HomeBackArticle by Jeff Clark originally written for Stomp and Stammer in April of 1998, archived at UTOPIA WEBZINE

They stand alone, really. No other group that emerged from America's '80s hardcore scene that's still breathing - not Bad Brains, nor Bad Religion, nor any of a handful of other somewhat related bands, bad or no - has demonstrated the growth, commitment, and righteousness of Washington, DC's Fugazi. From the taut, grinding release of early albums and EPs like Repeater and Margin Walker, their music has steadily evolved with ever-expanding depth and complexity. A Washington Post article from 1993 stated it succinctly and perfectly: "Fugazi is the face of punk growing up." ·

Ian MacKaye turns 36 this month. He and his longtime friend Jeff Nelson started the fiercely independent Dischord Records in late 1980 to issue a single by their high school punk band Teen Idles. The band broke up; Dischord remained, and thrives to this day by issuing records from an impressive array of impassioned bands, most coming from the DC area. Jawbox, Nation of Ulysses, Dag Nasty, the Make-Up, Faith, and Shudder to Think are but of few of the groups the label has helped over the years, while at the same time offering distribution to many smaller, burgeoning DC indie labels. While Dischord began as a way to document a community, it could be argued that the label is the fuel that keeps that community burning.

Musically, MacKaye and Nelson continued on in the highly-influential hardcore band Minor Threat until 1983, and after brief alliances with Embrace and Egg Hunt, MacKaye hooked up with bassist Joe Lally, drummer Brendan Canty, and guitarist/vocalist Guy Picciotto to form Fugazi. While much is made of their strict integrity and work ethics - they don't charge more than five bucks a show, they won't sign to a major label, they won't allow stage diving, etc. - what ultimately makes Fugazi such a vital rock 'n' roll band is its intensely powerful music. With End Hits, their first release in nearly three years, they'll surely further confound close-minded punk purists - no surprise, really, since MacKaye has freely admitted to being a freak for Hendrix, the Beatles, and Cheap Trick, among other classic rockers. End Hits may not come across as immediately visceral as the band's earlier work, but the creative combustion is more than evident. Urgent, organic, explosive - it's music that's alive, and it makes the listener feel as such.

At the moment, MacKaye is at home in DC, doing administrative work for Dischord (the main office is housed across the street,) fielding constant phone interruptions, arranging a short May tour for the band (its first live dates since a ten-year-anniversary show in Washington last September,) and contemplating the future of Fugazi under some new circumstances. It's been a strange, pivotal couple of years for the band - MacKaye became extremely ill during an Australian tour at the end of '96; his chest inexplicably filled with fluid and a lung collapsed, all with no evidence of bacteria. He had to have surgery, followed by an extended recovery, knocking the band out of commission for the better part of a year - "Yeah, it was pretty bleak, to be honest with you," MacKaye understates, after describing the ordeal. Meanwhile Canty married and had a child with his wife, and Lally bought a house. Basically, punk grew up some more. But with the release of End Hits, and a comprehensive documentary film on the band currently being assembled by Jem Cohen, it looks to be one of the most exciting periods yet for one of the world's most exciting outfits. With the help of various titles from Fugazi's past and present, here are MacKaye's thoughts on matters of heart and mind:

Repeater: "I'm a working man. I wake up quite early, usually around 7:30 or eight. And I try to have some food, I do some stretching, I look at the newspaper, and then it's time [to work], and then it's dark, ha ha ha! In other words, I don't really have any sense of what my days are comprised of, because every day is very different. I sometimes struggle for routine, but there's so many details that change every day, that don't have real routines I don't pack boxes, per se, I don't order things. I have a lot of people calling me about things. I book the band, which is extremely involved. Generally speaking, I answer questions."

Long Division: "From my point of view, we started Dischord to document a particular community here in Washington. And I had no intentions at that time, nor do I have any intentions at this time, to be a rock and roll label owner. I never wanted to be in the record business, but, um, I kind of accepted a mission that made me put out records, and somewhat put me in a position where I am kind of in the record business. I kind of assumed it would be somewhat self-perpetuating, but I didn't think it would be permanently self-perpetuating. I have some dream that at some point it'll be clear that the community that I was interested in documenting will no longer really exist, and at that point I don't think the label will exist anymore."

Steady Diet: "The thing about Dischord, as a label, it's gotten bigger and bigger. We've been around for so long, primarily because of the Fugazi stuff, and also Minor Threat, and a lot more people have become kind of involved with the label as a sort of family. They work there, and there's a lot of activity, and a lot of stuff that Dischord is involved with that most people have no idea about. Particularly within distribution. We lend an awful lot of money out to a lot of local labels to help them get stuff done. I think that the label's sort of gotten bigger than itself at this point. So, when I think about stopping the label, it really means it's gonna stop an awful lot of things and people. And I have to be very, very thoughtful about it before I do something like that."

"From my point of view, we started Dischord to document a particular community here in Washington. And I had no intentions at that time, nor do I have any intentions at this time, to be a rock and roll label owner."

