I Hope People Will Always Say Fuck You...

It's a really important thing to say.

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN

I’ve been thinking about the above interview a lot lately - the effect it had on me as a younger punk, how it blows my mind that it was done over thirty years ago, and how Ian basically sums up in a much more coherent and eloquent way everything I want to say or think around punk, culture creation, music, fame, success, etc. etc. I’m not going to blather on about it but I invite you to spend the ten-ish minutes to watch. Many thanks to Sean Capone from Positron for making this available, still making art and still being an inspiration.

What I will blather on about is how inspirational Fugazi was and is - while most of their catalog isn’t my thing musically (I got off the boat after In On The Kill Taker) their pushing of the boundaries of what is possible, the commitment towards creating and preserving space for those possibilities, and the sheer intensity of their performances is something I remain in awe of. There is this oft pushed notion that they were anomalous in their ability to tour at the level and size they did but what made them special? Aren’t they just people, just like you?

I saw Fugazi for the first time in 1989 at a skate park in Toledo - I was pitched on going to the show because it was the “ex-Minor Threat band” and while I’m not gonna lie that, at 14, I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t sound like Minor Threat, I was taken in by the sheer intensity of the thing and beyond hooked. But it wasn’t just the music - it was the notion of how you didn’t need a bar or club or whatever to sanction or create the space for you, here we were, nearly 400 strong, at a recreational center in a suburb of Toledo, OH doing it ourselves. I mean, I wasn’t doing anything except showing up, but you get the idea.

Outface aren’t on this flyer but I know they played - for some reason I have a memory of Majority of One playing as well but checking the Fugazi live series page they aren’t listed there so I’m probably wrong.

What got me thinking about this sorta thing was a speech the singer from Division of Mind made mid-set when playing with Avail a couple weeks back around how, sure its cool to be play a big rock club with Avail, what matters more is the continued support of alternative spaces. Those sort of places are the glue which keeps this thing going, providing the opportunity and ability to create and perpetuate. It makes the thing important and vital. Obviously I’m paraphrasing, but it was refreshing to hear that being stated in the face of the more common focus on getting the bag, sponsorships, and corporate intrusion into alternative culture.

The last time I saw Fugazi was in 1999 in Philly at the Electric Factory with The Ex and Lungfish. There were 3000 people there and though it was no longer a fully DIY space, there was there was still the notion that it was the band and the people at the show in charge, not some faceless corporate entity. I remember The Ex being absolutely mind melting and Lungfish somehow being this louder than god wave of droning cascades of sound. I remember Fugazi coming off like atomic bomb of energy that could not be stopped, even going so far as to play a second encore.

And then it was over. Shortly thereafter, I left with Kill The Man Who Questions for our European tour, then I fucked off to the West Coast for eighteen years and yet here I am nearly twenty-five years after the fact still thinking about that show and the impact it had on me - shit, I’m still thinking about the impact their show from thirty-six years ago had on me.

At the end of the day, thats what matters, I think, when it comes to this ‘thing.’ The inspiration, the challenge - to do more, to be better, to do it on your own terms. For me that is success.

---