Reinvigorated Dinosaur Jr. roams again
By Kati Schardl
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

When the original lineup of Dinosaur Jr. roamed the earth from 1984 through 1989, it was the musical equivalent of tyrannosaurus rex stomping through the humid, overgrown forests of rock ‘n’ roll.

The fearsome threesome – guitarist J. Mascis, bass player Lou Barlow and drummer Emmett J. "Murph" Murphy III – shredded sound meters like the towering, toothy reptile ripped through lesser lizards.

It seemed as if the Dinosaur was on the brink of extinction when the long-simmering tensions between Mascis and Barlow splintered the lineup. Barlow was booted – clumsily – from the band just before Dinosaur Jr. was to depart for a tour of Australia. He rode off into the sunset to nurse a grudge against Mascis (a friend from high school), form the equally influential and brilliant band Sebadoh and exercise the gentler side of his muse in Folk Implosion.

Murph soldiered on with Mascis through Dinosaur Jr.’s 1993 Lollapalooza tour. When he wasn’t beating the skins with the band, Murph holed up in cozy domestic bliss with his girlfriend, who just so happened to be attending FSU. Which means that when the reunited, re-energized and still mighty Dinosaur Jr. lumbers into town for a show Sunday at the Moon, it’ll be something of a homecoming for the burly, genial drummer.

"I lived in Tallahassee for a year or so, back in 1990-’91," Murph said in a recent phone interview. "I had a girlfriend who went to FSU to get an art therapy degree. The band had a bunch of time off back then – we only had some small gigs scheduled – so I decided to move down there."

Instead of sampling the delights of the city’s nightlife, Murph spent much of his time exploring rural byways on his motorcycle.

"I didn’t go out much," he said. "I was really into motorcycling then and I spent a lot of time cruising around cool back roads. We spent weekends at Panama City Beach and Grayton Beach.

"I didn’t exactly immerse myself in the culture of Tallahassee."

Murph liked what he saw from the seat of his bike.

"North Florida is really cool, and it’s so different from the rest of Florida," he said. "You have horse farms and rolling hills. It’s really beautiful. I’d go on these crazy 80-mile rides and feel like I was in some John Mellencamp video."

Such laid-back, rural pleasures provided a nice contrast to Murph’s thunderous musical pursuits. From the beginning, Dinosaur Jr.’s sonic signature was based on volume, nerve and skinned-back power.

"When Dinosaur started, J. and Lou were coming out of Deep Wound, their first hardcore band out of high school," Murph said. "Dinosaur was kind of an afterthought, like ‘What’s going to happen after this.’ They called me into the mix to play drums. That’s when J. switched from being a drummer to playing guitar.

"J. was testing the waters as a guitarist. That in itself created a certain raw energy. We still have that today. I’m a much better drummer and J.’s better on guitar, but the rawness is still there."

The intense, blistering fury of Dinosaur Jr.’s sound – Murph described it as "Neil Young and Black Sabbath in one band" – exploded across the band’s first three albums. "Dinosaur" (1985), "You’re Living All Over Me" (1987) and "Bug" (1988) changed the face of indie rock forever and inspired a generation of bands obsessed with glorious feedback and serious chunk. All three albums have been tweaked, buffed and re-issued, and to no one’s surprise, the sound has aged well.

"We noticed right away when we got together (for the reunion tour) that the music didn’t seem dated," Murph said.

"We were able to step into those shoes and start walking."

The sound began to change after Barlow left.

"J. and I went through this awkward time," Murph said. " ‘Green Mind’ (1991) was where things turned around for me. I tried to go in (the studio) and bang out some of the songs, but I ended up playing on only three of them.

"J. played all the instruments on all the other songs. It set a precedent. The last album I played on was ‘Where You Been’ (in 1993)."

After parting ways with Mascis, Murph drifted for a couple of years before landing a gig playing drums with Evan Dando’s band the Lemonheads. That took him up through 2000, and through Dando, Murph was able to score session work in New York City working with such musicians as Harper Simon (son of Paul Simon). Eventually, the city life palled for Murph and he moved up to Maine to get away from it all and focus on getting back to the drumming basics. That’s when he got the call about the proposed Dinosaur Jr. reunion.

Although Barlow and Mascis had already begun mending their fences, the bass player was hesitant to consider the idea until he met with Murph to see if the old rhythms could be revived.

"With me and Lou there’s a certain dynamic," Murph said. "At first it was really weird (getting the band back together). I wasn’t sure if we could do it.

"But it’s been really amazing. Lou takes his wife and baby on tour with us. When you’re on a tour bus with a baby, it’s really different. In the old days, we would’ve been, ‘No way. We’re not going to put up with a baby!’ But now it feels like a family."

The reunion shows have been a hit with fans, critics and band members. In fact, Murph and his mates are thinking about making a brand-new Dinosaur Jr. recording.

"We’re working on some new material and entertaining the idea," he said. "We’ve been so busy touring that we’ve only been able to sketch things out. We’re going to take July off to focus on it."