Fugazi
is an American post-hardcore and punk rock band, that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1987. The band's continual members were guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty. Fugazi are noted for their DIY ethical stance and manner of business practice. Fugazi has been on hiatus since 2002.
|
FUGAZI TICKETS
|
History
Formation
After the
hardcore punk group
Minor Threat dissolved, Ian MacKaye (vocals and
guitar) was active with a few short-lived groups, most notably
Embrace. MacKaye decided he wanted a project that was "like
the Stooges with reggae," but was wary about forming another band after Embrace's break up. MacKaye recalled, "My interests were not necessarily to be in a band [per se], but to be with people who wanted to play music with me."
[1] MacKaye recruited ex-
Dag Nasty drummer Colin Sears and
bass guitarist Joe Lally, and the trio began practicing together in September 1986. After a few months of rehearsals, Sears returned to Dag Nasty and was replaced by Brendan Canty (earlier of
Rites of Spring). One day Canty's Rites of Spring bandmate
Guy Picciotto dropped by during a practice session to see how his friend was getting along; he later admitted he secretly harbored the idea of joining the group. But Picciotto was disappointed that there seemed to be no place for him; he said, "It seemed really completed already [. . .] It had a completely different feel from what I'd been doing with Brendan. It seemed just solid and done."
[2]
After some uncertainty from Canty about what he wanted to do with his future, the trio regrouped and booked their first show at the Wilson Center in early September 1987. The group still needed a name, so MacKaye chose the word "fugazi" from Mark Baker's
Nam
, a compilation of stories of
Vietnam War veterans, where it used as slang for "fucked up or screwed up"
[3]. The word is Italian slang for "fake." The band began inviting Picciotto to practices. Inspired by use of a foil in
hip hop, Picciotto sang backup vocals. After his band
Happy Go Licky broke up, he became more involved with Fugazi. MacKaye eventually asked Picciotto to become a full member, which he accepted.
[4]
Albums and tours
below =
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
below =
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
below =
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
Fugazi embarked on its first tour in January 1988. In June 1988 the band recorded its debut EP
Fugazi
with producer Ted Nicely, and shortly afterwards embarked on an arduous tour of Europe.
[5] At the tour's conclusion in December, the band recorded songs for its intended debut album. However, the band was spent from touring and decided that the resulting sessions were unsatisfactory. The tracklist was cut down to an EP and released as
Margin Walker
the following year.
[6] Upon the band's return from Europe, Picciotto, unsatisfied with merely singing, began playing guitar.
[7]
The band's first album,
Repeater
, was released in January 1990. The band spent most of the year touring behind
Repeater
and routinely sold out 1,000-capacity shows.
[8] By summer 1991 the album had sold more than 100,000 copies, a large number for a label that relied on word-of-mouth promotion. While major labels began to court Fugazi, the band decided that Dischord was distributing their records well enough and refused the offers.
[9]
For the band's second album
Steady Diet of Nothing
(1991), the band once again asked Ted Nicely to produce. Nicely had become a chef and had to reluctantly turn down the job, so the bandmembers decided to produce the record themselves.
[10] Fugazi recorded its third album
In on the Kill Taker
(1993) with
Steve Albini in Chicago; however, the results were deemed unsatisfactory and the band rerecorded the album with Ted Nicely.
With the breakthrough of alternative rock in the early 1990s,
In on the Kill Taker
became the group's first record to enter the
Billboard
album charts.
By
Red Medicine
(1995), Fugazi were on the road less frequently, due in large part to other professional and personal commitments. Their music had evolved far from their hardcore roots, with strong
art rock leanings.
The Argument
(2001), featured the first extensive contributions from outside musicians, most notably longtime roadie and sound engineer
Jerry Busher, who added percussion or a second drum set to most of the album's songs.
Hiatus
Fugazi is currently on what the band describes as a "hiatus", partly brought on by Canty wanting to spend more time with his family.
In the meantime, the members are undertaking side projects, with MacKaye forming the duo
The Evens with drummer and singer Amy Farina (formerly of
the Warmers). In 2004, MacKaye produced the
DC EP for
Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist
John Frusciante, which also featured Jerry Busher.
