What one music geek hears as a cathartic, passionate roar can be another’s off-key temper tantrum. Take local punk band Priests. The D.C. combo’s noisy sound is anchored by singer Katie Greer’s sociopolitical rants and sing-song wailing. Greer, also a member of Ian Svenonius’ Chain & the Gang, yells about consumerism in “Radiation” and Air [...]

So, what'd you miss at local punk godfather Ian MacKaye's super secret 50th birthday party at St. Stephen's? WTOP's Neal Augenstein has an anonymously sourced report (and some pictures to boot):
The party was thrown Saturday night by Amy Farina—MacKaye's wife and bandmate in The Evens, and Jeff Nelson—MacKaye's former bandmate in Minor Threat and co-owner of [...]

 
Which is to say: It's pretty impressive that this Kickstarter campaign, for an upcoming exhibition and book of Lucian Perkins' photographs of early D.C. punk shows, has raised more than $5,000 of its $7,000 goal in one day.
The book and travelling exhibition is called HARD ART DC 1979, and it features photographs from the year the future [...]

Four months after the band’s final show on August 17, 1983, Faith released a posthumous EP called Subject to Change. One of the classic documents of D.C. hardcore, Faith’s swan song has never gone out of print. But its current incarnation, remastered and reissued by Dischord Records, is certainly the most generous and elegant version.
Reviewed in this week’s [...]

Look Back and Laugh: Two worthwhile interviews with  people named MacKaye. Ian has a long conversation with Tablet (!) about the devotional side of punk rock. Key quote: "Straight up, I think music is sacred. I think music is a form of communication that predates language. Music predates religion, it predates business, it predates all [...]

My, how it's grown: The last D.C. Record Fair, in February, drew around 1,500 people to the Black Cat. The next, just announced, is May 23 in the same space.
The DJs confirmed at the moment are a less high-profile bunch than the last (which included Ian MacKaye, Geologist, and Kid Congo Powers), but it's still [...]