because of her hair colour. Speaking to Atwood Magazine in 2016, the band revealed that Romy of The xx suggested that the name be articulated in such a way.
Listen to QTY’s ‘Dress/Undress’ below.
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