PUNK PIONEER IAN MacKaye’s proudest guitar moments say a lot about his philosophy and aesthetic for the instrument. Deep in the runtime of Instrument, the 1999 documentary about his legendary post-hardcore band Fugazi, MacKaye stands in front of his Marshall JCM 800 half-stack, conjuring caterwauling feedback from his alpine white Gibson SG during the breakdown of “Promises,” the closing song on 1989’s landmark 13 Songs [Dischord].
Ian MacKaye performs with Fugazi at the Hollywood Palladium April 25, 1993; [facing page] the official "press photo" for Coriky, MacKaye’s new band with wife Amy Farina and Fugazi bassist Joe Lally
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“There’s this moment where I do this chirping feedback thing,” MacKaye recalls. “It was really like I intended it and I knew what I was doing, and it got captured. And I’m like, ‘That’s what I’m talking about.’”