Ted Leonsis, the owner of US basketball team the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals ice hockey team has called a Fugazi reunion to help raise money for charities.
Following the dissolution of hardcore punk groups Minor Threat and Embrace, Ian MacKaye recruited former Rites Of Spring members Brendan Canty and Guy Picciotto to help form Fugazi.
Before long, Fugazi had become one of the most highly-regarded and influential musical outfits around. Blurring the edges between post-hardcore, punk, and even experimental rock, the group released a total of six albums in 11 years, with 1990’s Repeater still regarded as a classic.
Sadly, the band has been inactive since 2003, with the group going on an “indefinite hiatus” in order to spend time with their families and work on other projects.
Despite this, there have been numerous rebuffed calls for reunions, bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty recently noted we shouldn’t exactly rule out the idea.
“You never want to say never about anything,” Lally explained. “Because how can you say that about the future?”
“But there does seem to be a lack of time to allow it to happen, because the four of us would have to spend a lot of time together to figure out, ‘Should we play old songs?’ ‘Who are we now?’ ‘What is it now?’”
“If we got back together, it would have to be from the spirit of creativity,” added Canty. “You can’t put an inherently creative group back together and then not have the creative element. It would be different if we got back together.”
Let us all work to get Fugazi to reunite, play at our Arena, we will compensate the band, and make a major donation to local charities in their names, it has been too long. They resonate well with all generations, we miss them. Check this out. https://t.co/c7HcqHWY4l
— Ted Leonsis (@TedLeonsis) May 13, 2019
Taking to Twitter yesterday, the 62-year-old businessman expressed his fondness for Fugazi, stating his desire to get the band to reunite in order to raise money for various local charities.
“Let us all work to get Fugazi to reunite, play at our Arena,” Ted Leonsis wrote on Twitter, alongside an article that graphed the impact of the group.
“We will compensate the band, and make a major donation to local charities in their names, it has been too long. They resonate well with all generations, we miss them.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the reunion will go anywhere, with Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye explaining to WTOP that he didn’t exactly believe Leonsis’ request to be a genuine one.
“I honestly don’t think it’s newsworthy,” he explained.
“My impression was that it was meant more as a compliment than an actual offer, so there really wasn’t anything to consider other than the kind words. They were appreciated.”
Of course, while Ian MacKaye didn’t specifically turn down a Fugazi reunion, it’s not looking as though the band will be performing together any time soon.
While plenty of us definitely miss the influential group, we have to respect their integrity at only doing things on their own terms, and not for a love of money.
Check out ‘Furniture’ by Fugazi:
