Keep Your Eyes Open: The Fugazi Photographs of Glen E. Friedman

by Glen E. Friedman (Photographer), Ian F. Svenonius (Introduction)

Overview

A second edition of the definitive photo book of one of the most influential rock bands of the past forty years, including brand-new, exclusive material.

“Friedman . . . marvelously captures [Fugazi’s] non-hierarchical structure and spirit . . . These images bristle with the manic yet controlled energy that characterized all of Fugazi’s performances. Sweat sparkles, bodies contort themselves, microphone stands fly off the stage.” —Bookforum

Fugazi, one of music's most revolutionary and gloriously indefinable bands, played their first concert on September 3, 1987. The first edition of Keep Your Eyes Open: The Fugazi Photographs of Glen E. Friedman was released by Burning Flags Press exactly twenty years later. This revised edition features brand-new photos and an interview with Friedman and Fugazi singer/guitarist Ian MacKaye.

Keep Your Eyes Open presents the best of Friedman's unparalleled photographic documentation of Fugazi's members in almost 200 color and black-and-white images captured by Friedman onstage and off between 1986 and Fugazi's last US concert in 2002.

Fugazi evolved from Washington, DC's, hardcore punk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. While it would be impossible to fully capture Fugazi in any one medium, Friedman's book effectively complements the band's Dischord Records catalog, which includes seven studio albums, one soundtrack, three EPs, and hundreds of live concert CDs produced from Fugazi's own soundboard recordings.

Fugazi—a band dedicated to democratic self-management, highlighted by complete artistic and financial control—booked its own tours worldwide, and was often the first band to perform in unconventional venues around the world in order to maintain ticket prices that averaged just five dollars, a practice that opened many new venue doors to other touring artists. In addition, Fugazi has never marketed or licensed its name or likeness for posters, T-shirts, pins, or other ancillary merchandise. Fugazi's unwavering respect for its audience is one of the band's most indelible marks on modern music. The band went on indefinite hiatus in late 2002.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617757006
Publisher:	Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date:	07/02/2019
Edition description:	Expanded
Pages:	120
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

GLEN E. FRIEDMAN, one of the most important photographers of his generation, is known for his influential and iconic images of rebellious artists from classic skateboarding, punk, and hip-hop cultures. As a true artist his process was much more incendiary than it was documentary. Friedman, first published at the age of fourteen, has produced over one hundred record covers, countless magazine pages, and almost a dozen books, including What I See: The Black Flag Photographs, Keep Your Eyes Open, DogTown: The Legend of the Z-Boys, The Idealist, Recognize, My Rules, and Together Forever: The Run-DMC and Beastie Boys Photographs. His work is now included in a number of notable international collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution. His latest work is Just a Minor Threat.

IAN F. SVENONIUS is the author of the underground bestsellers Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ‘n’ Roll Group,The Psychic Soviet, and Censorship Now!! He was also the host of VBS.tv’s Soft Focus, where he interviewed Mark E. Smith, Genesis P. Orridge, Chan Marshall, Ian MacKaye, and others. As a musician he has created more than twenty albums and countless singles in various rock and roll combos (Escape-ism, Chain & the Gang, The Make-Up, The Nation of Ulysses, etc.). He lives in Los Angeles, CA. Against the Written Word is his latest work.

Editorial Reviews

"It is . . . a testament to Friedman that his live stage shots express the intimacy of the moment but don’t insert themselves nor distract from the band . . . Keep Your Eyes Open is its most successful when Friedman lets the photographs bloom in their richness with full page presentations"

New York Journal of Books

"This new and expanded edition features an additional interview with MacKaye and Friedman, and, much to the relief of Fugazi and photography fans, is far easier to get hold of. With almost 200 photos to gawk at, it’s an absolute treat for the senses . . . If it were possible for pictures to trigger your senses, you would smell the stale sweat, feel the dry mouth from a lack of hydration, hear every line being belted out in full force."

Punktastic

"Everyone knows the old saying, ‘A picture’s worth a 1,000 words.’ It couldn’t be more true with this pictorial retrospective of Fugazi, one of the most influential rock bands from the 20th century. Fugazi’s career and DIY ethic are captured in photographs of gigs from their hometown of Washington, DC and abroad."

Alternative Press

"While most photographers were taking photos of Fugazi, Glen was making photos with us."

Ian MacKaye

"Perhaps the definitive visual chronicle of Fugazi’s decade and a half storming stages, Friedman’s Keep Your Eyes Open was first published in 2007. Now, the book is back in print with a new afterword by Friedman and a joint interview with the photographer and MacKaye."

The Current’s Rock and Roll Book Club (Minnesota Public Radio)

"Friedman . . . marvelously captures [Fugazi’s] non-hierarchical structure and spirit . . . These images bristle with the manic yet controlled energy that characterized all of Fugazi’s performances. Sweat sparkles, bodies contort themselves, microphone stands fly off the stage."

