Fugazi have revealed plans to put hundreds of their concerts online, helping thousands of fans to recall their favourite mosh-pit bruises. The legendary 1990s punk band will launch an internet archive featuring "almost every show" they ever played.
"We are not that far away from being able to set up our own website where ultimately almost every show we ever played will be available for download," guitarist Guy Picciotto recently told fansite World of Fugazi (via Twentyfourbit).
The Washington, DC band, revered by the DIY and post-hardcore scenes, toured the world from 1987 until 2002. Although bootlegs of their shows have been traded on tape, CD and now MP3, Fugazi have only previously issued 30 live recordings, as part of their Fugazi Live Series CD-Rs. These included concerts in New York, Hong Kong and London.
According to Picciotto, Dischord Records is still busy converting the stack of bootlegs to a digital format and preparing the "infrastructure" of the project website. The recordings will probably be released a few at a time, beginning later this year.
The archive's official announcement, still forthcoming from Dischord, could be an opportunity for an even bigger announcement – say, a Fugazi reunion. Despite an eight-year hiatus, the band have never officially broken up. Musically, Picciotto has been busy over the past two years, working with the late Vic Chesnutt.