(Thrasher Magazine)

IN A COUNTRY WHERE HALF OF ALL marriages end in divorce, it's hard to imagine a four-way relationship lasting very long. For the last 14 years, Fugazi has had that kind of success. The band has stuck it out and remained vital and important far beyond the boundaries of the subculture that spawned it. But creativity and fame don't make time stand still. Fugazi have been subject to many of the same life changes that everyone else goes through. Drummer Brendan Canty has two kids, and bassist Joe Lally and his wife Antonia are expecting in September. Rather than letting the process of life eat at them, singer/guitarist Ian MacKaye says the members of Fugazi have embraced the newness that comes with age.

"It's a relief," says MacKaye. "I tend to do things in long swaths. I've been living in this house for 20 years, had the label for 20 years, been with the same person for 19 years, and been with the band for 14 years. I tend just to hit it and stick. In some ways, having a profound change on the order of life occur, that's good. It makes me think I'm not just stuck in some weird singular zone."

MacKaye says Canty's decision to have children had a huge but positive impact on the band. "Brendan and Michelle decided to have a kid and everything just changed, and everyone is fine with that. After a decade of having the band be a really huge part of your life, it's OK now for life to be a huge part of the band."

For Fugazi, that didn't mean throwing in the towel and playing reunion tours every few years. MacKaye says adapting is what being in a band is all about. "Generally speaking, we're not doing much touring. There are babies in the band and that's changed our tour habits. We just said, 'Well, if we're the real thing we have to figure out how we can work with this. In what creative way can we contend with this situation?' Because this is what life is, this is what happens. The band was not just this novelty that only worked under certain circumstances. If it's real, it has to operate under all sorts of circumstances."

On top of that, MacKaye says the members of the band genuinely love to make music together regardless. "People think if a band's not on tour or putting out a record, they're probably just sitting next to a pool somewhere," says MacKaye. "We like the band. We like each other. We spend a lot of time together. Even when we're not touring we practice together three and four days a week. It's not like we're getting back together to go out and play We practice, write-- we're together all the time."

Fugazi are out on tour now, after just finishing recording. MacKaye says the band is in a cooling off period with the new material. "We're trying to decide whether we have created a record or just a big pile of shit," says MacKaye. "We'll figure it out in the next few days."