Ian MacKaye

Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Evens, Dischord Records

Ian MacKaye. Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Evens, Dischord Records, and a hell of a lot more.

I was stoked for the opportunity to take these portraits. But there’s a little more to why they mean so much to me.

Sometime around 1993-94, I found myself in an AOL chatroom looking for people who were into the same stuff I was. I ended up in the music section and started talking to another kid my age. We became friends through music, and at some point he mailed me a mixtape. There were a few Minor Threat songs on it.

I would sit cross legged on the floor with the lyric sheet in front of me and listen to that tape over and over. It felt like I had found something that was mine. And it ended up being a lot bigger than a cassette. Punk gave me a community. It gave me friends. It got me skating, going to shows and eventually starting bands of my own. Minor Threat and Fugazi were a huge part of that. Ian’s music and the world around Dischord gave a 13 year old kid a place where he felt like he belonged.

31 years later, I got to spend some time with Ian at the Dischord House and take these portraits. 13 year old me would have absolutely lost his mind. We sat on the same steps from the cover of Minor Threat’s Salad Days album and talked skateboarding, music and aloe vera.