Canty has been doing a variety of soundtrack scores and playing bass in the trio
Garland Of Hours alongside frequent Fugazi guest contributors Jerry Busher and Amy Domingues, and has played bass live with
Mary Timony. Canty also appears on
Bob Mould's 2005 album
Body of Song
and on Mould's 2008 album
District Line
, and has toured with Mould, appearing in the live DVD
Circle of Friends
. He is currently working in the
Burn to Shine DVD series which is being released by Trixie DVD.
Lally has appeared on fellow DC post-punkers
Decahedron's debut album
Disconnection_Imminent
, as well as on a one shot project with
John Frusciante of the
Red Hot Chili Peppers and
Josh Klinghoffer of
The Bicycle Thief known as
Ataxia. He also released his first solo album
There to Here
and is also performing shows under his name, solo and along with producer
Don Zientara. His second solo album,
Nothing Is Underrated
, was released in November 2007.
Guy Picciotto currently works as a record producer most notably with
Blonde Redhead and
The Blood Brothers, and he has performed alongside members of
The Ex at the
Jazz festival in
Wels,
Austria. Picciotto also co-produced and contributed guitar on
Vic Chesnutt's most recent album,
North Star Deserter
, for
Constellation Records.
Musical style
Fugazi's music was an intentional departure from that of the
hardcore punk bands the members had played in previously. Fugazi incorporated
funk and
reggae beats, irregular stop-start song structures, and heavy riffs inspired by bands such as
Led Zeppelin and
Queen, bands that the
punk community largely disdained.
[11] Picciotto became the group's second guitarist when he realized MacKaye's typically chunky, low-end riffs and Lally's
dub-influenced basslines allowed him to focus on high-pitched parts. In both vocal and guitar roles, Picciotto assumed the role of a
foil to MacKaye; employing a
Rickenbacker guitar for its scratchy single-coil sound in order to "cut through MacKaye's chunky chording like a laser beam."
Picciotto's assumption of guitar duties allowed all four members of the band to jam together and write songs that way, where previously they had played songs largely as MacKaye had arranged them.
[12] When writing songs, the band often rearranges them with different structures and different singers.
Generally, MacKaye's lyrics and singing are more direct and
anthemic (MacKaye admits that he loves audience sing-alongs and writes songs with shoutable
slogans), while Picciotto usually favors a more abstract, oblique approach.
Lally has contributed vocals to a few songs as well, in which he sings in a more relaxed, quiet style as opposed to MacKaye and Picciotto, whose lyrics and vocals often feature strong emotional intensity.
Later, Fugazi more fully integrated elements of punk rock, hardcore, soul and
noise with an inventively syncopated
rhythm section. Notable is MacKaye and Picciotto's inventive, interlocking guitar playing, which often defies the traditional notion of "
lead" and "
rhythm" guitars. They often feature unusual and dissonant
chords and
progressions filtered through a
hardcore punk lens. Their guitar work has earned comparisons to New York art-punk icons
Television and the early work of the UK's
Gang of Four. Most of Fugazi albums have featured an
instrumental song or two. Though clearly rooted in punk and hardcore, there is arguably much more than punk to be found in Fugazi's music; for example, a review of
The Argument
compared a few songs to
Radiohead. With
Red Medicine
, critics Ian McCaleb and Ira Robbins declared that Fugazi combined an "unprecedented dynamic range ... and previously unimagined elements" such as "clattering
musique concrète ...
piano and
sound effects ... murky
dub and lancing
clarinet" and "loose-limbed
jammy funk ... into an ambitious, experimental format that raises more stylistic questions than it answers."
Business practice and ethics
On their first tours, Fugazi worked out their DIY aesthetic by trial and error. Their decisions were partly motivated by pragmatic considerations that were essentially a punk rock version of
simple living: for example, selling merchandise on tour would require a full-time merchandise salesperson who would require lodging, food, and other costs, so Fugazi decided to simplify their touring by not selling merchandise. They were also motivated by moral or ethical considerations: for example, Fugazi's members regarded pricey admission for rock concerts as tantamount to
price gouging a performer's most loyal fans. Their inexpensive target goal of $5 admission was spawned during a conversation on an early tour when the band's members were debating the lowest profitable admission price. At some venues, particularly on the east and west coasts of the U.S., Fugazi was unable to get ticket prices below about $10. However, they never saw the $5 rule as inviolable, instead aiming to charge a price that was both affordable and profitable. Unlike some similar, small-scale independent rock contemporaries, Fugazi's performances and tours were nearly always profitable, due to their low business overhead costs, and MacKaye's keen sense of audience response in given regions.
