The eminent D.C. punk group known as Fugazi hasnt played a show since announcing an indefinite hiatus almost eight years ago. (Hey, punk-gods have families to spend time with, too.) But instead of holding your breath for a reunion show, let out a sigh of relief, as every recorded live performance of the bands decade and a half career is coming your way.



In an interview with Approaching Oblivion (via SPIN), frontman Ian MacKaye revealed that the process of preparing a database of thousands of live recordings we have is well underway. Having transferred the video from old-school cassettes and DAT, he goes on to say, Im editing and fixing things up, weve been working on this project for 2 years now.

Even after all that time, the expansive process is still arduous, and plans originally had a website going live last fall. Its a fuck of a lot of work. Were hoping it will be up in the near future. The idea at the moment is to start it with 100 shows. Then put 20 more on every month or something. Though no firm details were divulged, Fugazis history of barebones and red-cent business principles would put access to the digital archive at a reasonable price.

As for the status of their hiatus, MacKaye states, We didnt break up. I coined the indefinite hiatus term specifically because I thought it was absurd to break up. Still, its going to take more than a heavy pay check to get the boys back on stage (theyve reported turning down insane amounts of money from Coachella and other festivals). We would only play music together, MacKaye says, if we wanted to play music together and the time allowed it.

Okay, so suck some more air in there. But before you turn blue in the face, keep in mind that this archival undertaking is looming. Once it arrives, youll be able to relive/experience the thrashing splendor of stuff like this: