Ian MacKaye '99 Interview by myself - So you wanna be a Rock n'Roll critic ? part 1

Hi there, it's been a while I didn't post anything here. This comes from an old paper sorting at my parent's. Back in '99 I planned to edit a punk rock fanzine and interviewed some hardcore & punk bands by email. I never published anything from that, I don't even think I spoke to anybody about that before ! The most interesting paper was Ian McKaye speaking about Straight-Edge. If you don't know who he is, go learn something on wikipedia, if you know, you understand why I am still proud of this shit : I talked to the Man dudes !

This is the original email Ian McKaye sent to me, Ian writes in UPPERCASE.


From : fugazi
To : Aurelien Delbosc
Date : Wednedsday, June 23 1999 03:46
Object : Re: the trench zine finally sends the questions!

HELLO. SORRY TO TAKE SO LONG TO GET THESE ANSWERS TO YOU. TAKE
CARE.
>1.How did you get involved in straight edge, who created this concept and >what was the original idea?
l DIDN'T GET INVOLVED WITH STRAIGHT EDGE, I COINED THE PHRASE WHEN I
WROTE THE SONG 'STRAIGHT EDGE' BACK IN 1980. I WAS SINGING FOR THE BAND
MINOR THREAT, AND THE SONG WAS ABOUT AN INDIVIDUAL'S RIGHT TO LIVE LIFE THE
WAY they WANTED TO. AT THAT TIME MOST OF MY FRIENDS WERE GETTING HIGH. I
DIDNT DRINK OR SMOKE, AND WAS GIVEN A LOT OF GRIEF ABOUT IT FROM PEOPLE
WHO DlD SO l WROTE A SONG ABOUT MY FRUSTRATION WITH THESE PEOPLE. LATER,
SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAD HEARD THE SONG TURNED IT INTO A MOVEMENT OF
REGIMENTED BEHAVIOR. THIS IS BASICALLY THE ANTITHESIS OF WHAT I HAD IN MIND.
HOWEVER, I WASN'T TRYING TO START A MOVEMENT, SO IT'S NOT MY PLACE TO CORRECT
ANYBODY ABOUT IT.
>2.What do you think of SXE today'll these metal stub and this fat >crosses on the hand?
I DON'T REALLY KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT IT TO COMMENT ABOUT IT. I DON'T LISTEN TO ANY OF THE BANDS, AND DON'T FOLLOW THE IDEOLOGY OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF THE 'MOVEMENT'.
>3.Are you still SXE today? l AM STILL STRAIGHT, BUT HAVE NEVER CONSIDERED MYSELF 'SXE'.
>4.Why did Minor Threat broke up?
WE WERE NOT GETTING ALONG, AND WE COULDN'TAGREE ON A MUSICAL DIRECTION.
>5.Looking back to those years, what do they mean to you?
LIKE ALL OTHER YEARS BEFORE THIS MOMENT, I COULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN HERE WITHOUT THEM.
>6.How do you see the evolution of your music from MT to the latest Fugazi?
ORGANIC. l HOPE THAT THE MUSIC HAS FOLLOWED A NATURAL PROGRESSION.
>7.Do you have any regret ? NO.
>8.something more to add? NOPE.
THANKS FOR THE QUESTIONS.
IAN 23/06/99