Magazine interviews with J

[ScreamingTree]

Thanks for your effort salami. J always seems really weird when writers talk about him. is defduck really from Canaydia? I read an article about a tv show in Canaydia that jumps our border and asks Americans questions like how many ‘states’ does Canada (as they call it) have? Of course canaydia has no states (provinces, right?) and the whole show is Americans answering questions like that and they think it’s funny… Stop it Canaydia. [img]images/smiles/converted/bash.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/converted/smile.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/converted/bongsmi.gif[/img]

<FONT>[ July 06, 2001 05:17 PM: Message mutated 1 time, lastly by Tom N ]</font>

[SG]

Here`s part 4 of "Smokin J" by James Rotondi
From Guitar Player Oct 94:

"When I play electric guitar by myself,I only play solos,"(J notes.)"Acoustic is much more conductive to actually writing songs.I used a capo on nearly every song too.It was partly because I was sick,and I could sing a lot of the parts better and easier if I changed the key."(J used his capo on the second,third,or fifth frets.Earlier this year,J trotted out his `68
Martin D-28S,a Brazilian-rosewood-back-and-sides beauty with a wide neck,for a MTV Unplugged appearance with the croonmaster himself,Tony Bennett.)"That was pretty cool,"(grins Mascis)"I played `St. James Infirmary` with Tony Bennett`s trio,but they did`nt air it-I got cut out.I was totally bummed."(Mascis performed acoustic shows in small club settings as well,feeling)"more nervous than I `d been in a long time.It`s harder to fill up space without all this noise swirling around."
(But the fascination stuck.On new songs like "Outta Hand","Seemed like the thing",and "Mind Glow"(J used what he calls "an experimental `60`s Martin.It has a small body,but a wide neck similar to the D-28S.It`s the loudest acoustic I have."(The Phrygian-flavored solo lines on"Mind Glow" were picked out on the D-28S.)"I tried playing electric leads on it,but it just sounds weird,"(recalls J)"Acoustic is cool because you end up playing different kinds of leads;there`s not much sustain to rely on."(Mascis experimented with microphones to find an acoustic sound that had presence and body.)
"Every recorded acoustic I hear these days sounds like a fucking ovation,"(he sneers.)
"Sheeeng! No bottom end,just this zingy crap."

[Cloud9]

THANK U [img]http://www.3dpcgames.com/cwm/s/cwm/alien/eek.gif[/img]

Great Interview
Thanks for posting it
If u have more, please continue my friend

[Mattman]

Very cool article Salamiguy. Thanks for posting it. [img]images/smiles/converted/biggrin.gif[/img]

I know exactly what J maens about the acoustics sounding too ‘zingy.’ [img]images/smiles/converted/wink.gif[/img]

I hate Ovations… Guitars were never ment to be made out of plastic! [img]images/smiles/converted/mad.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/converted/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/converted/tongue.gif[/img]

[K7 Rides Again]

hey salamiguy, keep up the good work!!!

[SG]

Here`s part 5 of "Smokin J" By James Rontondi
From Guitar Player Oct 94:

(Once Mascis had enough material in the can,
he and bassist Mike Johnson retired to
Dreamland Studios in Woodstock,New York,to
lay down the basic bass and drums tracks.It`s
not hard to firgure out why J chose Dreamland.
It`s main room is a huge converted church that could make the Duracell bunny`s bass drum sound like "When The Levee Breaks."
He makes it sound easy on the final mixes,but
getting tempos straight was tough.)
"My tendency is to play real fast,"(groans Mascis)"I`m always speeding up."(Ironically ,it was on the moody,mid-tempo "Outta Hand"
on which he played to existing acoustic guitar
tracks,that J had the easiest time.His performance,filled with accents,snare rolls,and tom flourishes,is loose and airy,with the kind of
live feel you associate with CSN and Y`s Dallas
Taylor or Procol Harum`s B.J. Wilson.)
"The guitars were moving that song,so I decided to fit the drums into them,"(J says of the track,which gains orchestral scope via piano and Mellotron.)"Normally,that`s pretty hard,but it worked out."
(Apart from Johnson`s hopelessly and intentionally out-of-key solo at the end of"Yeah Right"and Kurt Fedora`s Tony Iommi-like licks on "Even You",Mascis played all the guitars on Without A Sound,redefining his characteristic wall-of-barre crunch and saturated solos with some surprisingly pretty
pull-off phrases.A stickler for tone,J played with various amp/speaker/guitar combinations.
For dirty rhythms,he`d pull out his `61 SG-shaped Les Paul Junior with P-90s)"definitely
my favorite pickups"(or his `64 Fender Jazzmaster,wire up his `59 Fender tweed Bandmaster through both a Marshall 25-watt
4 by 12 cabinet and the Bandmaster`s own three 10 inch speakers,and send each signal-
close miked with an SM-57 or a Sennheiser 421
-to a separate track.Clean rhythms called for a vintage,15 watt,all tube Vox Super Berkley.)
"I played the beginning of "She Said She Said"
through it-exactly like the beatles!"

