Arising from the mid-80s DC punk scene, Fugazi created a wealth of emotional yet immediately absorbing music that countless bands strive to better even now. They crafted a sound that didn’t so much bridge the worlds of alternative rock, punk and hardcore but rather tightly interwove them, resulting in a sound that has influenced anyone with a guitar, a moral compass and the drive to create something that could tear the world in two, or stitch it back together.
They championed a DIY approach to recording and releasing music that is held up as a standard to this day, and it’s in that spirit that this collection has come to life.
Silence Is A Dangerous Sound: A Tribute To Fugazi brings together 43 bands who have embraced that same drive and innovation to pay tribute to their forefathers with a diverse array of approaches. From the reggae-infected punk of Authority Zero through to ZAO’s searing hardcore, these unique takes on well-known and well-loved cuts are a testament to the legacy of one of punk’s most iconic and influential acts.
Silence Is A Dangerous Sound: A Tribute To Fugazi will be released digitally and as a double CD (a one-time limited pressing of 500) on 1st October 2021 by Ripcord Records, and all profits made are going to the Tribe Animal Sanctuary in Scotland.
“I’ve been a huge fan of Fugazi for over 20 years, in awe of not just their music, but who they are as people, so when we got the idea of doing a tribute release for charity, it was kind of a no-brainer as to which band the tribute would be for. This is very much a DIY release and there isn’t really a better band to pay homage to that has those down-to-earth, no bullshit, DIY ethics,” Charlene from Ripcord Records says.
“We didn’t really know what to expect when we started this but we were blown away by the enthusiasm from the bands when we got in contact. It’s great to have such a variety of bands, for example, bands that were around in the 90s such as Nathan Gray (in Boysetsfire), Shai Hulud, Chamberlain, Jonah Matranga (in Far), and ZAO alongside newer bands such as The Darling Fire, GILT and Teenage Halloween. Again this shows how far reaching Fugazi’s influence is and how relevant they are even 20 years after releasing their last studio album. Big Ups even got back together just to record for this release.”
The first song from Silence Is A Dangerous Sound: A Tribute To Fugazi is “Break” recorded by the Italian band STORM{O}.
“Things have been taken apart, got broken, everything was here but now it’s gone. It seems a common destiny of everything and everybody to be gone at some point, that is the feeling you have while listening to “Break”,” STORM{O} say.
“We chose to reinterpret this song for a tribute album which aims to be a benefit to a tribe animal sanctuary in Scotland and it could look like a contradiction; reflecting on the protection of wild life with a song that speaks about the necessary death of everything. The video tries to translate in images this ostensible oxymoron; it wants to represent a circle where the death of something is strictly linked with the life of something else.”
“Creating an undefined environment, a sort of limbo, where two bodies live and die in a close relation of reciprocity. Just flashes in the surrounding, as flicker of life. The bodies do exist only due to the light and the light take shapes meeting their presence; without the flashes we wouldn’t see the bodies and without the bodies the light would burn the film. Everything is linked to everything else, nobody is more important than nobody and nothing else and, one day, everything will be gone and on and on and on.”
Pre-order here: https://ripcordrecords.bandcamp.com
