Here`s some more interview bits with J.
This is from Guitar World-Dec.95:
This is J talking about what guitarists inspired him:
"I was really into Mick Taylor,because he was so melodic,Keith Richards,and Greg Sage from the Wipers.Greg Sage was totally underated everyone should check him out.I ripped off a lot of stuff from him.Somehow,by combining those influences I tried to get my own style."

Here`s a interview in it`s entirety from Guitar Player Oct 94 [img]images/smiles/converted/tongue.gif[/img]art 1
"Smokin J"by James Rotondi
The quotes will be J,the brackets will be James

"Okay",(croaks J Mascis defeatedly.)"I`ll take the Whispering Heaven."
(Mascis rolls his eyes skyward;he asked the waiter for regular,old-fashioned iced tea,but instead had to choose between Passion Paradise,Strawberry Sojourn,and Whispering Heaven.It`s the curse of the post-modern world-or maybe it`s just Manhattan-but what`s wrong with the classics?Why do we always have to get arty with a perfectly good thing?)
(J`s an old-fashioned guy.Though his nine-year-old band Dinosaur jr. is a key inspiration to scads of artier,more self-conscious noise-pop outfits like Teenage Fanclub,Swervedriver,
Eugenius,and Overwhelming Colorfast.)
(J staunchly lives up to his band`s name,trusting in the time-honored,not the trendy.He wears beige corduroys and big ol`aviator sunglasses without a trace of self-consciousness or irony,defying every twenty-something fashion maxim.He does`nt like doing interviews unless they`re for guitar magazines,
because he can`t stand the probing,the contrived intellectualizing,or the abuse.)
"This German writer says to me`i get better interviews if I challenge my subject.You`re a filthy piece of shit,a relic from a dead era!What do you think of that?!`(He champions the damned Big Muff.So what,the art geeks line up to ask,was this seminal"alternative" artiste`s key aesthetic inspiration for Without A Sound,his fifth,most mature,and problably best record?)

Tommorow you can find out who it is.

Here`s part 2 of "Smokin J" by James Rotondi
from Guitar Player Oct 94:

"Deep Purple" shrugs J"We had this Purple compilation video that we watched every day.
`Child In Time`-that`s awesome." (Don`t mistake J`s Purple fixation for Blackmore worship,though.)"Actually Blackmore was never
the focus for me," (He says,offering drummer Ian Paice and singer Ian Gillian as his chief concerns.)"I could never be sure if Blackmore was totally wanking or not.I mean I`m into him,and Purple still don`t get the credit that Sabbath or Zeppelin do."
(Credit for Mascis `musicianship goes back to Paice and Bonham,the twin drum gods of 70`s heavy metal,who inspired the central Massachusetts native-now 28-to pick up the sticks long before he wielded an ax.In fact,J is considering asking Paice to join his band in light of drummer Murph`s departure.In the meantime,as on 1991`s Green Mind,J anchors the beat on Without A Sound,exposing a keen percussive sense that is virtually inseparable from his thick,rhythmically solid approach to guitar-a notion that strikes J as odd.)

I like to know if you are reading this,even just a one sentence post.I`m not a typing pro,in high school I got 10 as a final mark in typing!
so it takes me longer than someone who is good at it.

Why are you the only person that has a problem understanding me?I`ve been here 3 weeks and no one else told me they can`t follow what I said.
I heard your music the other day and commented.

Here`s part 3 of "smokin J" by James Rotondi
From Guitar Player Oct 94:

"When I started playing guitar,lead was all I was interested in,"(he recalls.)"Some people pick up the guitar and play chords,some people pick it up and play solos.I was never much for chords."(Though J claims ignorance of scale forms,his wild,mostly pentatonic lead style-later abetted by triple-teamed fuzz-boxes-got its start in high school,when he`d noodle along with Stones and Stooges records,
picking out breaks by Mick Taylor and Ron Asheton.)"I did`nt start playing for real until I got this band going."(J says of Dinosaur`s early days,when the lineup included future Sebadoh member Lou Barlow on bass.That was in the mid 80`s,after the dissolution of Deep Wound,A Pioneer Valley hardcore unit that featured Mascis behind the kit.)
"When I started the band,I was very influenced by Greg Sage,the guy from the Wipers,"(he explains.)"Most people have`nt heard of him,but he actually influenced Nirvana
and lots of people in the punk rock realm.His playing is amazing,and his songs are just great.I`ve definitely ripped off Greg Sage more than anyone else."(Dinosaur Jr.`s first three albums-Dinosaur(Homestead),You`re Living All Over Me,and Bug(both on SST) feature exquisite,ecstatic guitar noise amid a developing knack for hooks and hard rock-part of the transformation from Pere Ubu Jr to Purple Jr.)
(But it was`nt only Deep Purple that set the stage for J`s latest dour opus.He did`nt particularly enjoy last year`s Lollapalooza romp,and many of his sets seemed lackluster and jaded.Maybe it was tension with his record label,which failed to capitalize on his strong `93 release Where You Been,or maybe it was the untimely loss of his father,but J was chasing demons,and they doubled back,laying him up in his Manhattan pad with a serious case of pneumonia.)"I was sitting on the couch in my apartment for a couple of months,just being sick,"(he says)"I could`nt play too loud,so I wrote all the songs on acoustic."(It`s a telling difference,resulting in songs -some explosive,some soft and poignant-that work off cool chord changes as well as deadly riffs.)