Fugazi

[ComfortablyNumb]

Fugazi​

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Fugazi is an indie, post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1987. The band's contstant members were guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty. They are noted for their DIY ethics and their business practice. Fugazi has been on hiatus since 2002.

After the hardcore punk group Minor Threat broke up, Ian MacKaye (vocals and guitar) was active with a few short-lived groups, the most notable Embrace. MacKaye decided he wanted a band that was "like the Stooges with reggae," but was skeptical about forming another band after Embrace broke up.

MacKaye recruited ex-Dag Nasty drummer Colin Sears and bass guitarist Joe Lally, and they began practicing together in September 1986. After a few months of rehearsals, Sears returned to Dag Nasty and Brendan Canty (earlier of Rites of Spring) replaced him.

Their name is from Mark Baker's Nam, a compilation of stories of Vietnam War veterans, where "Fugazi" was used as slang for "****ed up or screwed up", or more correctly, "****ed Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In (as in, into a body bag)".

Fugazi's music was an intentionaly different from the typical hardcore punk band sound. They incorporated funk and reggae beats, irregular stop-start song structures, and heavy riffs inspired by bands such as Led Zeppelin, Queen etc.


One of my favorite bands and a very original band. Check them out.

 

[Tiny Tim]

The 13 Songs comp. and Repeater are great records. It gets a little hit or miss after that. Got to see them live once in the early 90's. Really intense show but MacKaye kept stopping to tell people not to slam dance or mosh, which was what people did at those shows back then. The first time he did it everybody cheered. After the fourth time, people were like, OK please shut up and play now.

 

[Magic]

I was wondering about that, if there are still mosh pits. I use to work with this chick whose husband loved mosh pits. He went somewhere almost every weekend to mosh-it-up. I just dont get that mentality, and how it became associated with punk/hardcore music.

 

[Tiny Tim]

Well it started as slam dancing in the late 70's early 80's punk scene and evolved into moshing (basically slam dancing with a running start in a circle) during the thrash/hardcore era. In my late teens and early twenties it was just fun. A bunch of young idiots knocking each other around, but the vibe was no different than a sandlot football game, for me anyway. It was "macho" dancing I guess. Nobody ever really got hurt except for an occasional busted lip or bloody nose. It got much darker when grunge blew up because now you had the meatheads from the wrestling team coming to shows and throwing punches in the pit, which never happened at the hardest of the hardcore shows I went to. The place I saw Fugazi was called Medusa's and a lot of thrash and hardcore bands played there. I saw DRI, Suicidal Tendencies, Agnostic Front, GBH, a bunch of bands there and moshed at all those shows. There was a definite etiquette going on. If you fell down, everybody around you would stop and help you up. It was really a lot of fun. So I guess Fugazi considered themselves to sophisticated to have people moshing at their shows so Ian MacKaye, formerly of hardcore pioneers Minor Threat, kept admonishing the crowd to stop, which was all very puzzling to us at the time.

 

[Dave78]

Here's the song I like most by Fugazi



A few years ago I went to the House Of Blues for an event where Static X happened to be playing, and because we were upstairs we had an overhead view of all the hardcore moshers below and it was truly insane! In hockey terms they were checking each other into the boards, but with a running start. But the band rewarded the crowd's efforts by tossing them empty beer cups, picks, drumsticks and set-lists after the show. Well, some of the beer cups tossed into the crowd during the show weren't empty, but the moshers seemed to love it anyway. They probably preferred it that way.

 

[Pistol]

and now there's Wugazi influenced by Wu Tang Clan and Fugazi and they sound damn good !

 

[Berserker]

I like both of those, have to check that wugazi out.

 

[wolfstark]

My favourite band ever! They sounds like nothing else!