Fugazi : Classic or Dud ?

My favorite Fugazi story is when Ian stopped a show to address some guy who kept screaming for them to play Minor Threat songs.

Fugazi's band sound and the way all the pieces interlock is what makes it work, more so than "songwriting" per say. How the voices, two guitars, and bass interact with the metronomic drums is to me the best thing. This being said, there is somewhat a similarity to much of their music.

My favorite album is "Steady Diet of Nothing", mostly because the pace is slowed up a bit more and the songs get more abstract. The first two and "In On the Kill Taker" are all filled with groovy punk. "End Hits", "Red Medicine" and "Instrument" are more spotty, but there are some cool parts on each.

The latest album "The Arguement" is probably the most varied thing they have done and is becoming a favorite of mine.

As for the politics of the lyrics and D.I.Y. attitude, it may add to the mythology, but the music is good enough on it's own for me.

They're amazing live as well--the segues from song to song are incredible. When I saw them in April of this year they went right into "Blueprint" from "Sweet And Low." It was great.

Also, if you haven't paid attention since '95, definitely check out the Argument. Sonically unlike all previous albums (sitars! female background vocals!), though the lyrics are still an issue.

That first line should be "Fugazi should have been a better band than they were."

its not as hard as i was expecting
is this hardcore?

its also a lot slower in a lot of places than i expected,for some reason i thought it would all be really fast

there is some funky (meant as an adjective,not sure whether its good or bad as yet)drumming on one of the tracks,which i wasn't expecting at all

i like it more than i was expecting,i think last time i tried to listen to it i just turned it off after a few songs

no, it's "post-rock".

Fugazi EP (first half of 13 Songs)
The Argument
Repeater
Red Medicine
In On the Kill Taker

---

Margin Walker EP (second half of 13 songs)
Steady Diet of Nothing
Instrument soundtrack
End Hits
3 Songs EP
Furniture + 2 EP

(hops to xgau.com to check that that is indeed his line)

Sickest Cover Ever, though. (for Margin Walker)

End Hits is too good to be true. In On the Killtaker comes on a close 2nd. All the others: 3rd place. No losers here.

And they are so post-rock.

I heard they were on "indefinite hiatus". Ian MacKaye is playing in the Evens these days with Amy Farina and doesn't Joe Lally run Tolotta records or did I make that up?

Fugazi is one of my favorite bands and one of the best live bands I've seen.

So I noticed a copy of Repeater in HMV the other day that had a sticker marked "2004 remaster" on it - have the destroyed it or made it better? I've no problem with the levels they'd reached by The Argument, but what's the point? it does sound VERY slight and spacious compared to their others (bar 13 Songs) unless you crank it, but when you crank it, it sounds awesome. Anyone heard it?

Definitely classic, though my favorites from them remain in their early canon. One of the coolest things I've ever done is I attend one of their shows--I think it was 1992--on acid. My friends (who hadn't partaken) were like, Ian would NOT approve.

I still remember and probably always will remember "Merchandise" from that show, that and the music they played over the PA before the show, musta been some Dischord band or the other, made me shiver it was so heavy, never found out who they were.

A friend of mine speaks highly of their later work, but for the most part I'm just not familiar.

Oh, and I tend not to like the songs where Guy sings. I bet that's not just me.

Repeater was always the worst-sounding album to my ears so I'd be curious to hear a remaster.

All the original albums sound just fine to me.

And Nick, if you're interested, I think the first three albums got the remastered treatment - 13 Songs, Repeater and Steady Diet. I can't recall the others having been rereleased.

Oh, and I tend not to like the songs where Guy sings. I bet that's not just me.

I've actually heard more complaints about the Ian songs.

I think I like much of the songs on Steady Diet the most. I've never quite understood the lack of love for that record.

Also, why is everyone so obsessed with "Waiting Room"?

The main problem I have with the sonics is the snare drum being tuned too tightly.

Huh?

hahahaha

fwiw Ian is 62 years old and Guy isn't that far behind. So I wouldn't really expect either to still be in active bands if they have absolutely anything else going on in their lives that does not require them to go on tour.

The impression I get from Mackaye's interviews and podcast appearances is that he's kept busy these days curating and preserving not only Dischord's legacy and archive but some of the wider punk/hardcore culture, collecting fanzines/letters/photos and ephemera.

nice, good for him

the short IG video clip of Jbl & messthetics there in an IG story I saw , his “blazing “ was too busy and math rock meets jazzy prog rock for me.

Although, in the DC axis context, if he wanted to take these Fugazi guys in a Don Callero and/or early Battles direction, that would be okay too, I would hope (I like all three of those bands, however you tag them).

listen with juice, not prejudice.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2Lx9F_t_rk/?igsh=dzc1d3R6a3R2dWEx

Eww

guy played instruments on the new jim white solo album so he's still playing

pirog with short hair still flummoxes me

The impression I get from Mackaye's interviews and podcast appearances is that he's kept busy these days curating and preserving not only Dischord's legacy and archive but some of the wider punk/hardcore culture, collecting fanzines/letters/photos and ephemera.

