Singer J Mascis says there was more pressure with their ninth
10 June 2009 – Prior to Dinosaur Jr’s new release Farm – out later this month – the band welcomed 6 music backstage as they prepared for a London slot, to discuss the stresses involved with recording the album.

They also put forward some pretty bold views on the grunge scene.

The American alt-rock trio formed in 1984, split in 1997 and then got back together in 2005.

They graced the stage at the Forum in London’s Kentish Town last night (9 June), in aid of Mojo Magazine, which is honouring the music world with its awards bash on Thursday 11 June.

Speaking before the gig, guitarist and legendary singer J Mascis told 6 Music they felt the pressure while making Farm.

“This album we did really fast compared to our last,” he explained. “We set a deadline and tried to get it done in that time so it made it more stressful than the last album.”

But it was their own doing, continued Mascis: “It’s self-inflicted. It still made it a lot more tense.”

Box drum room

Farm was recorded on the top floor of the frontman’s house.

Bassist Lou Barlow explained: “We do it in the smallest room in Jay’s house. He has this huge house but we found the smallest room, put drums in it and I just sat there with Murph and a drum set for about a month and a half.”

"Grunge is so over-rated. I never understand why people have nostalgia about that."
Lou Barlow

To which drummer Murph added: “Actually the room has a vaulted ceiling so it has a pretty good drum sound, so that’s one of the reasons we use that room.”

What grunge?

The band was hugely influential during the grunge movement of the ‘90s when the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth and Pixies had explosive success.

When ‘grunge’ was mentioned to the band they laughed and Barlow said: “Grunge is so over-rated.

“I never understand why people have nostalgia about that particular period. It very quickly went into just generic heavy metal. There was just one band, Nirvana.”

At this stage, Barlow and Mascis seem to be getting on and there’s no sign of the huge rifts that split the band up before.

As for their long term plans and whether they’ll continue to put out more albums, Mascis responded: “Possibly, we’ve got two records under our belt as a reunited and that’s pretty incredible. It seems to be working.”

The track, I Want You To Know, from Farm is out as a free download now from their official site, with the album reaching stores on 23 June.

Georgie Rogers