Fugazi - In On The Kill Taker (Vinyl Reissue)
Dischord is reworking and re-issuing their catalogue on vinyl. We at the FSS had to get in on that, so we decided to make “In On The Kill Taker”, Fugazi’s 3rd, and in our opinion, best, album our second listening session review.
This time we listened at P’s place. Whereas Brother T’s house smells like good coffee and order, P’s smells unkempt and of toddler urine. But that’s more punk rock. We chose this time to record our conversation as we listened to the album. The beer was Ommegang (unremarkable), the pizza was thin crust, the children filthy and out of control. Below is a transcript of the session.
Tape starts
T: (Neil Young voice) Track one. Track two.
P: Hello Shit?
(Needle is dropped on the first track.)
P (con’t): Sure you don’t want a beer?
T: I’ll get one in a minute.
P: I think this pre-amp is only slightly more powerful than the one built into the table.
T: Yeah it sounded kinda ass when it started out. CDs sound ridiculous on this T-amp though.
P: This is only ¾ power let’s see …
(Turns volume up, Ian is screaming Facet Squared, voices get real unintelligible.)
T: I was checking In On the Kill out on Amazon and like 90 percent of the people who reviewed say it’s their favorite Fugazi album.
P: For real?
T: That doesn’t mean 90 percent of hardcore Fugazi fans feel like that, but I think the ones that do are just passionate enough to type it on Amazon.
P: What do you think, you think this album is accessible?
T: “13 songs” is probably a little more poppy.
(Public Witness Program bangs on in the background.)
P: Remember back in the day when we used to hang around with the Long Island kids? One of them once said that if you mention Fugazi probably they are gonna start singing Waiting Room.
T: They were playing it on K -Rock for a period of time.
P: That’s fuckin nuts…This whole place smells like piss.
T: Yeah I was just thinking that.
P: This is no good.
(P’s father enters room.)
P’s Father: That’s it I’m off duty. I’m tired. The girls are coming down.
(Returning the Screw starts up.)
P: Fucking hell. What were we saying now?
T: Something about piss.
(You hear a door open P’s daughters thunder around in the background.)
P: Did this come out in Sophomore year? Junior?
T: I don’t remember. I remember you having it on tape.
Kid: Pizza. You have to hold it and chew it. Teeeee heeeee.
(P motions to Brother T’s new Tat.)
P: How is that healing?
T: Good. It’s itchy as hell.
(Kids are making huge noise in the background.)
P: Listen you gotta be quiet, we’re working on the website.
Kid: You have a WEBSITE?
(Smallpox Champion. A bunch of laughing.)
T: (about Guy Picciotto) Is it Guy or Geee?
P: I think it’s Geee.
T: (referring to the sleeve photo) Damn it’s look like these guys hit a 4 for 1 black sweater sale before they took this photo.
P: Yeah, they do look European as hell. I tell you my brother met Ian Mackaye at a sandwich shop in New York?
T: (laughing) No.
P: He goes “ You Ian Mckay?” He says (imitating Ian’s voice) “ MackEYE yeah.” And they chatted about sandwiches for a minute.
(Laughter.)
T: You know what my favorite part of this song is?
P: The “cha cha cha champion”?
T: The “you’ll get yours…OoooooooOoooooooOoooooooo”.
(Laughter.)
T (con’t): I like the idea of telling someone their gonna get theirs then squealing Ooooooo.
(Guy is squealing Ooooooo in the background. Laughter.)
Kid: I’m doing a baby dance.
P: So…
Kid: A dance of babies.
(Rend It plays.)
P:Please go in the kitchen.
T: They’ve grown like 5 inches since I last seen them.
P: Yeah they’re gonna be tall. Taller than me.
T: Everyones taller than you.
P: Not 4th graders… Sickly 4th graders.
(The music keeps playing. We shut up for a bit.)
T: When I first started working my job I used to play this album a lot…
(Kids flip out, a lot of baby yelling…23 Beats Off…)
T (con’t): …and my boss was this Southern woman. She would get visibly irritated during this record and start pacing back and forth. By the time the feedback reached a pitch and the screaming started she would rush over and slam off the CD player. I used to play it a lot for that reason.
(Laughs.)
T (con’t) I remember thinking back in the day Fugazi were foreign as hell.
P: Me too.
T: It’s weird because this album is so D.C.
(Sweet and Low begins.)
T (con’t): This is the song I imagined the video for…
(Editor’s Note: Both of us had the common hallucination that Fugazi made a video for this album, and that we had seen it, consisting of just a slowly scrolling shot of the album’s cover art. P thought it was for Returning The Screw, T thought it was for Sweet and Low. We’re both pretty sure no such video ever existed.)
T (con’t): …and I can clearly remember being at Pete’s house and asking you if you saw the Fugazi video and you saying yes and describing the same video.
P: I know man. It’s fucking odd.
Kid: Poop shoot. It’s a poop shoot.
P: What is she talking about?T: It’s your kid, man.
(Cassavettes. T and P chant “riot,riot” where appropriate. Kids dance and sing and make a racket.)
P: Did they ever make a 33 1/3 book about this album?
T: Some one wanted to. It didn’t get picked.
P: I’m sure there are some stories behind these songs.
T: I read that Walken’s Syndrome comes from that Christopher Walken scene in that Woody Allen movie “Annie Hall” where he talks about swerving into oncoming traffic.
P: Yeah I read that. “Annie Hall” sucked.
(Great Cop.)
T: That line, “you’d make a great cop”. In a lot of circles, that’d be a compliment. You tell one of us we’d make a great cop and it’s a huge fucking offense though.
(Laughter. We sit and listen… Walken’s Syndrome… Some shoebox drumming by one of the kids… Instrument echoes in the room.)
T (con’t): Man I think you maybe better throw this couch out.
P: I really should never be left in charge of anything.
(Last Chance For a Slow Dance. The kid’s are whining sleepily.)
Kid: Whahhh.
P: Whaaaa.
Kid: Is this the last song?
P: Yeah.
T: More beer?
P: Yeah. Please
End of tape.
Aren’t you glad you read all this?
Popularity: 9% [?]
