>>PREVIEW
DINOSAUR JR.
Friday, May 25
MacEwan Hall (U of C)
Dinosaur Jr. has always been a band whose inner machinations are as interesting as its music. Starting with the trio’s sophomore album, You’re Living All Over Me, the three began blending virtuoso, melodic guitar playing with the slack, sloppy (and always loud) sounds of proto-grunge. Songs like "Little Fury Things," "In a Jar," and the band’s non-LP cover of The Cure’s "Just Like Heaven" changed the way countless artists thought about rock ’n’ roll.
1988 brought the release of Dinosaur Jr.’s third album Bug, the classic single "Freak Scene" and also the first signs of turmoil within the group. In the midst of touring, bassist Lou Barlow was fired by lead singer (and principal songwriter/decision-maker) J. Mascis. Returning to his former side-project Sebadoh, Barlow very openly aired his frustrations in song form over the seemingly unfair move. Drummer Murph was also forced out of the band in 1993, after extensive time spent on the Lollapalooza circuit promoting Where You Been. Mascis continued on under both the Dinosaur moniker and then J. Mascis + the Fog. While he did manage several small-scale hits, nothing could quite capture the magic of those original three records.
Then, unexpectedly, Dinosaur Jr. re-formed in 2004. After three years of almost non-stop touring, the band has recorded and released Beyond, its first long-player with the original lineup in almost 20 years. It’s something most fans would have never expected and, amazingly, the group sounds like it never broke up in the first place.
Mascis, as an older writer friend had warned me, is a notoriously difficult interview – i.e. distant, easily distracted and best described as a bit of a space cadet. However, when I tracked down the band’s long-haired, solo-loving front man, nothing could have prepared me for the awkward, frustrating and at times excruciating conversation. A suitable comparison would be Eugene Levy’s character from A Mighty Wind, a man whose brain has been so fried from years in the music industry that no matter what lengthily researched, well-worded question you lob his way, the answer you get back will be nothing more than a few mumbled words.
"We just thought we wanted to play some more shows and were kind of sick of playing all the same songs," the guitar wizard muttered. "We thought we should try doing a record to see what happens."
Not exactly the kind of illuminating quote a music journalist hopes for, but I pressed on. Beyond features two songs written by Barlow, "Back To Your Heart" and "Lightning Bulb," which seem to signify at least a partial loosening of the reins. Have the differences between the band members actually been resolved?
"It’s just hard to get him to write songs," Mascis offers, with the emotional range of the band’s signature Nike high tops. "I know he likes singing live more than I do, and that he’d like to sing some stuff, so I’m glad he finally did. That was one problem we had in the past – he would never write songs for the band. It’s like he overcame some hump. I guess we’re just all a bit mellower, grown-up artists who can deal with life a little better, or something."
How does he feel the new finished product compares to the first three albums? "It’s hard to remember exactly," Mascis says, making the Mitch Cohen analogy ring even more true. "When we first started playing, it felt almost the same. Kind of a déjà vu feeling, but so far it’s been pretty good."
Thankfully, my conversation with Emmett Patrick Murphy (a.k.a. Murph) was a lot more fruitful. He was at his mother’s house, celebrating the Easter weekend with his family in Connecticut. The bald, Boston-accented drummer told me he’s excited about the band being back together, and is slightly astonished that Beyond even happened. "It all started with the reunion," said Murph. "We actually hadn’t planned on doing this record, and it really took us by surprise. But we’ve been comfortable enough with how things are going with each other that it just seemed like a natural progression."
Murph had little to say about the old arguments within the group, but did make his opinions clear on their current chemistry. "If there was any tension, I don’t think we could pull this off," he said. "We’ve pretty much worked past a lot of our differences, and it’s more of a family vibe right now. It’s pretty cool. When I go out on the road, I feel like I’m with my other family."
Will the new Dinosaur continue roaming the earth, or simply become extinct again?
"We can never say, we always sort of just live in the moment," Murph said with a verbal shrug. "I would hope it lasts, because it’s been good. I think we’ll do it as long as we feel that way, but if some quality ever started to suffer we wouldn’t fool ourselves into continuing. If there was any of that old energy floating around we wouldn’t be able to do this, but there’s just too much going on, and the travelling is too intense. You have to have that stuff worked out."
Still crazy after all these years, this Dinosaur is avoiding extinction despite its well-documented dysfunction. |
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