Title
Fugazi Remains Hard Core About its Independence
Subject
Fugazi and its ability to withstand time and stay active in DC
Description
This article articulates how Fugazi has stood by all of its initial principles throughout time. This includes the message that they present in their music, along with the practices they implemented long ago. It talks about the political movement Fugazi was associated with, along with how they still stay active on the social and political scene as an older band. The article explains how they have stayed consistent overt the years, still speaking out against drugs and alcohol abuse and only agreeing to play venues under particular circumstances.
Creator
S. McLennan
Source
Telegram & Gazette
Publisher
[no text]
Date
September 12, 1993
Contributor
[no text]
Rights
Copyright Men's Studies Press Spring 2012
Relation
[no text]
Format
[no text]
Language
[no text]
Type
Article
Identifier
[no text]
Coverage
[no text]
Original Format
Article of ProQuest Database
Text
Major record labels have given up on Fugazi. So have other bands that would like to tour with the group but can't stomach Fugazi's business policies.
The only ones left to care are the fans, and they come to Fugazi in legions.
You won't hear Fugazi on mainstream radio or see it on MTV. If you walk into a record store you won't see cardboard cutouts of the band propped up to draw attention to its latest release. Except for its recordings, Fugazi merchandise is all but nonexistent.
Yet in all likelihood, Fugazi will have the 4,200-seat Wallace Civic Center packed on Friday. Not bad for four young men from Washington, D.C. that make a unique blend of music on their own terms.
Independent
The term independent doesn't even begin to describe those terms. If you want Fugazi to play your venue, you can only charge $5 for tickets. And all ages must be admitted. Fugazi's self-released compact discs and cassetes also carry ceiling prices that are a few dollars below typical retail prices.
Musically, Fugazi offers a taut and wiry package. Though it is often lumped in with hard-core rock bands, Fugazi forgoes a lot of that genre's musical predictability. Songs are built and deconstructed around odd time signatures. Slabs of guitar distortion unexpectedly tumble from the mix, and the lyrics in many cases hover in a hazy poetic realm. Fugazi does wear its righteous indignation on its sleeve, which is probably the trait it most shares with hard- core bands.
"Our Policies'
Fugazi singer-guitarist Ian Mackaye said his band is proving that you don't need all the hype associated with the music business to survive as a musician. "They don't call us anymore," said MacKaye of record labels that wanted to sign the band in light of the fact that its five releases on Dischord records have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. "No bands want to play with us because no one wants to deal with our policies," he said during a recent interview in a tour stop in Buffalo, N.Y.
Along with MacKaye, Fugazi is guitarist Guy Picciotto, drummer Brandan Canty and bass player Joe Lally. Joining them for the show in Fitchburg are Boston's Sam Black Church and another Washington outfit, Shudder to Think.
Fugazi's fans also seem intent on keeping this musical experience entrenched in the grass roots, where it's been for six years. After "Rolling Stone" magazine published a review (a favorable one at that) of a Fugazi show last year, a fan wrote a letter beseeching the magazine to keep its mitts off the band.
Mosh Pit Guaranteed
But just as Fugazi challenges political and social conventions, it also confronts its audience. Fugazi is almost guaranteed to whip up a mosh pit, but the band admonishes the practice of fans slamming together and tossing each other about. Fugazi also comes down heavily against drug and alcohol abuse.
But Fugazi doesn't preach. It rails. On its most recent release, "In On the Kill Taker," Fugazi tries to pull the rug from under all that makes up a so-called comfortable existence. The record's opening lines, from the song "Facet Squared," "Pride no longer has definition/everybody wears it, it always fits/a state invoked for lack of position," aptly sums up the band's attitude. The record's centerpiece is "25 Beats Off," a song about a feted war veteran who later contracts AIDS.
Many of the songs are cryptic, and MacKaye said the band tries to leave a lot of the interpreting up to the listener. "When you read a novel, you don't want the whole thing spelled out for you," he said. In one of its straightforward moves, Fugazi pays tribute to filmmaker John Cassavetes, lauding him as a genre buster. In another song, the band crafts a great catchphrase for untrustworthy people, "You'd make a great cop."
