[screamingskull]

Feedback to the future
Grunge pioneers Dinosaur Jr have
reformed- and they've brought their
famous friends.As Matt Dillon directs
their new video, the band rock in all
the right places.

It's customary to find that your favorite screen icons are a disappointment in the flesh. Shorter, acne-scarred - they can never quite live up to the gloried Technicolor image. So it's pleasing to see that even at 43, movie star Matt Dillon looks like the movie start Matt Dillon. The battered Jeans. T-shirt, the hair - it's all present and correct. Yet he's a fish out of water today.
His red porsche is parked outside a large 19th century house in the small college town of Northampton, Massachusetts, where he is in the basement, directing a video for the reformed original lineup of grunge pioneers Dinosaur Jr, fronted by his good friend J Mascis.
"He is so good looking" coos one female observer. No, she doesn't mean Mascis, but in his own gently extraordinary way, the indie rock veteran cuts an equally charismatic figure. His long hair now grey-white, and his slothular body clad in a pea-green T-shirt and black track suit, he looks like Pauline Fowler from EastEnders in a fancy dress as Kevin the teenager. He's the undoubted star of teh show. Drummer Murph is now bald and looks like a mortgage advisor indulging in his weekend hobby. Bass played and indie demi-celeb Lou Barlow appears to have aged approximately three weeks since he was originally in the band.
Matt is highly accommodating at first, allowing the photographer to take shots as the band go through their paces in a cluttered basement, intended as a homage to their teenage rehearsal days.
Then we overstep the mark. "Pushy Motherfucker!" he spits, and stomps out. it's a fair cop - our man got in the way of a shoot and now out hopes of interviewing Matt and J look doomed. We're banished to the kitchen upstairs, on the proviso we don't disturb the owners of the house. Who those owners are is not clear, but suffice to say they're big music fans. Rows and rows of vinyl are stored, featuring artists from Stockhausen to the Shangri-las, along with piles of demo tapes by such unheralded talents as Racists and hairy Snail. Eventually we get Lou, J and Murph around a table and encourage them to wallow in a bit to nostalgia.
"We practiced in the living room of my parents' house," recalls Lou. "which i can't believe we ever had the balls to do. We would open the window and put stacks out there, in the middle of the town. I can't believe we never got arrested......"
At this point we are distracted by the sudden presence of Alternative rock royalty putting some food out for the dog. Its turns out this house belongs to Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon of sonic Youth. Have we stumbled into a house on the US equivalent of Stella Street?
"it's kind of like a family round here" admits Lou. "even my mum knows Thurston. He runs his label out of the same building she works in. there's a good music scene here, and Kim and Thurston are the center of it."
"Thurston's always playing" says J. "Almost every week he's playing with different people. And the same 20 people are there watching."
Ooh, you bitch! Perhaps this is the kind of withering comment that got J his reputation as something of a sneering misanthropist.
"J's an interesting guy," Thurston Moore will confide later. "there's a lot going on there. you have to read between the lines. Or Between the pauses."
What we do manage to decipher in those silences is a man with a very dry sense of humor but one who maintains a certain professional distance from his bandmates. It's been suggested that Mascis and Barlow's infamous enmity was mainly healed by witnessing the Pixies' lucrative reformation tour in 2004.......
"oh hey, we're no Pixies man" says Lou, scowling. "we're better than that!" Well either way Dinosaur Jr were certainly influential...
"yeah..." says J "(seven second pause)....to the pixies....."
Back on set, we are now graced by the presence of yet another band. The intro of the video features Lightbulb, the band formed by Thurston and Kim's 12-year-old daughter Coco with two of her friends. they're to be "paid" for their appearance with ice cream. Their scene proves to be the last of the day, and everyone retires to the family kitchen for takeaway pizza.
His work over for the day, Matt Dillon has forgiven our previous faux pas, and when he finds we're british, proceeds to quiz us about the scene over here.
"are Teenage Fanclub still around?" he asks."I love those guys. Awesome. and my bloody valentine?. Awesome." So does he keep in touch with new music? We hear he's a vinyl obsessive.
"Yeah, i listen to a lot of older music. Pre-1960s jazz, black music, brazilian music. But Dinosaur Jr are my era. I'm a little out of touch with new stuff."
It seems most actors have their own bands now. Was he ever tempted to pick up the mic himself? "never! Never!" he grins. "i always remember Joe Strummer one said to me 'I'll stop making movies when Eddie Murphy stops making records'! So i think he took the hint."
Sop how did he come to direct the video?
"i saw Dinosaur Jr play in New York, and he said 'we wanna do a video, are you interested in directing?' so i said 'yeah'. I said to him ' what's the song about?' He said 'Uuuh.....chicks'. And i said 'ok, so what do you want in the video?' and he says 'Uuuh...models?' but i think the whole rock video thing is overdone. I wanted to show they still have that raw edge playing as a band."
It turns out Matt and J have been friends ever since Matt, a Dinosaur Jr fan, came to a how in 1990. "We see each other now and then - we've been skiing a couple of times, been to a couple of fashion shows."
Apparently J is also a keep skidiver. Which somehow seems about as likely as seeing Bernard Manning out windsurfing. "J's misunderstood," says Matt.
"he's a really great guy. People get a little intimidated 'cos he speaks so slow, but that's just the way he is, you know?" And with that, he heads off to rejoin his unlikely meeting of minds. We depart with the peculiar image to Thurston Moore, Matt Dillon and J Mascis sharing a large pepperoni pizza imprinted forever on our consciousness.

