DINOSAUR JR. J MASCIS AND LOU BARLOW LOOK BACK ON MORE THAN TWO DECADES OF FALL OUTS AND GRUNGE RIFFS. SEPARATELY, OF COURSE PHOTOGRAPHER - BRANTLEY GUTIERREZ WRITER - REEF YOUNIS
Dinosaur Jr.’s history is a long, fractured one peppered with splits, arguments and Cold War level resentment. From the volatile to the plain uncommunicative, the simmering distance, tension and clash of personalities, however, helped inspire the music that commanded a quiet admiration in a grunge and Nirvana-dominated era. But it was never supposed to be either this long or this played out. A band started and marshalled by the laconic J. Mascis, his aloof, controlling nature was at odds with bassist Lou Barlow’s forthright personality and Emmet ‘Murph’ Murphy’s free-spirit. It made for a capricious dynamic that spectacularly imploded when Barlow was informed by Mascis that the band was splitting only to
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see Dinosaur Jr. tour a few weeks later with his replacement. It lit the torch paper for a vitriolic period where Lou and Murph levelled their ire at J, calling him “a cheap bastard”, “a fucking Nazi” and “a real, prime, stinking red asshole”. Lou went on to form Sebadoh, using the band, initially, to creatively vent his frustrations at J. Murph headed for The Lemonheads. J turtled up, heading for comfort in the isolation of his home studio to work solo. Time’s a healer, though, and after the cold war thaw, fast forward a few years from the turmoil of ’89 to the promise of 2005, and the original Dinosaur Jr. line up had not only reformed, they were making new music. “We definitely needed a lot of time to be able to deal
with it,” J sighs ahead of the release of ‘I Bet On Sky’, the band’s third album since ’05. “It feels a bit more natural now than it used to. We’re all a bit more comfortable with ourselves and each other, and it’s easier to have a bit more fun. We decided we wanted to keep playing and we didn’t really want to play the old stuff all the time.” It’s an improving sentiment Barlow echoes, even if both are wary of coming on too Disney and making out that this reunion was a giddily happy one. “It’s better now than it’s ever been,” he laughs.“There may have been a window of two or three months in 1986 where it was better but I have to say this is like our golden age. Our silver age. It’s just getting on with it, you know? J and I… I don’t really know. I think J doesn’t like