Wednesday, August 3, 2011

By now you’ve seen the lineup for this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest. Or, at least I hope you have because it’s un-be-lieve-able. Remarkably the organizers have topped the amazing lineups they’ve assembled in past years, and it's proof why the festival might very well be the best in the country.

One of the things that makes the FFF Fest so incredible is their ability to get legendary bands to reunite or come out of retirement - Danzig, The Descendents, Death, Public Enemy, The Dead Milkmen. My dream, however, is for them to convince Fugazi to play one more show. I revered Fugazi while living in and around DC during the ‘90s. I still listen to them on a regular basis and would gladly travel anywhere for a Fugazi reunion. However, that isn’t likely to happen ... ever. The band has made it clear they have no intention of regrouping. So, faced with that reality, the FFF organizers did the next best thing: they booked the band of a Fugazi member (Joe Lally) AND they booked a tribute group (Wugazi). Not too shabby.

Joe Lally is best known as the bassist for Fugazi, but he has been fronting his own band for a while now. He has released three albums since 2006, the latest of which is titled, Why Should I Get Used To It. The album was recorded in Rome where Joe now lives with his family (another reason why a Fugazi reunion is unlikely). The rest of the band is comprised of guitarist Elisa Abela and drummer Emanuele Tomasi. While he was an integral part of the Fugazi sound, Joe produces a different style of music with this band. It’s less punk and more polite. Fortunately though, it does have the sweet bass jams that made Lally the anchor of Fugazi.

:Joe Lally - What Makes You:

Wugazi is a project that mashes up Wu-Tang and Fugazi songs with quite interesting results. It’s actually an effective pairing and as a fan of each group, I dig the mixing and matching of rap lyrics to punk rhythm. It might seem Fugazi is an unusual candidate for a rap mash-up, but it actually works really well. The band was heavily influenced by the DC’s Go-Go scene, so its music is well-suited for this quasi-collaboration. Of course, nothing beats the original thing, so here’s hoping we see both Wu-Tang and Fugazi at FFF Fest next year!

:Wugazi - Sleep Rules Everything Around Me:

- Dan Corbin -



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