Last week, numerous outlets – such as Stereogum, NME, Consequence and Metal Hammer – reported that Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi) were collaborating on new music. However, Rollins recently issued a lengthy statement in which he specifies that neither of them are featured on the upcoming "great project" he previously mentioned.

This past Halloween, Rollins’ included the following excerpt in a lengthy blog post shared on his official website:

Weeks ago, I journeyed it to DC in order to work on a great project. Ian MacKaye and I went to Inner Ear Studios, where we made our first records decades ago and mixed a four song session with the great Don Zientara at the board. . . . As to the tracks, I had them mastered several days ago, and I’m now working on the layout and design for the record. When it’s ready, I’ll let you know. We are extremely excited by this one.

This would’ve been the first new music made by either of them in many years. However, Rollins’ newest post – made on Nov. 7 – clarified that those songs weren’t created by them. Instead, they were from “a demo, recorded in 1979, by a legendary Punk band,” with Rollins and MacKaye merely getting together to mix the material.

“Before anything else, I think I need to clear something up,” Rollins began, explaining [paragraph breaks added by Loudwire]:

Last week I told you that I went up to DC and mixed some tracks with Ian MacKaye at Inner Ear Studios in beautiful Arlington, VA. The tracks we mixed were not a collaborative effort, besides the mixing itself. I am not on the tape. Ian is not on the tape. Neither of us are on the tape. What we were working on was a demo, recorded in 1979, by a legendary Punk band that recently came into my possession.

I had the tape baked and transferred by the very capable Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Sound in Nashville and had him send the tracks to Ian so he could take them to Inner Ear and get them loaded in. The mix came together quite quickly because it was only eight tracks on one inch tape and the quality of the sounds were so good out of the gate, very little had to be done. The performances are fantastic.

Ian and I played the mixes over and over days later and kept in touch to see if either one of us had any notes as to anything that needed to be changed and neither of us could find anything wrong with the work. I contacted a member of the band and asked if I could release the tracks. I got permission and started preparing the tracks for release. We sent the final mixes to Pete, who mastered them and they’re really good.

I’m going to be working in collaboration with Larry Hardy at In The Red Records and we’ll be releasing the demo as soon as possible, as a four song 12”. You might already know that Larry and I have been putting out very cool and often extremely rare tracks on 7” and 12” records over the last few years. In fact, we have a great one at the pressing plant right now. Once it’s back, I’ll tell you all about it. It’s super cool.

Were you looking forward to what was ostensibly a brand-new record by the iconic punk rock pair? How do you feel about the reality of the situation? Let us know!