| Ian MacKaye | |
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MacKaye in 2008 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye |
| Born | April 16, 1962 Washington, D.C., USA |
| Genres | Hardcore punk, punk rock, indie rock, post-hardcore, alternative rock |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter, musician, producer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass, baritone guitar, piano, keyboards |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | Dischord |
| Associated acts | Fugazi, Minor Threat, Teen Idles, The Evens, Embrace, Egg Hunt, Skewbald/Grand Union, Pailhead |
Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye ( /məˈkaɪ/;[1] born April 16, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well as The Evens.[2]
He is a co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label.
A key figure in the development of hardcore punk and alternative rock and an enthusiastic promoter of an independent-minded, do it yourself punk ethic, MacKaye also works as a producer, and has produced releases by Q and Not U, John Frusciante, 7 Seconds, Nation of Ulysses, Bikini Kill, Rites of Spring, Dag Nasty, and Rollins Band among others. Along with his seminal band Minor Threat, he is credited with coining the term "straight edge"[2] to describe a personal ideology that promotes independence by countering the popular notion of drug and alcohol abuse, though MacKaye has stated many times that he did not intend to turn it into a movement.
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Ian MacKaye was born in Washington D.C. on April 16, 1962, and grew up in the affluent Glover Park neighborhood of Washington D.C. His father was a writer for the Washington Post, first as a White House reporter, then as a religion specialist; the senior MacKaye remains active with the socially progressive St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.[3] According to MacKaye's longtime friend, singer Henry Rollins, MacKaye's parents "raised their kids in a tolerant, super-intellectual, open-minded atmosphere."[4]
MacKaye listened to many types of music, but was especially fond of mainstream hard rock like Ted Nugent and Queen before discovering punk music in 1979[5] when he saw The Cramps perform at nearby Georgetown University. He was particularly influenced by the California hardcore scene. MacKaye looked up to hardcore bands like Bad Brains and Black Flag and was childhood friends with Henry Garfield (who later changed his name to Henry Rollins).
Ian MacKaye's first band consisted of one performance as The Slinkees in the summer of 1979, performing a song titled "I Drink Milk."[6] The band also recorded two demo tapes of covers as well as songs that would later be recorded by the Teen Idles.
In MacKaye's next project, The Teen Idles, he played bass guitar and sang back up vocals in from 1979–1980, and the short-lived Skewbald/Grand Union (1981–1982).
His brother Alec MacKaye has also been active in several notable bands.
After feeling creatively limited in the Teen Idles, MacKaye was determined to be the frontman and primary lyricist for Minor Threat (1980–1983). MacKaye cited the dynamic performance of English singer Joe Cocker in the Woodstock motion picture as a major influence on his own animated stage persona.[4] The Teen Idles and Minor Threat were modestly successful in and around Washington D.C., but would later be cited as two of the earliest and most influential hardcore punk groups, and as pioneers of the straight edge philosophy that rejects use of drugs (including alcohol), as well as promiscuous sex. In his early teens, MacKaye saw the negative effects of drug abuse on several close friends and one immediate family member, and he vowed to never use tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs.
After Minor Threat broke up, MacKaye was active with several relatively short-lived groups, including Embrace (1985–1986) and Egg Hunt (1986). Pailhead (1987–1988), a collaboration between MacKaye and the industrial metal band Ministry, then consisting of Al Jourgensen, Paul Barker, and William Rieflin, featured MacKaye on lead vocals.
In 1987, MacKaye founded Fugazi. Cited as one of the most important post-hardcore groups,[2] Fugazi were active until 2003 and have since been on an indefinite hiatus.
Mackaye currently sings and plays baritone guitar in The Evens with drummer and vocalist Amy Farina of the Warmers. The band pride themselves on playing in non-standard locations, such as community centres, bookshops, or other atypical spaces.[7] The Evens released their self-titled album in early 2005, breaking a three-year silence by MacKaye. Their second album, "Get Evens", was released in November 2006.
In 1982, MacKaye sang lead vocals on one version of a Government Issue song titled "Asshole". The previously unreleased track was featured on the 20 Years of Dischord collection released in 2002. Backing vocals and collaborations—as, for example, with brother Alec MacKaye's former band Ignition—are numerous.
MacKaye contributed an extra guitar track to "Youth Against Fascism", the second single from Sonic Youth's 1992 album Dirty.[8]
In 1988, he recorded vocals with Ministry's Al Jourgensen, Paul Barker, and Bill Rieflin for the band Pailhead's EP titled "Trait." He also co-wrote the song "I Will Refuse" which was also released by the Wax Trax! record label.
