You Haven't Heard The Last Of Fugazi

When Fugazi issued End Hits in 1998, the title seemed to signify that it was the iconic DC combo's last-ever longplayer. But it certainly hasn't ended up being their final salvo; neither was the film/soundtrack Instrument missive that they sent the world right after it. As vocalist/guitarist Guy Picciotto explained it during a recent interview following the release of their latest album, 2001's The Argument, End Hits was never supposed to be a full stop at the end of an influential tenure.

"Naming that record End Hits was one of the biggest mistakes we ever made," Picciotto offered, "because everyone thought the title referred to the band, that we were about to implode, and it become this self-sustaining rumor-generating thing.

"To be honest with you, for the last 10 years people have often thought that the band was about to fall apart," Picciotto continued. "There was a period where our drummer Brendan [Canty] lived on the other side of the country for a year and a half, so at that point there was a lot of rumors that the band was going to break up. But then we put out In on the Killtaker, and we kept working.

"When people don't see us working, they then immediately assume that the worst is happening, that the band's breaking up," he said. "But there's never been a time where it's got to the point where we really thought we have nothing left to say. And that's the main thing: as long as we have things to say, and we have ideas, and music to write, then we're just gonna keep working."

So The Argument is a non-comeback record that just happens to feel like a comeback record. End Hits may have ushered in the idea of Fugazi — singer/guitarist Ian MacKaye, bassist Joe Lally, Canty and Picciotto — using the studio as an instrument, and not just punching in as a pit stop amidst their "whirlwind touring schedule." But this album takes this notion a step further, working with a wider array of sounds and textures. Noticeably, it finally finds Fugazi dissolving that rock-band-as-gang mentality, with longtime engineer/mixer Jerry Busher introduced as full-time second percussionist, and friends like cellist Amy Domingues and vocalists Kathi Wilcox (once of Bikini Kill) and Bridget Cross (once of Unrest) invited to enliven proceedings.

"I've gotten frustrated a lot of the time with our recordings in the past," Picciotto said, "but all of us have spent so much time working in the studio, either with this band or producing other bands, that we feel a lot more confident now. When we first started producing our own records, I think we were really kind of just winging it; we didn't really know what we were doing. But, it's like everything with this band: we want to control all aspects of what we do.

"At this point, we all feel pretty confident in how to record anything," he said. "We've recorded for so long in the same studio with the same engineer that I think, at this point, we're trying to surprise ourselves now. We feel like we can have other people come in, we can play with sounds a bit more, whereas in the past we made have been a little bit timid." — Anthony Carew [Wednesday, January 23, 2002]