Mascis Vs Barlow - the truth

Dinosaur Jr went their separate ways in 1989. Mascis wanted to fire Lou, so he told drummer Patrick "Murph" Murphy to call Lou and tell him the band was splitting up. Lou later read the band had hired a new bass player for a tour of Australia. Lou's side project, Sebadoh, became his main concern. He started writing songs about Mascis and yelling abuse at him in the street.

So, J, which of Lou's songs about you do you like best?

J Mascis: "Uuuh ... (smirks and looks at his feet) ... I couldn't possibly choose just one."

Lou Barlow: "But pretty much every Sebadoh song I wrote got interpreted that way. I did actually move on!"

At one point Lou described J as "a borderline sadist".

JM: "Hmmm," (shrugs, still smirking guiltily).

Do you have any regrets J?

JM: (12 second pause) Yeah ... it could have been handled better, but no one was speaking at that point, so we spent a lot of time going through Murph.

LB: I thought that was so bad the way they kicked me out of the band. But then later on when I had to kick people out of bands I ended up fucking people over in a similar way, even after vowing never to do that.

So are you friends these days or just business partners?

LB: (pause) "I'd consider anyone I worked with to be a friend." J Mascis says nothing.

[ALIEN ANAL]

ooooo exciting, type faster!!

[Pookie]

http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/sto...035045,00.html

Here's a link if it's easier.

[ALIEN ANAL]

hah cool, imagine being that house! yikes it sounds so crazy.

[king_buzzo]

exciting!

[ALIEN ANAL]

dino jr better effing come to aus or ill be so mad, it says world tour!

[king_buzzo]

i know, if i miss this im gonna kill people.

well that interview with j and lou seemed tense...

[ALIEN ANAL]

im sure they wrote it to make it sound tense, when ever i read things or hear an interview with someone i always imagine times where i have said things similar and how it could be interpreted wrong.

[screamingskull]

the pictures are great!, hope someone can upload them!

[king_buzzo]

what pictures???

[HECKLER SPRAY]

I hope they 'll come to Paris again, but as the top of the bill. They did a good show in december 06 with SY, but too short for people like me who came for both bands. Thanks for the article, screamin'.

[screamingskull]

Originally Posted by king_buzzo

what pictures???

the photographs that go with the article.

[Massenvernichtungswaffen]

dino jr. rocked. too bad Lou wasn't the singer they probably could have been huge. I mean J's great on the axe, but his voice was horrid. Lou could actually sing. compare em if you don't agree.

[Pookie]

As much as I think DJ should just roll over and die (great as they were 20 years ago), J has a great voice and one that's pretty unique and distinctive. Listen to Take A Run At The Sun, and Hand It Over for evidence. Lou's voice is dull and forgettable.

EDIT: For those who haven't heard either, a rough analogy:

J = Kurt Cobain
Lou = Dave Grohl

[HECKLER SPRAY]

Lou's voice sounds dull ? What that's that shit, Pookie ?
I've no problem with J's voice, but you can't say that. Lou's voice on Drama Mine, Not a Friend, Soul and Fire, for example is so great, intense... (I know they're from Sebadoh). No comparison.

[auto-aim]

Yeah - I agree, I dont like Lous songs so much in dino. And i was going to say his songs sound more like foo fighters songs - eh.

[king_buzzo]

Originally Posted by screamingskull

the photographs that go with the article.

you mean in the actuall magazine or the net?

[king_buzzo]

this interview is way more interesting.


