Ian MacKaye founded Dischord Records as a teenager in 1980 with partner Jeff Nelson. Their original intent was simply to release a single to document their recently defunct band, Teen Idles. However, the label has gone on to release music from more than 60 bands, with more than 200 albums over the last 40 years and counting.

As musicians, Ian and Jeff went on to form Minor Threat, who along with Bad Brains are credited in the early 80s with introducing the DC hardcore ethic to an audience well beyond Washington DC.

In 1985, Ian sang with Embrace, a short-lived band who only played 11 shows before breaking up in early 1986. Ian and Jeff did a studio project called Egghunt, which released one 7".


Later in 1986, Ian formed Fugazi with Joe Lally, Brendan Canty and Guy Picciotto. Over 20+ years the band has released seven albums and toured the world extensively covering all fifty United States, Europe, Australia, South America, Japan and many points in between. Fugazi is self managed and maintains a policy of affordable access to their work through low record and ticket prices and all concerts are all-ages. In 2003 Fugazi decided to take an indefinite hiatus from recording and touring as young families and other priorities began to take center stage.

In 2001, Ian started played in The Evens, a duo with Amy Farina. The Evens reveled in short-circuiting the conventions of rock music and perform mostly in non-traditional music spaces — libraries, art spaces, schools, theaters, etc. They released three albums and toured extensively in North America, Europe, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. In 2015, Ian formed Coriky with Amy Farina and Joe Lally.
Coricky released one album in 2020.

Ian has also been taking on speaking engagements, delivering talks that take the form of informal Question and Answer sessions.

For Press Images of Ian go here

Photo: Amy Farina