Dischord Records launched its online archive of live Fugazi recordings today, which includes two sets the iconic post-hardcore band played in Charlottesville. Both were recorded at Trax, a nightclub on 11th Street that was closed and demolished in 2001. The first show, which Fugazi played in 1993 with Jawbox, is available for $5, or, in true DIY fashion, whatever you’re willing to pay for it. A sample recording of "Sieve-Fisted Find," from 1990’s Repeater, is available for streaming.
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Fugazi rocking Trax in 1999. Photo by Andy Moor.
Of the over 1000 concerts Fugazi played between 1987 and 2003, at least 800 were recorded by the band’s sound engineers, Joey Picuri and Nick Pellicciotto, and the folks at Dischord Records—who as far as I know, still work out of a 7-11 basement in Northwest DC—plan on eventually mastering and releasing all of them. Fugazi and Dischord are probably one of the only band-label pairs that could inspire the dedication necessary for this kind of Sysiphean documentary project (which even lists estimated attendance levels, and a cover charge for each show, which—surprise—is always between $5 and $7), although there are doubtless some Fugazi fans out there who will gladly pay the $500 that gives you access to the entire archive. Sense might dictate that there’s only so many ways "Floating Boy" could sound, but it would be hard to argue that having more Ian Mackaye out there isn’t a good thing (see The Evens).
If you have photos from any Fugazi show, and want to be a part of documenting DIY history, send them to fugazilive@dischord.com.