By You: "I think some people don't really understand the nature of 'Do It Yourself.' When you do it yourself, you have to do it. And it's a lot of work. And it's not just an issue of, you know, not participating with major labels, or whatever. It's about working. And, it's been a very strong ethic with us, with me, all along. And basically, my work has been sort of all-consuming for the last 17 or 18 years The people who are interested in our band, quite a few of those people are involved in projects, musical or literary or whatever, the kind of things that involve direct action, and interaction. So, I think that at the end of the day, though, when you do this work and you make these decisions, and you kind of cover this ground on your own, you don't have to answer for it later on. You can speak with some responsibility."

Blueprint: "From our point of view, we spend almost all of our time trying to write music which is interesting and challenging. We work very, very hard on our songs and our records. So it's a little discouraging when it's just like, 'Oh yeah, those are the guys that won't sign to a major label.' But at the same time, there are plenty of other people who, maybe they're aware of that, but they're into the band. So I think the people who can only think about us in really simplified terms, like what they perceive as our philosophy or our behavior patterns, that's just more representative of their kind of really tacit concept of the band."

Do You Like Me: "People have this really kind of, I think, bullshit rap about preaching to the converted. I don't know that I agree with that. There is incredible potential created when a band and an audience get into a room together. I mean, obviously I can have a lot of fun with people who don't like the band and wanna yell things, but it gets kind of tedious after awhile. So my sense is, as much as people use that 'preaching to the converted' thing in sort of a derogatory sense, people should re-examine the idea of that, and think about when you have complimentary forces, sometimes you can get a lot more accomplished."

Birthday Pony: "I don't know what to tell you, except that September 3rd, 1987, Fugazi played our first concert at a place called the Wilson Center, it's a church basement here in Washington, DC. And on September 3rd, 1997, Fugazi played the Wilson Center in the basement of the church. There was nothing more. There were 200 people at both shows, it was very small. But I don't think many bands have that opportunity, to play the same venue, ten years to the day, and we felt like it would be good for us. And it was. It was actually the last concert we played. We haven't played since."

Provisional: "There was a lot of discussion - 'Well, are we gonna play more, or not?' We had that really terrific ten year bookend kind of thing, but in any event, we booked some dates for May, so I think were playing. We're gonna do a week. It's a whole new thing, now. We've gotta figure out how to work with a family. We've got a baby on board. So, we're gonna start real lightly. There's a lot of other stuff going on in people's lives right now, in their personal lives, that needs to be sorted out, still. So, this is gonna be a really spotty year. I mean, I am very happy with this record, The band has been very busy, I have been working non-stop on the band. I just don't think we're gonna be able to get out and do that much touring."

End Hits: "It's such a good name. And I think when people listen to the record, if you pay close attention to it, that the title will come more in focus. I don't think it's quite as apocryphal as it sounds. We're not suggesting that the band is coming to an end."

Closed Captioned: "Jem Cohen and I went to Woodrow Wilson High School together here in Washington. He's been quite close to the band since the very beginning. He actually co-wrote the song 'Glue Man,' and he's been filming us, really, since the beginning of the band, in one form or another. And finally, in the last few years, we've been trying to kind of bring all this material together and get it into some kind of two-hour-long piece about the band We feel that as the band starts to kind of wane as far as playing live, we won't be able to tour as much, and obviously eventually we're not gonna be playing any shows at all, then people who are interested in seeing the band are gonna be reliant on video or film. We thought we'd create something that we were really comfortable with, and was aesthetically in keeping with the way we feel about the band."

Turnover: "We've all gotten older, and there's far fewer bands that I feel as passionate about. Which isn't to mean that there aren't good bands, there are plenty of great bands, it just means that they're not speaking to me in the same way. It's a much less cohesive community - however, we've managed to stick it out. We're all very close friends, and the music may not play nearly as much of a role as it did in the past, but I think at this point, even just our company is enough to get together. I think we're stuck to each other now. So, it would be inaccurate for me to say that it's the same, or it's as strong on certain levels, but I would say that we've grown up together, and the community is still intact. These are people I'll know for the rest of my life."

Burning: "I am very interested in what's going on with young bands and stuff, but I have found that as much as I like to go and check out bands, and all that, I don't feel welcome. It's a very small scene, and I'm not suggesting that I'm some big shit. I'm not. But just within this same scene, it is difficult. I feel uncomfortable going to shows, because I just think it freaks people out that I'm there. But within a certain context, it's good to know that kids who are 16-, 17-, 18-years-old, they need to do their own thing. And I don't necessarily have a place in that world. For me, it's all about trying to keep the fire burning. And to make things possible. And who knows what happens next year. When you keep moving, you stay warmed up, and I still feel warmed up."

Reclamation: "The longer we're together, the bigger our past is. One thing I've found out about music is that after you create a legacy, you have to spend time administering that legacy. Keeping your records in print and all that stuff. There's one more goddamned thing you've got to do. I wasn't lying when I said I spend most of my day answering questions. I'm answering questions about things that I have done, and that troubles me sometimes because I feel like I should be doing something."

Long Distance Runner: "I'm not sure I have a life outside of Fugazi or the label. I hope something happens that doesn't involve either one of those entities, but at the moment it's hard to say. I'll try to go take a walk now and then."

done in April of 98 by Jeff Clarck

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