While watching old Fugazi concert videos on YouTube one evening, Jeff Krulik had a brainwave. “There was a lot of footage online shot by fans, and I was reminded how powerful Fugazi were as a live entity,” he says. “I had the idea of stringing this footage together to recreate the concert experience.” The result became We Are Fugazi From Washington DC, a unique “non-documentary” that celebrates the band’s close relationship with their audience.
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As the idea took shape, Krulik – co-creator of classic 1986 short Heavy Metal Parking Lot – put together a team that included writer Joe Gross and editor Joseph Pattisall. Fugazi founder Ian MacKaye gave his blessing and suggested the focus should be on the fans rather than the band, whose story had already been told in Jem Cohen’s 1999 documentary Instrument. “Ian loved the idea but didn’t want to make it about the band as much as the people that took the cameras to the show on their own initiative,” explains Krulik. “He pointed out some footage and gave us access to the archive.”
The team began to track down the fans responsible for the Fugazi footage, inviting them to share their stories. Drummer Brendan Canty also got involved, providing audio from the appropriate live shows if the sound captured by camcorders wasn’t good enough for the immersive cinematic experience the filmmakers were hoping to create.
Joe Gross, who’s previously written a 33⅓ book about Fugazi’s In On The Kill Taker LP, describes Fugazi as “the greatest live band in the world… they never gave a bad show”. Krulik agrees: “I love what one of the amateur filmmakers, Jim Spellman, says in the film – ‘I knew in the moment that this was something special happening.’ I thought he nailed it with that sentiment. He’s the one who shot ‘Waiting Room’, included here, which is my favourite performance of my favourite song.
“What I love about Jim’s footage is the audience intensity – you can feel it, which is also a hallmark of many a live Fugazi show and ultimately the impetus driving Joe, Joseph and myself to create this homage.”
Some of the most thrilling moments in the documentary date back to the late 1980s, including a show at DC’s Wilson Center filmed by an enterprising fan who climbed some scaffolding to get a bird’s-eye view of the band and the raging crowd. Another highlight comes from an outdoor concert that was fortuitously filmed by two fans from two different angles. It’s presented in split-screen – you can even see the two cameras facing each other across the stage.
“That was our tribute to the Woodstock film,” says Gross. “When you see the crowds, you get a good sense of what the shows were like and the different responses. There are a lot of women, there are friends on stage, and there’s a wild moshpit.”
In the spirit of Fugazi’s famous inclusionary ethos, tickets for the first screenings in Washington DC were initially capped at $5, resulting
in sell-out crowds. A similar sentiment will apply when the film is
released in UK cinemas, with the filmmakers’ profits from each screening donated to a local food bank charity.
Since making We Are Fugazi From Washington DC, Krulik has been approached by fans who have more footage to share – possibly enough for a sequel. All of this has come as a pleasant surprise to Krulik. “We wanted to celebrate the band for the fans who remembered seeing them back in the day,” he says, “but also for those who weren’t around and never had a chance to see what Fugazi was all about.”
We Are Fugazi From Washington DC is screening in a number of UK cinemas on March 5 (with a few additional dates later in the month). Visit the Doc’N Roll site for full details and tickets