Yes to this. I found some old Minor Threat photos my brother took (plus some negatives of other bands he took pics of back then - DC band Doulbe O, Cramps , others) at our late parents home cleaning up , and my brother and I visited the Dischord house and warehouse and Ian as he is going to digitize them and such. He says he still plays guitar everyday but has put Coriky on hold. He has so much stuff archived -- both physical items, diaries from tours, tapes in multiple formats of practices and gigs.

that insta clip sounded like something that SST would've put out in 1989 (i didn't hate it)

lololol I can't deny that

it's not really for me

I feel like Ian would have good tips for the digital music collection thread.
But maybe it would be vice versa?

"What if Alan Holdsworth joined Saccharine Trust?"

Folk-artist and performer Lonnie Holley will be backed by Lee Bains, Joe Lally, and Brendan Canty at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage tonight from 6 to 7 pm Eastern US time. The show is free but ticketed. It will also be streamed on the Millennium Stage Youtube & Facebook page

https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/millennium-stage/2024/february/lonnie-holley/

Alabaman guitarist and backing vocalist Lee Bains is kinda prominent there behind Holley, but Lally and Canty are of course there and sound strong.

Canty has been filling in Hammered Hulls on bass , and has a gig coming up with Johnny Temple ( Girls against Boys, new wet kojak)

what a fucking band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Gy7TAkQW8

Yep. Old guy me was at that Washington Monument show . Well, I was around Ian’s age then .

It's been eight years since they were mentioned and the link's dead so a re-up for the immense Torso Butter by Happy Go Licky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVaoEbFBTBc

Thanks. You can hear what Guy and Brendan later brought to Fugazi. I was a big fan of Eddie Janney in this group and Rites of Spring.

I’m sure it’s nothing, but the official Locrian band twitter account posted, then quickly deleted, a tweet that essentially said, “I was watching this old video of Ire opening for Fugazi and remembered there’s a new Fugazi album coming. Stoked.”

Disappeared when I went back to screencap it.

https://i.ibb.co/j8fz6jy/IMG-5431.jpg

what, no way

Nope

Also, this other Fugazi thread has been used lately too.

Fugazi: C or D?

Now this Fugazi doc is getting more screenings

https://cinemadfilm.com/project/we-are-fugazi/

no fucking way

reunion/new album i mean

like I said, I'm sure it's nothing and I wouldn't have bothered posting it if it had come from most other places.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WRVnR3wEWY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R94Otr-jZ1w

Now that Messthetics have finished 2024 US and Europe tours I see that Joe Lally is posting on his Instagram and Facebook that he is giving bass lessons through the holidays. I know he was doing them by zoom I think during the pandemic. So that may be still how he is doing them now or is an option.

Cool!

Liked that Canty mini doc. (Someone should make a second documentary just about his bell.) Neat to learn (at least I think it's news to me) how much he contributed bass and guitar ideas, too. The Bill Berry stealth method.

He wrote Arpeggiator!

That Canty mini-doc is good and yes to another one on his bell

Canty doc is great - i've never spent time investing into the reasoning of their hiatus but life outside the band doesn't really surprise me.

Kurt Sayenga who did a late 80s early 90s zine in DC called Greed has been putting interviews from then on his substack. He also just posted a Joe Lally interview from back then tht he never put in Greed. It looks like only some of the interview is available on the link for free (you may have to get a subscription to read it all)

https://substack.com/@greedzine/note/p-150000215?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2ck8a

https://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/we-are-fugazi-from-washington-d-c/

We are Fugazi doc showing in Ireland and UK in February 2025

Profits from each event will be donated to a local charity in each town its screened in ***

We are Fugazi doc is showing at Big Ears Fest Fri March 28 at 1 pm

I am a patient boy, but I just know when this doc finally comes to Chicago I will be out of town or otherwise busy.

If you're traveling in the UK in March or April it is showing there. I encouraged my buddy who was one of the producers to get the distributor to show it in Chicago. Nothing has has happened yet. Do you think the Music Box Theatre or the Gene Siskel Center would show it ?

The distributor guy wants Chicago theatres or someone who can organize a showing in a Chicago theatre to reach out to him

Cinemad Distributor contact email to send them theatre contact info is

Filmplante at gmail dot com

https://cinemadfilm.com/project/we-are-fugazi

There’s also a contact form email on the link

Incredibly, as far as coincidences go, I actually will be in the UK at the end of March, but it's not where I'll be.

I brought it to the attention of the guys that book Thalia Hall here, which is usually a concert venue but which often hosts screenings. No idea why the Music Box hasn't bitten yet, this seems like their jam.

Yeah, Music Box seems primed for this.

I went ahead and emailed him and he said that he contacted the Music Box a few weeks ago, and is waiting to hear back. The distributor guy said they showed the Cramps at Napa State Mental Hospital movie that he is also distributing, so he thinks they should get back to him about this