Ian MacKayeEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

In celebration of the recently unearthed Out of Step Outtakes , we take a detailed look at the making of the original record. After Minor Threat formed in Washington D.C. in 1980, they began to find an audience in the American punk scene. Their first two seven-inch records contained songs written by Ian MacKaye, such as “Straight Edge” and “Out of Step,” which kickstarted the straight edge movement within punk. By 1982, guitarist Lyle Preslar had left for college and Minor Threat temporarily broke up. After speaking with H.R. of the Bad Brains, MacKaye was convinced of the impact the band was having and considered reforming. At that point, Preslar agreed to quit college and rejoin the band. Despite accusations of the band selling out by reforming, Minor Threat began playing shows in their hometown and embarked on a cross-country tour. Brian Baker decided to switch from bass to second guitar so they asked Steve Hansgen to join as the new bassist. In early 1983, they returned to Don Zientara’s Inner Ear Studio to begin recording as a five-piece. Out of Step was eventually released in the spring of 1983. In this episode, Ian MacKaye describes this pivotal moment in the band’s history when they decided to reunite and change their sound by adding a fifth member. Though they faced backlash about reuniting from their hometown crowd, this fueled the next batch of songs they would write as a band. MacKaye discusses how most of his lyrics on this record reflect the gossip and backstabbing that was prevalent in their scene at the time. In addition, tension within the band was rising over MacKaye’s lyrics and their overall musical direction. The new version of the title track reflected their differences as Jeff Nelson convinced MacKaye to include a spoken word interlude that explained how the straight edge lyrics were personal to MacKaye and didn’t represent the band’s views. From Minor Threat’s first 12-inch to a joke song about selling out to recording vocals live for the first time to the benefits of an expensive strobe tuner to hearing the call of punk to self-define, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.

Ian MacKaye with some working titles https://i.imgur.com/kDaV4Xi.jpg "Survival" by Prince Far I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNlMvVR93i0 My Korg DT-1 tuner https://i.imgur.com/hjEFR0k.jpg Guy Picciotto's "guitanjo" https://i.imgur.com/jemecjC.jpg A few addenda from Guy: "I’m pretty sure the working title 'Na Na Na' was the song Target. The 'na na na' would have been the opening note sequence that Ian and Joe played and I seem to recall when we were writing it / rehearsing there was some singing along of 'na na na na na na .. na na na na na' which made us all laugh." "The demo for INSTRUMENT and REND IT from Inner Ear that I mentioned was also significant in terms of writing the song INSTRUMENT. When we tracked it originally the guitars played thick chords all through the song with no dynamics – it was basically just a wall of guitars the whole way through. I think we even played it live that way for a while – where it was a more grungy noise thing. While doing the demo we struggled mixing it and couldn’t get it to work – it was just too monolithic and muddy. At some point I just started playing the mute buttons on the mixing desk to drop the guitars out during the verses so the bass part could be revealed and that was the key to making that song work and from there we totally re-arranged it to allow all that air back into the song that wasn’t there before. I feel like that was a significant stage for us in terms of changing the way we thought about our music and our mixes in terms of carving space.' "I need to confirm this with Ian but after listening I’m pretty sure the computer in COMBINATION LOCK is saying 'Wait a minute…. I forgot my combination'. Because of the janky algorithm it sounds like 'Wait a min-oot …. I forgot my combination'. That seems to match my memory of it but if Ian has a different take I’ll let you know." Email the podcast: fugaziAtoZ@gmail.com In lieu of a donation to the podcast, please make a donation to the DC Abortion Fund ( https://dcabortionfund.org/ ), or your local abortion fund, or the National Network of Abortion Funds ( https://abortionfunds.org/ ). Thank you.

Telephone conversation with Ian MacKaye back in April 2010. It covers the subject of 'Revolution Summer'; a transformational period within the DC hardcore punk scene during the 1980's.

This week we sit down with Ian MacKaye. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/adultingwell/support

Ian MacKaye might be known as the godfather of DIY punk after forming Discord Records while playing in Fugazi and Minor Threat, but his musical palate is much more diverse.