Here comes the argument

Gothamist’s John Del Signore has a fantastic interview with Fugazi wailer and guitarist Guy Picciotto as he tours the country supporting Vic Chesnutt. In it, there’s a quote that some Fugazi diehards may put more emphasis on than a majority of the rest of the chat:

The band may do something again; we don’t know. We see each other all the time. We certainly always have work to do concerning the band, and we’re still working on projects within the band—like right now we’re trying to get every live tape that we have from the group archived on the Internet so people can listen to 1200 Fugazi shows! [Laughter] If they want to! You know, shit like that. We’re always dealing with stuff, there’s always an outside chance that we may decide to do something.

Is this new information? Not really. The members of Fugazi have always been fairly opened minded about their rather opened ended status. I’ve heard Ian MacKaye discuss the potential/non-potential future of the band of the band on many occasions (once at a one-on-one interview at Dischord house, other times in numerous interviews). It’s an attitude I appreciate, especially amongst waves and waves of reunions where one has to wonder if there’s some hidden agenda behind every band that ended in tatters is suddenly on good terms again.

Fugazi was always a pragmatic band, and their hiatus came to be due to outside commitments that tore the members in separate directions. I can’t imagine that those circumstances have gotten any easier, considering Joe Lally’s living in Italy with his family and MacKaye recently had a baby with Amy Farina.

And yet, who knows what may happen. Perhaps Picciotto may catch the touring bug again, and Brendan Canty, MacKaye and Lally might be able to coordinate their schedules to play some shows. Who knows. That was always a possibility before, and it will be in the future. Unlike any number of recent reunions, the potential reconvening won’t have the stench of, well, reunion fever as it were. Mostly because it wouldn’t be a reunion. Fugazi didn’t end because of egos, botched record contracts or insane drug fatalities. They’re four normal guys who have retained their friendship through nearly two decades of recording, touring and performing together and sometimes other responsibilities just get in the way.

The always-there potential for a Fugazi show speaks to a certain optimistic quality of the band that normally isn’t given the same light as their lyrical societal criticisms: namely, they didn’t want to hedge their bets and awkwardly call Fugazi a day. So why does everyone else? I guess it’s just a method to one’s own madness. In any case, I’ve always got my calendar open and prepped for a flight home to D.C. just in case a Fugazi show is on the horizon…

Fugazi – “Shut The Door”:

[youtubevid id=”apuLs_ayKRM”]