Fugazi's early tours earned them a strong word-of-mouth reputation, both for their powerful performances, and for their eagerness to play in unusual venues. They sought out alternatives to traditional rock clubs partly to relieve the boredom of touring, but also hoping to show fans that there are other options to traditional ways of doing things. As Picciotto said, "You find the
Elks Lodge, you find the guy who's got a space in the back of his pizzeria, you find the guy who has a gallery. Kids will do that stuff because they want to make stuff happen."
[13]
The group (MacKaye in particular) also made a point of discouraging violent, unwanted
slam dancing and fistfights, which they saw as relics of the late 1970s/early 1980s
hardcore punk era. Azerrad quotes Mackaye, "See, [slam dancers] have one form of communication: violence ... So to disorient them, you don't give them violence. I'd say, 'Excuse me, sir...'- I mean, it
freaks
them out -'Excuse me, sir, would you please cut that crap out?'"
[14] (emphasis in original) Azerrad writes, "[Mackaye's] admonitions seemed preachy to some. And by and large, people would obey - it wasn't cool to disrespect Ian MacKaye."
Occasionally, Fugazi would escort an unrepentant slam-dancer from the concert, and give them an envelope containing a $5 refund (they kept a stock of such envelopes in their tour van for these occasions).
During the summer of 1990 MacKaye formed the corporation
Lunar Atrocities Ltd [15] in order to shield his own and his band mates' personal assets from the threat of lawsuits. As Mr. Seth Martin, MacKaye’s financial advisor explained to the Washington Post in a 1993 interview: "protection from liability is the main reason to form a corporation, and for these guys it makes sense. If someone got hurt stage-diving and decided to sue, it would be a little harder to go after their personal assets.”
[16]
Discography
Studio albums
- Repeater
(1990)
- Steady Diet of Nothing
(1991)
- In on the Kill Taker
(1993)
- Red Medicine
(1995)
- End Hits
(1998)
- Instrument Soundtrack
(1999)
- The Argument
(2001)
Compilations/Other Contributions
- 13 Songs
(1989)
- State of the Union (album)
(1991)
- International Pop Underground Convention
(1992)
- 20 Years of Dischord
(2002)
Notes
- Azerrad, p. 384.
- Azerrad, p. 385.
- Baker, p. 321
- Azerrad, p. 386.
- Azerrad, p. 396.
- Azerrad, p. 398.
- Azerrad, p. 399.
- Azerrad, pp. 403-404.
- Perlah, Jeff. "The Independent". ''Guitar World''. March 2002.
- Azerrad, p. 407.
- Azerrad, pp. 391-392.
- Azerrad, pp. 399-400.
- Azerrad, p. 391.
- Azerrad, p. 392.
- "Lunar Atrocities Limited." mblr.dc.gov. Retrieved on February 23, 2009.
- "Punk Lives! Washington's Fugazi Claims It's Just a Band. So Why Do So Many Kids Think It's God?."geocities.com/drawcamp. Retrieved on February 23, 2009.
References
- Azerrad, p. 384.
- Azerrad, p. 385.
- Baker, p. 321
- Azerrad, p. 386.
- Azerrad, p. 396.
- Azerrad, p. 398.
- Azerrad, p. 399.
- Azerrad, pp. 403-404.
- Perlah, Jeff. "The Independent". ''Guitar World''. March 2002.
- Azerrad, p. 407.
- Azerrad, pp. 391-392.
- Azerrad, pp. 399-400.
- Azerrad, p. 391.
- Azerrad, p. 392.
- "Lunar Atrocities Limited." mblr.dc.gov. Retrieved on February 23, 2009.
- "Punk Lives! Washington's Fugazi Claims It's Just a Band. So Why Do So Many Kids Think It's God?."geocities.com/drawcamp. Retrieved on February 23, 2009.