In February 2004, MacKaye produced the recording sessions for John Frusciante's solo album titled DC EP. After working with MacKaye, Frusciante states "Ian is one of the only living people who I really respect and look up to, so it was an honor and a pleasure as well as a great learning experience to hear his perspective."[9]
MacKaye has also contributed guitar and backing vocals to Joe Lally's solo albums There to Here, released in October 2006, and Nothing Is Underrated, released in November 2007.[10]
Throughout his music career MacKaye has engineered and produced releases by a number of bands primarily on his Dischord label including 7 Seconds, Antelope, Bikini Kill, Black Eyes, Lungfish, Nation of Ulysses, One Last Wish, Q and Not U, Rites of Spring, Rollins Band, and others.
MacKaye co-founded Dischord Records with Jeff Nelson in 1980. The label was originally meant only as a means for distributing the Teen Idles 7 inch EP, but over the years it became a very well-established independent record label, as well as a source for a variety of different Washington, D.C. area artists. Today more than 150 titles have been released by Dischord.
Throughout his career, MacKaye has opted to advertise in independent and underground media and perform in unconventional venues. Such practices keep admission prices low (in the $5–$15 range) and allow fans of all ages to attend performances. Maintaining a low overhead and protecting one's monetary assets are also important ideals for Mr. MacKaye, who in the summer of 1990 formed the corporation Lunar Atrocities Ltd[11] in order to shield his own and his band mates personal assets from the threat of lawsuits. As Mr. Seth Martin, MacKaye’s financial advisor explained to the Washington Post in a 1993 interview: "protection from liability is the main reason to form a corporation, and for these guys it makes sense. If someone got hurt stage-diving and decided to sue, it would be a little harder to go after their personal assets.”[12]
MacKaye has also been known to rebuke concert violence and to confront crowd surfers and other unruly concert attendees who start fights. This is especially true of his days with Fugazi. When audience members became belligerent or violent at a Fugazi show, the band would cease to play (sometimes right in the middle of a song) and MacKaye would tell them to stop. If those people continued their deviant behavior, he would refund their admission price and eject them from the concert facility.[13]
In 2007 MacKaye provided technical audio assistance to Alan Canfora, a former Kent State University student who, in 1970, was injured by a gunshot while protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. MacKaye cleaned up a field recording of the incident made by another student named Terry Strubbe. According to Canfora, a voice can be heard on the tape yelling, "Right here! Get set! Point! Fire!" before a 13-second volley of gunfire commences.[14]
The song "Straight Edge" was written by MacKaye for his band, Minor Threat and was released in 1981 on Minor Threat's self-titled EP. It was a song that described his personal life free of the "drugs" and the self-destructive idea of "sex as a conquest" which served as a part of the "sex, drugs and rock'n roll" banner originating as a rebellion in the 1960s — smoking, drinking, and drug use. It began to influence youth culture as Minor Threat gained popularity through numerous live shows and through sales of the song on their EP. Although to MacKaye the song did not represent a philosophy or a movement, over time people adopted the philosophy of the song and many bands began to label themselves straight edge, founding the straight edge movement. Although straight edge is not explicitly supportive of vegetarianism, MacKaye has stated that he is a vegetarian because he feels it's a logical progression from his view of straight edge.[15]
Although "Straight Edge" gets the most attention, MacKaye wrote other songs with Minor Threat describing his clean lifestyle as well, most notably "Out of Step (With the World)," in which he said "I don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't fuck. At least I can fucking think." "In My Eyes" is also at least partially about his philosophies, with lines such as "You tell me it calms your nerves; you just think it looks cool."
Contrary to popular belief, he had never used any effects.[16]
On Saturday, May 24, 2008, Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina had their first child together, a son named Carmine Francis Farina MacKaye.[18]
Ian Mackaye stands 5 feet 9 inches tall[19] and is vegan.[20][21]
He has been close friends with Henry Rollins since childhood[22] and was the first person to take the stage at Rollins' 50th birthday performance at the National Geographic Explorers' Hall in Washington DC, Feb. 13, 2011.
MacKaye was interviewed in the documentary films Roll Up Your Sleeves, DIY America, American Hardcore, 930 F, Another State of Mind, Instrument, Dogtown and Z-Boys, D.I.Y. or Die: How to Survive as an Independent Artist, Don't Need You: The Herstory of Riot Grrrl, Punk's Not Dead, We Jam Econo, I Need That Record, EDGE: Perspectives on Drug Free Culture, and the K Records documentary, The Shield Around the K.
MacKaye was also featured in professional skateboarder Mike Vallely's film Drive.
MacKaye has contributed to several books, including The Idealist by Glen E. Friedman (Burning Flags Press, 1998, updated 2004, ISBN 0-9641916-5-2), a foreword to indie-punk band photographer Pat Graham's photobook Silent Pictures, an introduction to Susie Horgan's photobook Punk Love, Interrobang?! Anthology on Music and Family, edited by Sharon Cheslow and is interviewed in American Heretics: Rebel Voices In Music by Ben Myers (Codex Books, 2002). MacKaye is also featured in the Friedman book Keep Your Eyes Open (ISBN 0-9641916-8-7), a collection of Fugazi photos taken by Friedman over the course of the band's career.
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