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I saw you guys performing in Brussels. Honestly that concert was one of the most amazing gigs I have ever seen. How can you keep that energy level up for a whole tour?
"We really take the concerts very seriously and try to maintain a high
standard for ourselves. We grew up seeing bands like the Bad Brains and
Black Flag, bands that really pushed themselves physically and emotionally
on stage. Its bands like that which really provided us with the inspiration
to try and find a similar release every night we hit the stage. It helps
that we improvise the set as we go so that every night we are playing
completely different songs - that keeps it from getting standardized and
also keeps our attention strongly focussed because we never know what the
next song will be. Playing night after night takes a certain amount of
discipline and can be exhausting but ultimately we just try to feed off the
crowd and recycle their energy."
How was the European tour like? Any differences with American crowds? Do people react differently?
"The European tour was really great for us - we hadn't played over there in
4 years so it felt really fresh. We got to see a lot of friends and faces we
hadn't seen in a long time. As for trying to generalize differences
compared with American crowds - I really can't think of any outstanding traits
beyond the absence of a common language, which depending on the night can be a big
or small factor. On nights where the band and the audience are really
communicating on a musical level sometimes language doesn't feel that
necessary. When things are not going well or if there is violence in the
room sometimes the language gap can feel more paralyzing. Ultimately though
to us every night feels very unique - there are so many really specific
factors like the feel of the room, the vagaries of the sound, the looseness
of the crowd - stuff like that makes every night feel completely different."
What I noticed in the crowd, is how fanatical the people can be. Do you have any weird experiences with fans following you around?
"We haven't had any weird experiences but we certainly have had alot of
people that have travelled, following us for multiple shows. That is always
really gratifying for us - since we play different material every night
sometimes I think the best way to get a sense of how we operate live is to
see us over a few different nights. Its always nice to see familiar faces
in the crowd - it gives us something to feed off on."
You have stated that you play smaller venues now. Have you experienced any other changes through the years?
"Having been together for almost 14 years, its kind of hard to trace all the
things that have changed.... we've seen bands come and go, we've seen the
explosion of corporate interest in punk rock come and go, we've played
big venues and smaller venues but through all that we've maintained a kind of
autonomy and isolated constancy within the group itself. We still function
in the same way we always have - we manage ourselves, we book our own
tours, we drive ourselves, we put out our own records etc. So despite all the
shifts in the environment around us we've been able to keep our thing very
focussed and very solid which is probably the reason we've been able to
keep it going so long."
How difficult is it to keep your reputation up as the band with the highest level of integrity? At times it must have been hard financially to keep going?
"We don't really worry about maintaining our reputation or even about
setting a standard. We simply operate in the way that makes sense to us, that makes
us happy and that allows us to feel comfortable making our music. We have
not had to contort ourselves or go to great pains to function this way;
for us it is completely natural and effortless - I think a great misconception
is that the independent path is a really difficult one and that its hard to
resist all the temptations of the "official" music industry. For us it has
never been a struggle - we just do exactly what we please and we do not
subscribe to accepted definitions of "success". Financially, sometimes
things get a little tight but we are lucky in that we have Ian in our band
- he has great business sense and really knows how to keep the band
operating efficiently and without a lot of waste. That is one of our
greatest objections to the standard music industry - it is so bloated and that waste
is passed on to the public in terms of inflated prices for their products.
Colloquially speaking - its a rip-off."
Fugazi for a long time wasn't enough to live off. When did Fugazi become a main source of income? What kind of jobs did you guys have?
"It took about 5 or 6 years before the band became our main source of income
but even now we all do things outside of Fugazi. Ian has always had the
Dischord label to run besides the management of the band so he's had a
large side job all along. For a long time I worked in book stores, washed dishes
and bussed tables in restaurants - now I do a lot of production and
engineering work for other bands on the side. The most recent thing I've
done is a new Blonde Redhead album for Touch and Go Records. Joe used to
manage a club here in Washington called DC Space and now outside of Fugazi
he runs a label called Tolotta Records which puts out records by a group
called Spirit Caravan. Brendan also does a lot of production work (for
example the latest Make Up album) as well as soundtrack composing for
television and CD-Roms. His most recent work was for a series of television
documentaries about engineering called "Buildings, Tunnels and Bridges"
which airs here in the USA on the Discovery channel."
Were you pleased with the Instrument video? Personally I really liked the
accompanying CD.
"Making the INSTRUMENT video was one of the hardest projects we've ever
done. It involved 10 years of shooting, 3 years of editing and alot of serious
discussion between us and the director Jem Cohen about how we wanted to
proceed with it. From our point of view, we really wanted to make a film
that would offer perspective on the band without just becoming some kind of
glorious advertisement. Its very hard when you are working on a film about
yourself to remain objective and not be crippled by self conciousness.
Ultimately, I think by having the film dictated from Jem's outside
perspective we were able to maintain that critical distance. now that the
film is complete I am quite happy with it. I think it offers up a lot of
information about the band that isn't available anywhere else plus I was
pleasantly suprised by how much people laugh when they see it. I think
people expect us to be really dour and intense all the time so its nice to
be able to readjust their perceptions. As for the accompanying CD- to me of
all our records its the one I like to listen to the most, probably because
its all demos so it has a spontaneous and loose quality that I think is
missing from alot of our other records."
When I compare the records, from 13 Songs to End Hits, you see a certain progression, the sound gets more complex. Have your influences changed over the years? What kind of music do you listen to these days?
"I think our music just moves naturally from album to album. We tend to
build on ideas as we go along, pushing it a little farther each time. A big
difference from the earlier records is that now we tend to write all the
music collaboratively. Whereas before maybe one person would basically
write the whole thing now everyone in the group helps shape it so the sound is
more faceted because more perspectives are involved. As far as influences -
we draw most of our inspiration from other bands in DC - right now in
Washington we are really inspired by groups like Quix-o-tic, Crom Tech, the
Make Up, Lungfish and Farraquet. Outside of DC there are some other bands
that we feel close to like Shellac, Unwound, Blonde Redhead and the Ex."
You're back in Washington now. Are you working on any new projects?
"Well, our drummer and his wife just had their second child (a boy named
Leo!) so we will not be going on any tours till later in the year. Since
we'll be at home for awhile, we are just planning on writing a bunch of new
songs and trying to record an album. Right now we have about 6 new pieces
but we've got alot of work to do to flesh out a whole album so that is our
focus right now."
http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/fugazi/fugazi/382/
Meer Fugazi op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/fugazi
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