Bookforum

"Perhaps the definitive visual chronicle of Fugazi's decade and a half storming stages, Friedman's Keep Your Eyes Open was first published in 2007. Now, the book is back in print with a new afterword by Friedman and a joint interview with the photographer and MacKaye."
—The Current's Rock and Roll Book Club (Minnesota Public Radio)

"While most photographers were taking photos of Fugazi, Glen was making photos with us."
—Ian MacKaye, Fugazi

"Everyone knows the old saying, 'A picture's worth a 1,000 words.' It couldn't be more true with this pictorial retrospective of Fuzagi, one of the most influential rock bands from the 20th century. Fugazi's career and DIY ethic are captured in photographs of gigs from their hometown of Washington, DC and abroad."
—Alternative Press

"This book is a tour de force of emotions for a fan who is hoping on a daily basis to hear something about their 'hiatus' coming to an end...Glen has captured that essence, as well as very candid off stage images that are only gained by a trusted insider. If you know anything about Fugazi, then you already know the instant you see this book, it will be in your collection."
—Anthem

"There's a fantastic juxtaposition that comes to light across these 100-plus glossy, coffee-table-book-on-cool-steroids pages: The visceral energy of the band's live shows is captured with artistic elegance by Friedman, as the convergence of band and artist's work brings out each other's subtler qualities."
—College Music Journal

"Keep Your Eyes Open is [Friedman's] labor of love, his contribution to a story that has changed both the face and business of music...Like the band's music, it is not immediately evident what makes [the photos] so incendiary. But like their music there are layers upon layers of texture and depth...They are chaotic and beautiful. Chaotic because they break the mold, beautiful because they show that in doing so the possibility of something better arises."
—Dissident Voice

"Having captured them throughout their existence, Friedman has compiled a remarkable photo book in Keep Your Eyes Open: Fugazi...Eager archivists, Brendan Canty, Joe Lally, Ian MacKaye, and Guy Picciotto are fortunate to have visionary artists like Friedman and filmmaker Jem Cohen (Instrument) document their band."
—EXCLAIM (Canada)

"For a band so careful about how they were represented, it follows that Fugazi only allowed themselves to be documented by the most righteous of dudes. Glen E. Friedman fits the bill."
—FADER

"[T]he core allure of Friedman's snapshots are their elegant depictions of an inherently visceral and no-frills movement...[I]t's the images themselves—fiery, poetic, sexy and searing—that will place this book prominently alongside Fuck You Heroes and Get In The Van."
—Heeb

"Glen E. Friedman's book, which will be released twenty years to the day that [Fugazi] played their first show, takes a long look back and relives those epic shows thru his highly tuned lens. The kinetic energy of the band is captured with power and grace in a collection of on and off stage photographs...And emotion is evident in each and every page."
—Punk Rock Confidential

"[O]ne of the band's closest friends, Glen E. Friedman—a man whose photos did as much to define hardcore as Fugazi's music—is finally releasing the definitive pictorial history of the group that transformed modern punk rock. There's a synergy between the subject and it's cataloguer—a shared vision, integrity, intensity—and the book, called Keep Your Eyes Open, is a fitting testimony to the importance of both the band and their lens man."
—Rolling Stone Australia

"Keep Your Eyes Open is Friedman's heartfelt collection of photographs documenting Fugazi's beginnings in 1987 and the 20 years that followed. Scheduled for release on September 3 on the anniversary of the band's first gig, Glen's book takes viewers through two decades of shows, memorable moments and the powerful music that kept Fugazi at the top despite never giving in to big business."
—Trace

"By 1987, when Fugazi started playing shows, Friedman's work had already cataloged the rising Los Angeles punk and hardcore world, captured some of the most iconic figures of hip-hop, and helped define skateboarding culture...Keep Your Eyes Open assembles photographs that Friedman took of the band throughout its career—from the group shot included on the back cover of Repeater to live photos that capture the overwhelming intensity of the band's shows to a few intimate and unexpected moments shot during soundcheck."
—Washington City Paper

"While many artists lack instinct, forty-five-year-old photographer Glen E. Friedman has built a career on perfect timing—knowing just when and where to capture the moment that otherwise would have gone undocumented. His impeccable eye, paired with his heart and ability to decipher between what is and isn't genuine, have allowed him to capture some of our generation's most important images...Glen's presence at the dawn of each subculture can never be replicated."
—Huck Magazine(UK)

"Dualism is rife in these pictures. They are grainy yet razor sharp, austere yet intricate, uniquely artistic yet proudly proletarian. One wouldn't think a photographer could capture such dynamism from a band that shunned fancy stage-shows; but Fugazi's demand for focus on the music translates into shots that are deeply personal, and convey a pure intensity."
—Znet

"More than coffee-table fare, this photographic retrospective of the inimitable demigods of DIY captures an iconic band through the lens of a skilled and passionate artisan...If you weren't ever fortunate enough to have attended one of Fugazi's $5 shows, Keep Your Eyes Open succeeds in placing you in the audience. For those who did experience the moral aesthetes live, the photos take you right on stage."
—Venus Magazine

From the Publisher