For fans of Fugazi, there’s been a real void in music since the band went on indefinite hiatus in or around 2003. The punk rock quartet was arguably the most significant in independent culture in the latter part of the 20th century, and their songs and ideas inspired millions of music lovers.
The fact that they stopped making music and playing live together hasn’t discouraged others from taking Fugazi songs and repurposing them for new creations. The curious phenomenon has led to mash-up projects like 2011’s Wugazi, which placed verses by the Wu-Tang Clan over the music of Fugazi or, most recently, Fugazi Edits.
Created by Christopher Lawhorn and released earlier this month, Fugazi Edits features new compositions comprised of bits and pieces of every single Fugazi song (except for those found on their InstrumentSoundtrack). Lawhorn is selling the CD to benefit organizations in Washington, D.C., and has billed it as “authorized for release by Ian MacKaye” of Fugazi and co-owner of the band’s label, Dischord Records.
“Let me clarify because that Fugazi Edits thing has driven me a little crazy,” MacKaye says over the phone from Dischord House in D.C. “Only because Chris Lawhorn, the guy who did it, wrote and said, ‘Do you mind if I do it?’ and I said ‘No, feel free.’ It’s different than ‘approved.’ It’s not like we heard it and said, ‘Yes, go forward.’ He said ‘I have this idea,’ and I said, ‘OK.’ It’s authorized but it’s driven me crazy because everyone keeps contacting us and we have nothing to do with it whatsoever."
“In fact, at one point he said, ‘Do you wanna do interviews about it?’ and I said ‘Of course not,’” MacKaye says of Lawhorn. “I’m not gonna talk about it any more than that damn Wugazi thing. The only difference between Wugazi and Fugazi Edits is that Chris Lawhorn contacted me and I still don’t have any idea who did the Wugazi thing. I don’t have anything do with that whatsoever.”
MacKaye goes on to say that he has nothing against such projects, going so far as to praise Party Ben's popular mash-up of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” with “Independent Women” by Destiny’s Child that emerged a few years ago.
“That’s the best one,” MacKaye says. “I actually think that, of all the mash-ups I’ve heard — and I’ve heard quite a few — there’s actually a melodic connection there. I think that person did a good job of it."
“If you were a painter and listening to Fugazi inspired you to paint something incredible, then I’m all for it,” he continues. “So, if someone wants to take all of our songs, chop them up and throw them in the air and repurpose them and it creates art that connects people in some way, that’s fine with me. I’m happy with that.”
All of this underscores the fact that people simply love and long for Fugazi. Since the band is inactive, fans seem to be satiating themselves with “new” music by making it up themselves. For their part, Dischord Records has a huge vault of archival material by many of its artists, including Fugazi, that likely will see the light of day.
“Sure, there’s always gonna be more,” MacKaye states. “It’s just a matter of me going in and digging through stuff.”
CBC Music recently profiled the Six Song Demo by the incendiary D.C. band Rites of Spring, which featured future Fugazi members Brendan Canty and Guy Picciotto and was recorded in 1983, but only officially released in October 2012.
“These archival releases, I think of them as just honouring the band and the music and saying, ‘Look, this is legitimate and this is real and this was a real band who were really important to a lot of people’ and presenting it in that kind of context,” MacKaye explains. “That Rites of Spring demo was incredibly important to people around here. I’ve been trying to get that record out for well over a decade but there was resistance from the band. They couldn’t quite come up with a plan they were comfortable with and finally it just developed and I’m really happy with this release.”
As for Fugazi, MacKaye reveals that there’s “tons of stuff” that could be released at some point. Unreleased songs, alternate versions of existing songs with different arrangements and demos, too.
“You know the Instrument soundtrack, that was not a soundtrack crafted for the movie.” he says. “When we were working on the movie, we had this Super 8 footage that had no sound but was really beautiful. It occurred to us, ‘Wait a minute, we have all this music that never felt suitable for records, maybe this is a perfect way to utilize it finally.'"
“Those songs are a tiny percentage of the amount of music that we’ve recorded over the years,” MacKaye adds. “I have shelves of that stuff.”
Instrument is something of a divisive record among Fugazi fans and, as a soundtrack, some wouldn’t even consider it an actual album. Of course, none of those people are in the band.
“I think for maybe all of us, that’s our favourite Fugazi record,” MacKaye reveals. “It was unconscious, we were just playing and were not thinking about anyone hearing it.”
By the sounds of it, there is much more music from Fugazi that fans can expect to hear in the future.
IMTo hear the full conversation, you can download an MP3 if you right-click this highlighted text and “Save target as.” Or to stream it, press play.
The Fugazi/Jem Cohen film Instrument can be purchased here. Here's a YouTube stream:
Related:
The Odds by the Evens: album stream and Q&A
Rites of Spring’s Six Song Demo: album stream and Q&A