Dear Friends,
Fresh off the nice visit with Hayden, we took a little tour of Rochester thanks to some closed off miles on I-90. It led to a delay in getting going, but it helped us avoid a ton of traffic in Cleveland. We weren’t so lucky in Buffalo, but does anyone get lucky in Buffalo?
I’m guessing some people do. Lots, I hope.
We are in the glorious middle of America and the middle of our trip. Davenport…ah Davenport.
Ohio came and went. Indiana came and went. Illinois came and went. They are all kind of the same except when you get to Chicago and Cleveland before it. The rest of it was a little bit of green, some dead trees, and lots of cops hiding out looking to give someone a little Thanksgiving gift.
*****
We are off to Colorado today. The longest day of our trip by about 100 miles. It’s going to be a day.
*****
I remember thinking that End Hits by Fugazi was a harbinger of bad things. The name alone suggested that Fugazi was coming to a close and as one of my favorite all-time bands, I wasn’t quite ready for a world without Fugazi back in 1998. Luckily, that day wouldn’t come for a few more years.
This was a year of transformation for me, so having End Hits come out in April of that year was a welcome thing. I was in the first real year of a new job and the last year of having never been a married man. I needed a record like End Hits to put things in perspective.
One of the best things about Fugazi, and most inspiring, too, is that they continued to evolve over the course of their career. Each record sounds like Fugazi, of course, but they grow and change and even if it is subtle sometimes, they expand on that sound. End Hits is a really good example of this growth and willingness to embrace a change within themselves.
It had been almost three years since the last record had come out, so I was more than ready to snatch it up. At that point, it had also been about three years since the band had come to Phoenix, so anything from them was welcome. I tore into it and ate it up.
“Break” kicks things off and it sounds like a song that has been written, then broken apart, and poured back together. It is a full-on post-punk jam that always makes me think about how the band would put things together. Joe Lally and Brendan Canty are maybe the best rhythm section in punk/post-punk history.
That is an argument that has been had a lot, I’m guessing.
One could say, for example, that Mike Watt and George Hurley from Minutemen are the best, but I think Canty is a better drummer than Hurley. I also think that Lally’s songs are every bit as catchy as a lot of what Watt has done. I’m sure I will burn for that comment.
But I digress.
I love the way “Break” sets the tone for the rest of the record. ‘No Surprise” and “Five Corporations” are both favorites of mine from the first part of the record. The whole thing is good, but I love the way Ian Mackaye’s guitar sounds at the beginning of “No Surprises” and it is another one that sort of unfolds as it goes along.
“Five Corporations” has that shuffle beat from Canty that turns into a rushing train. It’s a bit of an anthem and I dig it. I like the angry, Mackaye songs. Guy Picciotto is also awesome, don’t get me wrong.
The trio of “Floating Boy” then “Foreman’s Dog” and “Arpeggiator” also float my boat. The lyrics on “Floating Boy” and “Foreman’s Dog” are particularly great, then the nimble riffage of “Arpeggiator” is pretty rad. I listen to these songs, and it is very apparent to me how much influence on the music of Fugazi was on the stuff I wrote for The Father Figures.
There is a joyous aspect of a lot of Fugazi’s music that has always made me happy. Having had a chance to talk a little bit to the guys over the years, it is obvious that they totally loved what they did, and it sneaks out on the songs that aren’t necessarily an indictment of society. There are only a handful of these songs, but “Arpeggiator” is one of them.
It’s so happy sounding.
“Guilford Falls” is so noisy and cool before it evolves into a rockin’ song. It’s a good example of how far Fugazi was willing to push things on this recording. Picciotto sounds great on this one, too.
I love End Hits. I’m also just glad that it wasn’t the end.
*****
See you tomorrow.
AI-gazi
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