Independence days

Why Fugazi continue to thrive

by Joe Longone

There are few musicians in this world with the integrity of Ian MacKaye. He is an enigma in a world where most record companies, radio stations, and promoters like to control musicians like marionettes -- dance sucker, or you're screwed. He is a prime example of the DIY movement, and his many bands have rewritten the rules on how to make it in the big, bad music business. The way he's made it, on his own terms, and still to become a relative success has made MacKaye an independent legend. Many have been amazed by the way he's been able to survive without a major's help, he's amazed that many haven't followed his lead.

"People have come up and told me that Fugazi is the exception to all the rules, and I tell them that's bullshit! Any band can do what we're doing, you just have to have your priorities straight. Hey, I get tempted sometimes. I'll think, `This guy's got a pool in his yard and got these other luxuries,' and then I'll get a call from South America or Asia from someone asking us to play in their country, and I say to myself, `I've got everything I need,'" says MacKaye from his office at Dischord Records.

For those not familiar with MacKaye's legend, it started in the early '80s. His first band, Teen Idols, and then Minor Threat decided to forgo the usual major-label beauty contest and started their own label, Dischord. It didn't hurt that they came up with an accessible form of hardcore music that put the Washington, DC area on the rock map. Throughout the mid '80s, they built an independent network that got their releases out across the world, while fostering a healthy local scene at home. In 1987, MacKaye (guitar/vocals), Brendan Canty (drums), Joe Lally (bass), and Guy Picciotto (vocal/guitar) formed Fugazi. In 10 years, this quartet have built a favorable reputation with fans worldwide by releasing widely imaginative records and by keeping their ticket and CD prices low enough for everyone to afford them.

"The thieves have raped and pillaged this country, but their day will come," says MacKaye. "Music goes through periods of great creativity followed by massive exploitation. There were some great ideas that came out of the '60s, but many of them eventually got coopted by big business. By the late '70s, there was another great upheaval, and soon there will be another."

What most concerns MacKaye is the eroding of the airwaves. "Surveyists have not only limited what commercial stations are likely to play, but they are destroying much of the free-form aspects of college radio. Much of college radio is now only a farming system for future superstars. There is a glut of bands in this country all trying to get on the radio -- something's got to change. Fugazi is supposed to be this established band, but in my 10 years of living in the Washington, DC area, I've never heard my band on any station."

If you haven't heard anything about Fugazi in a while, there is a good reason. "I got really sick while touring in Australia last year," MacKaye says. "One of my lungs collapsed, and I was in the hospital for six weeks. It wasn't because I was abusing my body. It was just one of those things that happens. What I really regret is canceling-out on part of the tour in Australia and all our shows in New Zealand. We don't like to miss a gig, before this happened we missed maybe two shows in the last 10 years."

MacKaye has taken the last six months off to recuperate and to start recording new material for the next Fugazi album. Local fans will be happy to hear that Fugazi have picked Clinton's St. John's Gym as one of their only US appearances.

Fugazi appear on May 5 with labelmates Branch Manager at an 8 p.m. show at St. John's Gym, in Clinton. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets. For directions call 365-9085. An all-ages show is also scheduled for Lupo's, in Providence, on Tuesday, May 6. For more information call (401) 272-5876.