Above photo: Susie J. Horgan

Fugazi have a long history of being used in skateboarding but, I must admit, it took me awhile to ‘get’ it; with the more immediate and accessible sounds of Minor Threat driving my adrenalin levels as I got ready to go out skating for most of my early teens, I took some time to get round to exploring Ian MacKaye’s later and more complex work.

Once I did, however, I was hooked – atypical song structures were stopped from becoming overly abstract by the incredible melodies which the band could create, the rhythm section were tight as fuck and Ian’s voice was given the chance to explore a wider range than it had while part of Minor Threat – this was closer to Egg Hunt or Embrace than Minor Threat, but with a much broader spread of influences and ideas than even those bands had reached for. What with MacKaye’s skate past and his recent mention of skateboarding during an interview, it’s no surprise that Fugazi are such a regular in skate video soundtracks.

With the demos released last winter we got a sense of the band’s beginnings – it’s rare that a bunch of demo recordings stand up alongside later releases, but these are every bit as good as their later and arguably more complete versions. Listening to those on repeat recently, I realised it was high time to put together a compilation of the best skate sections to utilise the band so here it is – our Fugazi skate video tribute – enjoy…