Ian MacKaye

Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Evens, Dischord Records

Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Evens , Dischord Records, and a hell of a lot more).

I was thrilled about this portrait opportunity. Let me tell you why these particular portraits mean so much to me:

In ’93, I found myself in an AOL chatroom, looking for some kind of connection. I ended up in the punk section and started talking to another kid my age. We connected over music—what else—and he mailed me a mixtape. A few Minor Threat songs were on it. I can still remember that feeling when it hit me. That raw energy, that honesty—it clicked immediately. Not long after, I scraped together some cash and bought the Minor Threat - Out of Step cassette—the first time I ever bought music with my own money. I’d sit there, cross-legged on the floor, lyrics in hand, reading and listening, like I’d found something that was finally mine.

That moment led me to something bigger. Punk wasn’t just music—it was a community, a family. I made friends through it, skated with it, went to shows, and started bands. Minor Threat, Fugazi, and Ian MacKaye, specifically, gave me a place to exist, a world where I finally belonged.

Fast forward 31 years, I was lucky enough to spend some time with Ian at the Dischord House and photograph some portraits. Thirteen-year-old me would have been thrilled to know that one day I’d be sitting on the iconic steps seen on the cover of Minor Threat's 1985 EP, Salad Days, with Ian. We talked skateboarding, music, and aloe vera.