I heard Fugazi before Minor Threat, Minor Threat before Embrace and Embrace before Ian MacKaye’s various other endeavors, most all of which, have significantly impacted my life in one way or another. I have many fond memories of skateboarding in high school listening to Fugazi, Minor Threat and countless other punk/hardcore bands, many of which taught me not to give a fuck about what others thought of me. That’s a sentiment that still resonates very deeply within my heart today, though there’s a much less angsty application of it.
There’s so much I could say about Ian and the impact his bands and record label has had on me but I’d like to share something my friend Ben Smith said while discussing Ian, and more specifically, the image on the back of Minor Threat’s In My Eye’s 7”, and the impact it had on him. He said, “What struck me about it was how normal they looked. They looked just like regular kids. They looked just like my friends and I. And if they could do it, I could do it too.” I think Ben really captured a large part of the essence of DIY punk/hardcore in that statement and if you grew up in it, you know exactly what he’s saying.
So as I sat down to contemplate what I would ask Ian in our interview I put on Fugazi’s Repeater album to set the mood. Almost instantly, it took me back to the 90’s and the clubs I would frequent here in CT. I have so many great memories from those days. Simple things like the excitement of finally finding that vinyl record or CD I’d been searching months through various distro’s for. Skateboarding outside the club before the show. Looking at the flyer someone handed me, and seeing that one of my favorite bands had a show coming up soon in the area. Trying to have philosophical discussions about veganism and straight edge but really sounding like an idiot. Jumping up on stage and screaming into the microphone that one line of a song that touched me a little deeper than all of the others. Maybe I’m over romanticizing things, or maybe not. Those were very special times for me as I’m sure they were to many of you reading this as well.
So in the spirit of DIY and old school punk/hardcore ethics, I decided I wasn’t going to create this interview alone but instead, open it up to others who were there with me, and not just necessarily in person but also in spirit. What did we want to ask in this interview? I asked that question to a community of old school punk/hardcore folks and received a lot of responses covering a wide range of topics. I handpicked a couple of the questions and then to be fair, randomly selected a few and viola, we had our interview.
I knew Ian was extremely intelligent and always shared great insight in his interviews. I also knew some of the questions we’d come up with were rather “light” to put it nicely. He was an excellent sport about the whole thing however and was able to reply to even the most frivolous sounding inquiry with insight and poise, and for that, I’m grateful. So without further ado, WE humbly present you with…
