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Wild Flag, cir. 2011 = Fugazi, cir. 1988
Note: No disrespect intended to either party, nor is this to imply that bands sound alike, which they do not. Results are for entertainment purposes only, etc.
Here comes the argument:
Roughly, Mary Timony = Ian MacKaye, Carrie Brownstein = Guy Picciotto, Rebecca Cole = Joe Lally, Janet Weiss = Brendan Canty. Roughly.
Both were sort of underground supergroups. Just as Timony is coming from Autoclave, Helium and her solo band and Weiss and Brownstein were in Sleater-Kinney, so Ian was coming from Minor Threat, Embrace and various projects and Picciotto and Canty were coming from Rites of Spring, Happy Go Licky and other projects.
Both are bands of friends. Timony and Brownstein have collaborated before in the Spells, Cole’s bands had played with Sleater-Kinney, etc. MacKaye produced the Rites of Spring records, all four of the gents in Fugazi were from the same DC punk scene and had played shows in various bands together.
People were very much ready to like both bands and both played much-talked about shows before there was a record out. A Fugazi demo was passed around prior to their amazing 1988 debut EP, Wild Flag have a few songs on line, lots of YouTube videos and a single that is just now making it to the public.
Both bands were and are evolutionary musical responses to their musical pasts that could be seen as revolutionary to some fans of earlier bands. This seems most important. Fugazi’s early music (slower, reggae-ish tempos and thick, Stooges guitar chordings) was both building on, and an explicit response to, hardcore punk and the first generation of what became distastefully known as “emocore.” Wild Flag’s version of psychedelic and classic rock feel like responses to, and evolutions of, Helium’s sometimes fuzzy indie rock and Sleater-Kinney’s wiry punk and later-period guitar blowouts.
Both bands represented a musical maturation that didn’t dial down the rock. Will people who adored “Dig Me Out” dig Wild Flag? My guess is yes, but it might be a little jarring at first.
Just as Picciotto and Canty knew each other’s musical moves, so do Brownstein and Weiss know each other’s. They have a musical history they can feed off of, probably in the moment.
Both Brownstein and Picciotto have Mod leanings. Picciotto’s Fugazi song “Runaway Return” quotes the Jam, Brownstein is a big Who fan and sports a Mod target on her guitar.
Both Canty and Weiss have very distinctive, nuanced styles that are crucial to their respective bands. Canty often floated around and through the beat, Weiss’s hard-hitting patterns are their own instrument.
Lally and Cole are, to the larger public, the least known members of the band, but are critical to how the band sounds, moves and operates musically. As Lally’s basslines were foundational, Cole’s organ parts hold down the melody while Timony and Brownstein freak out.
Like MacKaye and Picciotto, Timony and Brownstein have different guitar styles that mesh together brilliantly. They’re also massively charismatic frontpersons in completely different ways, rocking equally hard in perpendicular directions. There is leaping, there is feeding back, there is ending up on the ground. Brownstein, like Picciotto, even drops the guitar to sing without playing, as on their life-affirming (People will be talking about Wild Flag’s “Ask the Angels” cover for some time.)
Both bands use improvisation to augment their songs to stellar effect. See also “Shut The Door,” “Reprovisional” and the almighty “Glue Man” for Fugazi, “Glass Tambourine” and others for Wild Flag.
Fugazi was one of the best live rock bands of its era. So is Wild Flag. Fugazi’s live show was a life-changer. Wild Flag’s is right now.
Everybody wins.
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Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: SXSW 2011
Comments
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By MTS
March 20, 2011 9:57 AM | Link to this
You’ve done it again, Joe. You’ve written another awesome thing.
By John Dugan
March 22, 2011 8:34 PM | Link to this
I imagine if Femgazi and Fugazi were at the same house party some ugly roughhousing would go down.