Ex-Minor Threat Guitarist on a Possible Reunion: “It’s Just Not Very Appealing”
Lyle Preslar reveals why the hardcore punk troupe will never reunite
Minor Threat disbanded more than 30 years ago which, under normal circumstances, would mean they’ve reunited at least once since. That they haven’t puts them in rarefied company, especially for a group that didn’t exactly hit paydirt during their three-year tenure.
And, now that all of the still-living original members of the hardcore punk band—singer Ian MacKaye, guitarist Lyle Preslar, bassist Brian Baker and drummer Jeff Nelson—are in their fifties, don’t expect any change of heart. “Speaking for myself, it’s just not very appealing,” Preslar says about the possibility of a reunion. “Not because I don’t like the guys or anything like that. It’s just that we’re well past that. People who would even be interested [in a Minor Threat reunion] weren’t even born.”
Preslar says there were some reunion offers 15 or 20 years ago but persistent rebuffs have more or less ended those. “It would have been highly lucrative financially but it never has appealed to us,” he says. Still, he says rarely a month goes by that the respective members aren’t in some sort of communication, often about fielding licensing (their most recent score was having their titular tune, “Minor Threat,” appear on the final season of Entourage). MacKaye, of course, is the most renown member of Minor Threat, having graduated to post-hardcore group Fugazi before founding Dischord Records, home to all Minor Threat music.
Speaking of which, you can also rule out additional Minor Threat releases, audio or otherwise. Preslar says very little video footage of the band exists, and they were almost never captured live. “To be frank I don’t really know how much those live recordings would mean to anybody anyway,” he says. “It’s not like we’re doing different versions of songs or vamps on songs or extending anything like that. What you see is what you get.”
Preslar graduated law school eight years ago and does some legal work for indie musicians and songwriters, and delves a bit in documentary/development projects. “Not anything major,” he says.
He doesn’t play much anymore either, and doesn’t find that a source of regret. “I’m afraid after this many years I’ve kind of lost the interest of sitting in a basement with a bunch of guys,” Preslar says. “People don’t realize how much work it really is. It’s bad enough that you have to write music and play it. It’s another thing that you have to live with all these other people.”
Steve
September 8, 2016 at 11:06 am
Funny… Minor Threat has a lot of new fans. They are more popular now vs when they were together. Do it for the fans… If the Misfits can then so can Minor Threat…
Curtis James
July 7, 2020 at 3:39 pm
Minor Threat could sell out Madison Square Garden, and most wouldn’t even spot the irony. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should (imho).
Have you seen the Crisis Of Conformity reunion video? Highly recommended!
Michael Solorio
December 10, 2016 at 12:14 pm
2 bands I would give my left nut to see. 1). Nirvana
2). Minor Threat
Kevin
January 3, 2017 at 10:32 am
I am so glad they haven’t done it. Bands like Minor Threat are like a shining Supernova and have left an incredible legacy of great music and strong and passionate ideals that had nothing to do with the quick dollar. It’s unfortunate but you can’t match or provide that same spark that resonated once in the past. Many bands have come back and failed and become a joke when their past work was more than sollid. So much respect to these guys for realizing that.
Curtis James
July 7, 2020 at 3:27 pm
It’s very likely that a Minor Threat (or most any other HC bands of the era) reunion would be a huge bummer. You just can’t capture the sound or energy of a band 30 years after the fact. It would be pathetic. Only reason it’s done is for the $$$…”how much a night, 3 thousand or 4? And then we’ll make a million when we go on tour”.
Glad they have kept their integrity intact.