The Evens are the sort of band that in many circles needs no introduction. The band, consisting of former Fugazi and Minor Threat member - and owner of the venerable indie mainstay Dischord Records - Ian MacKaye, along with Amy Farina of the Warmers, has been creating music together for the past decade. Their latest album, The Odds, is immediate and plangent. The duo returns to Olympia for the first time in seven years to play a solo bill at the Eagles Hall Saturday, Sept. 28.

"Amy and I decided early on that we wanted to play shows outside of rock clubs," MacKaye said. "It's not ‘let's shut down the clubs.' I don't mind them; I go to them," he continued. "So our idea was to play quieter, open new spaces. We bring our own PA, our own lights; we want our shows to be over by the time most shows begin. It's nice. We like it."

Of course, the idea of a single band and an early show may sound odd to fans used to seeing three or four bands late into the night.

"Some people say, ‘Oh it's just for older people,'" MacKaye said. "Fuck that! I don't see that. In the early days, the early punk rock days in D.C., we used to have matinees and they were epic. People loved them. It wasn't because we were old or we were kids, but that music should be everywhere at every time."

For a town that has held shows in alleys and public libraries, the concept doesn't seem so odd.

"Olympia has always been one of the few places in the country that I can think of that has consistently been about challenging conventional ways about how things are done, especially when it comes to music," MacKaye said. "There has always been a rather leftfield bent to the proceedings out there that has always been really positive. So when I talk about this stuff, it should come as no shock to people in Olympia, but when I go other places people are like, ‘Why are you playing this art gallery? Or what are you doing here?' I mean it's OK, it's fun."

Olympia and MacKaye's home of Washington, D.C. have a long history together.

"I think there has been some really incredible experiences for me. I think the International Pop Underground (IPU) festival that Calvin did in '91 was such an incredible thing," MacKaye said. "In Olympia, there is just a profound amount of really interesting, crazy ideas. That always gives me hope in the world - because the crazy ideas are really the ones that are the new ideas."

Olympia has always celebrated music in a communal sense, which is a large part of MacKaye's musical mission.

"I am so hell bent on making music that really tries to push music as an idea of something that gathers people together," he said, "rather than just another night at the club or something."

THE EVENS, 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28, Eagles Hall, 805 4th Ave., Olympia, $7 door, $8.25 at brownpapertickets.com, 360.239.9907.