For its part, Fugazi will keep doing its bit to be a Cassavetes in the music field. But don't look for a long term plan on how that will keep happening. When asked what Fugazi will do once it wraps up this latest round of touring, MacKaye said, "I don't know what the future holds. All I know is that I'm going to Canada tomorrow."
FUGAZI, SHUDDER TO THINK AND SAM BLACK CHURCH
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Wallace Civic Center, 1000 John Fitch Highway, Fitchburg
How Much: $5
The only ones left to care are the fans, and they come to Fugazi in legions.
You won't hear Fugazi on mainstream radio or see it on MTV. If you walk into a record store you won't see cardboard cutouts of the band propped up to draw attention to its latest release. Except for its recordings, Fugazi merchandise is all but nonexistent.
Yet in all likelihood, Fugazi will have the 4,200-seat Wallace Civic Center packed on Friday. Not bad for four young men from Washington, D.C. that make a unique blend of music on their own terms.
Independent
The term independent doesn't even begin to describe those terms. If you want Fugazi to play your venue, you can only charge $5 for tickets. And all ages must be admitted. Fugazi's self-released compact discs and cassetes also carry ceiling prices that are a few dollars below typical retail prices.
Musically, Fugazi offers a taut and wiry package. Though it is often lumped in with hard-core rock bands, Fugazi forgoes a lot of that genre's musical predictability. Songs are built and deconstructed around odd time signatures. Slabs of guitar distortion unexpectedly tumble from the mix, and the lyrics in many cases hover in a hazy poetic realm. Fugazi does wear its righteous indignation on its sleeve, which is probably the trait it most shares with hard- core bands.
"Our Policies'
Fugazi singer-guitarist Ian Mackaye said his band is proving that you don't need all the hype associated with the music business to survive as a musician. "They don't call us anymore," said MacKaye of record labels that wanted to sign the band in light of the fact that its five releases on Dischord records have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. "No bands want to play with us because no one wants to deal with our policies," he said during a recent interview in a tour stop in Buffalo, N.Y.
Along with MacKaye, Fugazi is guitarist Guy Picciotto, drummer Brandan Canty and bass player Joe Lally. Joining them for the show in Fitchburg are Boston's Sam Black Church and another Washington outfit, Shudder to Think.
Fugazi's fans also seem intent on keeping this musical experience entrenched in the grass roots, where it's been for six years. After "Rolling Stone" magazine published a review (a favorable one at that) of a Fugazi show last year, a fan wrote a letter beseeching the magazine to keep its mitts off the band.
Mosh Pit Guaranteed
But just as Fugazi challenges political and social conventions, it also confronts its audience. Fugazi is almost guaranteed to whip up a mosh pit, but the band admonishes the practice of fans slamming together and tossing each other about. Fugazi also comes down heavily against drug and alcohol abuse.
But Fugazi doesn't preach. It rails. On its most recent release, "In On the Kill Taker," Fugazi tries to pull the rug from under all that makes up a so-called comfortable existence. The record's opening lines, from the song "Facet Squared," "Pride no longer has definition/everybody wears it, it always fits/a state invoked for lack of position," aptly sums up the band's attitude. The record's centerpiece is "25 Beats Off," a song about a feted war veteran who later contracts AIDS.
Many of the songs are cryptic, and MacKaye said the band tries to leave a lot of the interpreting up to the listener. "When you read a novel, you don't want the whole thing spelled out for you," he said. In one of its straightforward moves, Fugazi pays tribute to filmmaker John Cassavetes, lauding him as a genre buster. In another song, the band crafts a great catchphrase for untrustworthy people, "You'd make a great cop."
For its part, Fugazi will keep doing its bit to be a Cassavetes in the music field. But don't look for a long term plan on how that will keep happening. When asked what Fugazi will do once it wraps up this latest round of touring, MacKaye said, "I don't know what the future holds. All I know is that I'm going to Canada tomorrow."
FUGAZI, SHUDDER TO THINK AND SAM BLACK CHURCH
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Wallace Civic Center, 1000 John Fitch Highway, Fitchburg
How Much: $5