The DJ Takeover sponsored by Level Up is a program for listeners to discover their favorite artist's favorite artists, working to foster connection to the music and makers inside and outside our city. For the entire hour, we go down the rabbit hole of stories from their past, experiences of the present and goals for the future.
“I don’t have any other interests besides music. That’s it.”
A statement that seems at face value an exaggeration soon revealed itself to be true in this DJ Takeover. The sheer depth of Sahan Jayasuriya’s musical knowledge leaves little room for other ventures — except of course writing a book about it.
Jayasuriya poured his sound understanding into the pages of his first book, Don’t Say Please: The Oral History of Die Kreuzen. This is huge for fans of the Milwaukee-based punk band but even bigger for the city itself. His book follows Die Kreuzen’s evolution from hardcore punk to alternative rock and the effect this project had on household indie names like Neko Case, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and beyond.
My guest could have written a novel about any ’90s alt band but chose Die Kreuzen to offer the recognition they deserve and to show how globally influential the creatives in our city are. And, in a fittingly creative turn, our DJ Takeover looked a little different than usual, as it was split into three parts:
- Songs that inspired Die Kreuzen
- The evolution of Die Kreuzen’s sound
- Bands that were influenced by Die Kreuzen
This episode could have gone on for hours (and I wish it did) to follow the trickle-down network of bands' influence on other bands until we reached 2025. However, after an hour and change, we were able to make it to Foo Fighters’ 1997 album The Colour and the Shape. Not bad.
Don’t Say Please: The Oral History of Die Kreuzen is a literary project 10 years in the making for Jayasuriya and is out now through Feral House anywhere you buy books, including local spots Boswell Books, Lion’s Tooth, Blast Radius Records and Volta Records.
DJ Takeover: Sahan Jayasuriya playlist
Part 1: Die Kreuzen’s influences
- Brian Eno, “Needle In the Camel’s Eye”
- Wire, “From the Nursery”
- Germs, “What We Do Is Secret”
- R.E.M., “These Days”
Part 2: Die Kreuzen tracks
- “Don’t Say Please”
- “Hear and Feel”
- “Cool Breeze”
- “Gone Away”
Part 3: Influenced by Die Kreuzen
- Drive Like Jehu, “Golden Brown”
- Neko Case, “Lady Pilot”
- Foo Fighters, “The Colour and the Shape”
- Shudder to Think, “So Into You”
