KlC: Do you get very frustrated with the music (industry)?
Ian: Yeah, I think it sucks. I hate the industry. And it's a bummer for me because the whole beauty of the underground was creating something that withstood in spite of the industry. It's not supposed to be in service to it. So now that it's actually become that way, there's so many blurry lines.
KLC: What was your first job, and did you know you were going to get into music later?
IAN: I had no idea I would play music, although I have always loved music and always wanted to be in a band, but I had long since given up any hope of being in a band by the time I was thirteen because it was certainly a profession that belonged to professional people as opposed to just kids. It was clear to me that, like, only Steely Dan could play music... Punk rock changed all that for me, because not only did it provide me with that primitive presentation of music, which as a beginner you'd have to rely on, but also it introduced me to an entire subculture of people that were willing to give you a break. They would come check out a show even if you sucked, and they still might find something nice about it. That's the point. That's what the community was created for-- to give an opportunity for people to stretch, to get out, and actually try.
KLC: So what do you think from that community? Do you think it was a chance that it formed then and there?
IAN: It think it's always been there. It pre-dates the industry. It's always a nurturing thing. It's like farming or anything else-- there always will be an organic nurturing aspect to music. The industry just glommed on it. It became clear to them, "Wow, people like this stuff. We can polish it up and sell it."... Music predates industry by a million years. It has always been an amazingly important part of communication, society...In parts of Africa, there is no word for music. Music is just like breathing. It's not something you really talk about. You sing, you talk, you sing, you breathe; it's just one more function. And that's kind of the way I look at it too.
KLC: Are you mostly working on the label these days?
IAN: Dischord/ Fugazi is 100 times more severe than a full-time job. Because basically Dischord and Fugazi-- we are the work. I am my work, and I never can go home from myself. There are some jobs where you work and then you go home and that's it-- your job is back at work. Literally, physically, I continue to work out of my house for 15 years. It has no defined hours, and on the conscious level and the creative level, you are never off duty.
KLC: Do you like that?
IAN: It's not a question of like.
KLC: It just is?
IAN: It just is what it is. I have what I call commuter envy-- that means sometimes when I am driving, I see other people lined up on a highway going home and I look at 'em and I'm like, "They're going home." And I never go home. Commuter envy... It's not like I am saying I have it so bad; I'm just saying it's an interesting perspective.
KLC: Would you give it up?
IAN: I am sure at some point, things will change. There is not much of a choice in the matter. This is what I do, so I do it.
KLC: Was it hard to start all that?
IAN: You see the way you're doing this fanzine? I just did the same thing. I was part of a community of people that were involved with punk rock. I wrote for a fanzine, you to see shows, made a tape trade-- everybody copies your tapes and stuff. Eventually the band had all the money from the gigs we had saved up, so we just could have split the money and each of us would have gotten $150, $200, but instead we took all the money, we took a tape, and we put out a record. And it was very straightforward. And we decided if we can actually sell these things, the money we'd get back, we'll just put out another band. And the first three months or so it took us to actually produce that first record, Minor Threat formed, S.O.A. formed, Youth Brigade formed, the Untouchables were still playing, my brother's band. All these bands had formed or were still together and we thought: "Wow, there's not shortage of bands to document." That's held true. The label started to document a certain community of musicians and friends in Washington D.C., and it continues to do just that. Even thought it's not exactly the same people, it is the echoes of that same community.
KLC: How do you decide who gets on the label?
IAN: They have to be basically from the area. They have to be friends of ours because we don't use contracts. They have to be basically into the idea because if they're not, they are not going to want to be on the label. There's no musical or political litmus test really. It just either works or it doesn't.
KLC: Would you say that you like Washington D.C.?
IAN: Born and raised. Not of a question of like. It just is what it is. I mean it's like home, and I can't compare it.
KLC: And you get to travel a lot.
IAN: Yeah, yeah. When I first started traveling, every time I would go to a town, I'd say, "Man, I gotta live here." And then I'd got to a another town, "I gotta live here. Man I gotta live here. Before long, I had visited so many people and places that I couldn't possibly live in all the places. Particularly, I'm 33 now, and there must be 200 places I wanna live. I can't possibly spend any amount of time in them. And I finally thought, "Well, you know that's ridiculous. Might as well live where you know the rhythm, the smell, you understand things." And so I live in Washington. Doesn't mean I always will live in Washington, but I may well. I just don't feel this burning desire to have to get out.
KLC: What do you thing about Fugazi's longevity?
IAN: When this band started, we purposefully avoided any kind of planning or whatever. There's never been a goal, or the only goals that ever were are the one's that we succeed in every day that we continue. And people say, "What is your goal as a band?" Our goal? To be a band. To play music. The moment we actually decided to go down to the basement, we succeeded. We were a successful band from that point on. The first time we wrote a song we were a great success. The first show we played? A great success. The first record we put out, we were a fantastic success. There's no shortage of success stories because every day we exist is a success. So we don't have any long-range goals. And being we don't have long-range goals, then we are long range. If this band decides like, "Hey, we're bored of this. We don't feel challenged. We don't like each other," or whatever, then we stop. As soon as we decide that there is no reason for the band, then we stop."
KLC: What was your experience with school?
IAN: Um, the day I graduated was a very depressing day for me because I realized right then and there that, for me, school was, like, a scenario. Like an ecosystem of sorts that I could actually participate in. I could fool with it, I could totally run amuck without any real danger of being punished, like being put in jail. Schools are very interesting because all these people are sort of forced into a daily kind of confine. No choice-- you have to go to school. So it's like all these kids from all over the city are all put in one building and they have to exist with each other every day. and they come form every walk of life. Public schools, I'm speaking about. Private schools-- not exactly the same probably similar. You have rich kids, poor kids, you have every kind of damn kid in there. And you have people that come from really shitty neighborhoods, good neighborhoods and everyone has to coexist. So, I find it incredibly enjoyable. I'm not a great student, but I had an extremely good time going to school. And that meant that cutting school was great. For me, it was great. It was like a play, the whole thing, and when I graduated I was like, "Man, now I gotta do it in real life." And it hasn't been too much of a problem although I miss the interaction with people who I otherwise would never interact with. I miss that. On the other hand, one day when I was walking down the street, I heard a car screeching and I thought for sure it was about to kill me. It turned the car didn't come close to me, but I was thinking of something else at the moment, and the moment it happened I thought, "Oh shit, I'm about to get killed." So it set me off to thinking about being killed, and I was about in 11th grade. And I thought , "Man if I had been killed just right now I would have spent the majority of my sort of cogniscient years in school." And it was right then and there that I thought, "I'm not going to go to college." Never went to college. I thought it's was telling me life was to be lived, and I didn't want to just go study... Doesn't mean I'm anti-college. Just for me I had to get out and live... I will say that I love education. I think it's fascinating. I love learning. I'm totally into that idea, but I have yet to find a school that I have ever encountered that didn't strike me as one big stinkin' institution. Like one big daycare camp. Even though there is stuff to be learned, and good teachers and good students and all that, there's so much other crap going on there... Also, the financial aspect of it is nauseating to me... It's a drag... So for me I think it going to be about the autodidact, man. It's about reading. Teaching myself.
KLC: So what inspires you?
IAN: It's all right here. Everything. What inspires me is, I don't know, the moment I wake up. What you encounter and... I mean, musically, honestly , I see a bands that totally kick my ass and really make me feel, and I wanna return the favor. So that's inspirational. And then there's people who write who I think, "Wow, what a great book." I want to return the favor. But I don't write, so I play music. I eat a good meal, I go, "Man, that is awesome." Or I have a good conversation. Whatever.