Joe Lally

Best known as a member of Fugazi, Joe Lally first learned bass after seeing a Minor Threat show with Dag Nasty's Peter Cortner, which prompted them to form a band. In 1987 he joined up with Ian MacKaye, Brendan Canty, and Guy Picciotto to make Fugazi, one of the most important groups in the American underground scene. In 2002, as Fugazi was on hiatus, Lally got together with ex-Frodus members Shelby Cinca and Jason Hamacher as Black Sea and released a single that year, soon after changing their name to Decahedron and issuing a full-length, Disconnection Imminent, in 2004. That same year Lally joined up with John Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer as Ataxia and released Automatic Writing. During this same time period Lally also ran the small label Tolotta, which he initially started in order to help distribute singles from bands who might have had trouble getting their music out otherwise, though he did end up putting out some full-lengths from artists like Spirit Caravan and Stinking Lizaveta. In 2006 Lally released his first solo record, There to Here, a sparse, bass-driven set, on the D.C. punk label (run by MacKaye) Dischord, while Nothing Is Underrated, which featured contributions from both MacKaye and Picciotto, among others, appeared the following year.