Following news that Fugazi would be repackaging their earliest recordings for commercial release, the post-hardcore greats have now locked down a due date for their First Demo. The collection lands on CD, LP and digitally November 18 through Dischord Records.
As previously reported, the 11-song session was tracked in 1988 at Don Zientara's Inner Ear Studio in Virginia, where the members had previously recorded with older projects Rites of Spring, Minor Threat, Embrace and more. Fugazi had only played 10 shows by this point, with the lineup not having yet instilled Guy Picciotto as a full-time guitarist. He did, however, sing lead on "Break-In."
A press release explains that a couple of months after completing the sessions, the outfit decided not to issue a proper release, "as new songs were being written and the older songs were evolving and changing shape while the band was out on tour."
Most of the recordings were, however, distributed as a free cassette at shows, with "In Defense of Humans" also appearing on Dischord's State of the Union compilation in 1989. Songs like "Waiting Room" and "Bad Mouth" would later be re-recorded for future releases, but First Demo marks the official debut of "Turn Off Your Guns."