Dinosaur-sized reunion on track
Alt-rockers touring with their first new album in 19 years

Sandra Sperounes, The Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON – Like most Dinosaur Jr. fans, drummer Emmett Patrick Murphy didn’t think the alt-rock trio behind 1987’s You’re Living All Over Me would ever reunite.

His former bandmates, frontman J. Mascis and bassist Lou Barlow, hadn’t talked to each other in years and were busy pursuing their own projects.

Murphy, on the other hand, had virtually abandoned his music career and was living in Maine.

When he was asked about a possible reunion — spurred on by some reissues of Dinosaur Jr.’s albums — he was hanging out with his family over the Christmas holidays.

"I had dropped out and wasn’t really hearing anything about a reunion," says Murphy, a.k.a. Murph.

"I got a call from J’s manager and right away, I knew something was up because nobody would call my family’s house.

"I was really into it. I was really shocked and surprised because I didn’t think it was going to happen."

Three years later, Murph continues to be shocked and surprised by his two bandmates.

Not only are the U.S. rockers still touring, the trio recorded their first album in 19 years, Beyond.

It’s quintessential Dinosaur Jr. — lumbering, fuzzy alt-rock featuring Mascis’s sleepy vocals — and critics are eating it up.

"We didn’t really talk (about making a record)," says Murph.

"We toured and people kept saying, ‘A new record, a new record,’ and J kept saying, ‘I dunno, I dunno.’

"Then, one day, he said, ‘Oh, we’re going to record. The wheels were already set in motion at that point and we slowly started banging out four or five songs."

Yet Murph admits he was initially leery about writing a new Dinosaur Jr. album.

What if it sucked? What if it ended up tarnishing the group’s stellar legacy, including You’re Living All Over Me and1988’s Bug?

"We definitely thought that at certain times," the drummer chuckles.

"It’s growing on me."

Murph isn’t ready to talk about Dinosaur Jr’s next album — Beyond was only released May 1 — nor does he like to talk about other aspects of the band’s future.

"If we try to predetermine too much, we feel like we’re jinxing things," he says. "We just try to go with it."

Rehashing the past isn’t a favourite topic for the Dinosaurs either.

No wonder.

Their first few years were riddled with tension between Mascis and Barlow — until the latter was dumped in 1989 and formed his own influential group, Sebadoh.

Murph left a few years later, albeit more amicably, on the eve of Dinosaur Jr.’s breakout hit, 1994’s Feel The Pain.

He went on to work with The Lemonheads and the offspring of several famous musicians, then decided to drop out of the business for a few years.

While he didn’t think a Dinosaur Jr. reunion was possible, Murph believes he was subconsciously preparing for it.

He hadn’t played drums for months, then picked up his sticks shortly before he was called about the reunion.

He’s now having the time of his life, making up for all the lost years.

"People say, ‘You guys represent hope. You’re like all the bad relationships you can’t get past. You got past it and that gives people hope,’ " says Murph.

"I think that’s really cool."

ssperounes@thejournal.canwest.com

© The Edmonton Journal 2007