Ian MacKaye Started a Band with His Wife Amy Farina
hm
The couple who plays together stays together!
Ian MacKaye met his wife, Amy Farina, in the early 1990s, and the pair have been together ever since. They currently share a son, Carmine, and live in Washington, D.C.
Both MacKaye and Farina are musicians and belong to the same band named Coriky. MacKaye started the band in 2018 with his wife and his former bandmate from Fugazi, Joe Lally.
Ian MacKaye and his wife, Amy Farina, belong to two different bands. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
MacKaye serves as the singer and guitarist for the band. Farina is the drummer, and Lally serves as the bassist.
They played their first show at St. Stephen’s Auditorium in Washington D.C. on November 11, 2018.
Ian MacKaye and His Wife's Band
When they did their first live gig, MacKaye, Farina, and Lally did not have a name for their band. The singer said that all the band names had been taken.
Moreover, those bands had lawyers, so they could not keep such names. Then, the three bandmates looked back at their history.
They were and are parts of acclaimed rock bands with D.C. punk history. So, they decided they could call themselves whatever they liked in the end.
They chose the name Coriky, and they did not know its meaning. Regardless, the name stuck through, and the band released their self-titled debut album on March 27, 2020.
It was released through Dischord Records and recorded by Don Zientara. Coriky is not the only band MacKaye and Farina belong to.
They are a part of The Evens, where MacKaye was on baritone guitar and his wife on drums. Farina also harmonized with her husband on various songs.
Ian MacKaye and His Wife's First Meet
In the early 1990s, Farina moved to Washington D.C. to go to art school. However, she was already in a band named Mr. Candy Eater.
Back then, MacKaye was an established singer and guitarist who played for Fugazi. Then, in 1992, Mr. Candy Eater opened for Fugazi, and Farina and MacKaye came across each other.
MacKaye remembered the first time he met his spouse and talked about it to the Scene on June 26, 2013. He recalled, "I talked to her and thought she was a great singer."
He remembered she started to play with Lois Maffeo, which impressed him greatly. So he offered to record some songs for them, and then Farina formed a band with her MacKaye's brother.
They soon became great friends, and slowly, their friendship turned into a romantic relationship. MacKaye revealed that it was hard for him to be informal with people regarding music.
However, it was different with Farina, and he could connect to her properly. Therefore, the two formed a band named The Evens after Fugazi went on a hiatus in the late 90s'.
Does Ian MacKaye Have a Kid?
Yes, MacKaye and his wife have a son named Carmine, born in 2008. Farina talked about raising a son in a family full of musicians to NPR on December 2, 2012.
She said it was difficult to have a proper conversation with their young son. Moreover, since both she and MacKaye were in the same band, they had difficulty separating time for their son.
Farina said, "t's not like one of us can stay with the kid while the other one goes to rehearsal or something like that." But even though it is complicated, the drummer said that the couple was fortunate.
This was because their son was not a fussy child and was someone "who's actually really easy to do things with." Similarly, they had family nearby who could take care of Carmine when they were not around.