Q: Do you have any good Bill Cosby stories? I heard he's from Amherst as well, you lucky people.
Innsendt av: Shabka
A: He lives 45 minutes away though he sent his kids to Amherst public school. I went to school with his daughter Erika.

thanks for the ?'s J

J. Mascis
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

missed the concert last night

Q: been a follower. thanks for putting out music. well, time for a question.
do you play loud at home, or just use mini amps? enjoy your stay.
Innsendt av: per

A: i play electric unplugged at home cause I couldn't hear the tv if it was too loud and it annoys my wife

J. Mascis
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drinking

Q: If you could bring dead people back to life, who would you have chosen to get drunk with for one night?
Innsendt av: mg

A: Dad

J. Mascis
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you J.

Q: Been a long-time fan of your music and especially your guitar playing style (which has been a big inspiration for my own playing).

Just wondering, what's "keeblin'"?

Anyway, keep up the good work, hope you'll come back soon (and play a larger venue).
Innsendt av: baunau

A: keeblin is about little male elves that live in tree together and inevitably get into little arguments

J. Mascis
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cats

Q: How many of Lou's cats do you know the name of?
What would your cat be named?
Innsendt av: maria

A: I'm a dog person

J. Mascis
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

fightclub

Q: did you ever knock Lou Barlow down during your disputes in the mid 90s? And are you a good fighter? Is he a better fighter?
Innsendt av: ee

A: I didn't knock him down I was a more mental battler, I think I'm pretty good in war of the minds

J. Mascis
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Favourite drummers?

Q: Hey J!

Who are your favourite drummers?

Sincerely,

Aleksander
Innsendt av: Aleksander

A: John Bonham Ian Paice Charlie Watts

J. Mascis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Boombox Dilemma

Q: Hi! This is Kjell again. Sorry to waste your time. I've got a little hypothetical dilemma for you here:

You are stranded on a timber raft in the pacific ocean (very lonely!), stuck with only a boombox (no radio) and two mixtapes. The first tape is named "Best of Sebadoh", and the second one is "Pavement - The classic years".

Because of serious weight / sinking issues, you have to throw one of the tapes into the ocean.

Which one would it be, and why?
Innsendt av: Kjell

A: I guess I'd have to chuck sebadoh into the ocean I like pavement better

J. Mascis
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DINOSAURS!

Q: Hello there.
Do you really believe the dinosaur remains were put here by God, to test our faith?

Keep choppin'
Innsendt av: Keiko Bleikfeit

A: I really don't know ask God

J. Mascis
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

J MASCIS

Q: The new Dinosaur Jr album leaked about a month ago onto the internet. What are your thoughts on file-sharing and people downloading your music?

Will Dinosaur Jr play in Norway on the upcoming worldtour to promote the record?
Innsendt av: Fredrik Bakkemo

A: Don't care, would like to play in Norway at yer house

J. Mascis
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

amma

Q: Hey. Who is Amma and what do she/he/they do?

another one: what is your favourite Lou Barlow tune?
Innsendt av: Ole

A: you can check out amma.org
favorite Lou toon is center of the universe

J. Mascis

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Norway again?

Will the european tour bring you guys to Norway this summer? When and where?
Innsendt av: Odd

A: I dunno, if we get an offer to play we would. But we can only go where we've been invited.

J. Mascis
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Little Furry Things everywhere!

Q: Dearest dearest Mr Dinosaur. Last time I tryed to get into your consert it was here in Oslo at a Festival. I climbed over the fence and my skirt got ripped off. I hid in toilets for hours and past out and could hear you guys play.

I f you could, would you have made my second consert better? Please just say yes.


Innsendt av: Get me
A: Yes.

J. Mascis
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pain

Q: How much pain do you feel when your girlfriend leaves you for your best friend?
Could it be like 9g on the g-force scale?
(It is 2.9 g during a sneeze)
Innsendt av: Atle

A: 7.9

J. Mascis
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the basement

Q: In an old edition of SPIN magazine there was a feature on where pop and rockstars lived. In this feature J. Mascis still lived in his moms basement. Are you still down there woth your dog and old plastic crates filled with LP's?
Innsendt av: Hand Me Downs

A: No.

J. Mascis

[screamingskull]

Originally Posted by king_buzzo

you mean in the actuall magazine or the net?

the actual TV guide that the article is in. Its got some great pictures. non of SY though, but some of their house.

[sonicl]

Originally Posted by Pookie

... J has a great voice ...

Pookie, that's the silliest thing I've ever heard you say - J has a horrible whiny voice, that has been enough for me to consign a few of his and DJ's releases to the "I don't think I'll buy that, even for £3" pile.