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From straight.com…
Dinosaur Jr.’s lack of suck pleases cranky Lou Barlow
That Lou Barlow–what a charmer. My first question and already he’s living up to his cantankerous reputation."That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard," he scoffs when asked about a rumour that he’s reluctant to bring his own songs to Dinosaur Jr. for fear the band will ruin them with its trademark stamp of heaviness. "That’s something J [Mascis, guitarist-vocalist] said in an interview once. I never, ever in my life thought Dinosaur Jr. would ruin one of my songs. The whole thing comes down to confidence. There was a time when I wasn’t confident enough to bring songs to the band. With this record, I felt comfortable enough to bring a couple of things to work on."
The bassist is on the line from a Los Angeles practice space. He and drummer Murph are in the midst of rehearsals prior to Dinosaur Jr.’s current tour, this one in support of Beyond–the first album of new material by the original lineup in 18 years.
For a certain demographic, a fresh disc by one of the defining groups of the pre-grunge era is cause for cautious optimism. The trio of records Dinosaur Jr. released between 1985 and 1988–Dinosaur; You’re Living All Over Me; and Bug–represents a high-water mark of punk energy and good old-fashioned guitar chops, not to mention some of the catchiest songs of the period. Or, as Barlow has put it in interviews, some of the most "beautiful".
"I really thought J had been inhabited by an alien intelligence during that whole period," he says. "I thought that shit was so brilliant. It spoke so much about the emotional landscape we were on back then, even though there wasn’t a lot of communication. I thought his songs articulated that really well."
The rift that grew between Barlow and Mascis was one of the more well-known flameouts of the time. But when indie label Merge announced it was rereleasing those first three Dinosaur Jr. records, the band decided it had a reason to go out on the road again. Enthusiastic audiences prompted Mascis to consider recording a new album–surprising no one more than Barlow.
"I couldn’t believe it," says the musician, who was also on the road earlier this year with his band Sebadoh. "It seemed like a lot of hassle to make a new record. And there are very few good reunion records. I sort of imagined if we were to do one, it would just suck. Which turned out not to be the case, which is really nice."
Beyond exceeds expectations by not sucking–the disc has some really, to use Barlow’s term, beautiful moments, including the return-to-form opening guitar salvos on "Almost Ready", Mascis’s reluctant vocals on the bittersweet "This Is All I Came to Do", and Barlow’s own brooding "Back to Your Heart". If there’s no track that packs the kind of wallop of Nirvana-influencing classics like "Little Fury Things" and "Freak Scene", well, so be it–Beyond at least proves no other band mixes apathy, sadness, and wickedly melodic guitar solos like Dinosaur Jr.
"There are a lot of people loyal to J, and out of respect to them, we put out another record so we have a good reason to keep touring," says Barlow. "It would get kind of crass if we were going into our third or fourth year of touring and just playing the first three records. It would seem a little more opportunistic than it is already."
Dinosaur Jr. plays the Commodore on Wednesday (May 23).
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