ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604150095
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS HENSON STAFF WRITER
Last year the grunge superstars Pearl Jam made a quasi-stink when they decided rock concert tickets cost too much. They figured $17.50 was more than most of their fans could cough up. The band went up against the ticket-sales behemoth, TicketMaster, and canceled a tour. Eventually they decided the fans could cough it up after all, the sun came out again and life went on.
This was national news. However, in the real world, there are bands biting the budget bullet every day, avoiding expensive and distracting hype, and keeping their concert and album costs down.
The leader of this pack is the D.C. hard-core band Fugazi. They're playing tonight at The Alternative on Salem Turnpike.
Fugazi comes across as a sort of lost tribe of rock 'n' roll stars. They don't grant interviews, except to their several home pages on the Internet, and fortunate home-published and photocopied "fanzines." They don't do videos or sell T-shirts or buttons. You won't hear Fugazi on local radio. It's as if they believe these marketing tools will steal their souls.
Instead Fugazi relies on college radio and word-of-mouth. Their goal is a sort of purification of their sound and their lives. The music is what's important. And over the last decade they've developed a huge following. Fugazi shows routinely sell out large alternative-music venues across the country, packing 3,000 and 4,000 sweaty kids against the stage.
That's partly due to the cover charge: Fugazi seldom charges more than $5 a show. They also insist on their shows being "all ages," meaning that kids under drinking age be allowed in as well. This is fitting, since teen-agers comprise a large portion of the Fugazi fan base.
The same philosophy is applied to their recordings. By owning their own record label, Dischord, Fugazi CDs are usually priced under $10, available at select record stores and by mail.
More important, though, is the music itself: Steeped in hard-core punk, Fugazi's sound has no real trademark. Each of their several CDs is quite different, though all are intense. Theirs is a cacophony of grinding metal tunes, assault-style instrumentals and chainsaw dirges, the perfect anthems for a generation that hasn't quite decided what to do with itself.
Despite their hard convictions and the leading-edge sound they constantly renew, Fugazi doesn't want to talk about it. They prefer to let their music and their actions do the talking. "If you could put music into words," says the band's leader, Ian MacKaye, on a Fugazi home page, "then [people] would probably not be building instruments."
Don't expect to find a table with Fugazi shirts, key chains, hats or cologne at The Alternative tonight. Instead, prepare to experience the blunt impact of music in its purest form, for its own sake. No hype, no distractions. "We're a band," MacKaye says. "We make music, not T-shirts." The Alternative is at 3348 Salem Turnpike. Tickets are available at Record Exchange stores and at the door.
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