[SG]

Here`s part 6 of "Smokin J" by James Rotondi
From Guitar Player Oct 94:

(But J has`nt forsaken 100-watt girth:He continues to plow through a recently acquired
`68 purple Marshall Plexi and a purple `71 Super Lead.)"Purple amps sound better,"(he
deadpans."especially with purple cabs."(As much as J prefers 100-watt heads to 50-watt
jobs)"I like to feel it pushing air"(he rarely cranks them up all the way.)"I`m not scared to turn them up,"(he adds)"but except for some distorted rhythm,I usually set them about halfway up.For leads I use the big muffs."
(One of the first contemporary players to succumb to vintage effect mania,Mascis still
maintains a considerable stable of snorting,bucking broncos,which he`s attempting to tame with the assistance of switcher svengali Bob Bradshaw.)"I have a horrible noise at this point,"(says J,who once told GP that"a little hum never hurt anybody."
(Bradshaw`s task is cut out for him.The Mascis
menagerie starts with an MXR Blue Box,the fuzz/sub-octave device that Jimmy Page made famous on the solo from In through the out door`s "Fool In The Rain".A big muff is next,but not the late 70`s black and red kind.)
"The older ones are better,"(insists J)"You can play rhythm with `em too -kind of a Mettalica-type sound."(From there,J`s blaze passes through two preamps-a three-channel Groove
Tubes Trio for a "Bassman-style"sound or a Fender Super-like tone)"forget the hot third channel,"(says J)( and a Soldano for clean sheens.After his Vox Wah,retrofitted with new guts by Roger Mayer,all Electro-Harmonix hell breaks loose:Electric Mistress flanger/filter matrix,Clone Theory chorus/doubler,Small Clone,and Memory Man echo.After winding through a Mayer Axis fuzz and Mayer Supervibe(similar to a Univibe),J`s signal,buzzing like a Ritalin kid on jolt,makes its way to various imposing amp columns.)

[SG]

Here`s Part 7 of "Smokin J" By James Rotondi
From Guitar Player Oct 94:
(And to think it all starts out with purple(of course)Dunlop Tortex picks whacking .010 Dean Markley strings.Sounds normal enough-but there`s a catch:"I switch all the .013s with .014s,because I don`t like the number."
(what`s this -J Mascis,regular guy,is superstitious ?)"Yeah I`m a little parnaoid,a little psychotic,"(he says in his characteristic
tone,a quiet,sleepy mixture of William Burroughs and a Malibu surf dude.)"I`m into…
aliens.I was thinking I had been visited,but I don`t know for sure,so I was thinking of being
hypnotized to find out,That should clear up a few things.I just don`t want to know what they`ve done to me.It can`t be pleasant"(J holds his arm out,pointing to a faint but distingushable triangle shaped scar near his left elbow.)"I was getting a massage while I
was on tour,and had it pointed out to me.That night the opening band had these two alien magazines with pictures of all these
people with triangle scars on their backs and behind their knees."(He takes a last sip of Whispering Heaven.)"I`m like,Oh,great.just what I need."

That`s the end of that interview,if you want me to post more,please post a message here.

[jeremiah]

Thanks salamiguy!

You will really be saving me some time by doing this! I am going to try to include as many articles as I can. This one has some cool pics with it too [img]images/smiles/converted/smile.gif[/img] (Gotta get a new scanner [img]images/smiles/converted/frown.gif[/img] )

I have 2 boxes full of magazines with dino/j articles from around the world (meaning half of them I can’t even read [img]images/smiles/converted/tongue.gif[/img] )

Anyway, thanks again, this absolutely rules [img]images/smiles/converted/smile.gif[/img]

[Bartman]

Salamiguy, thanks a lot and keep up the good work! [img]images/smiles/converted/wink.gif[/img]

>I have 2 boxes full of magazines with dino/j articles from around the world (meaning half of them I can’t even read

Jeremiah, anything in Dutch, French, German I can help you with if necesary [img]images/smiles/converted/rolleyes.gif[/img]
A while ago, a guy on ebay was selling some very interesting articles about J’s gear and playing style, with licks and pictures of his fingers and stuff. Unfortunately it was in Chinese or Japanese, so I didn’t bid on them. Does anyone know if these articles also exist in English? Would be very cool. [img]images/smiles/converted/biggrin.gif[/img]

You don’t happen to have the guitar magazines with the transcription of Feel The Pain in it, do you? If so, any chance for a scan? pleeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzz [img]images/smiles/converted/tongue.gif[/img]
A la proxima volta
Bart

[jeremiah]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bartman:
<STRONG>You don’t happen to have the guitar magazines with the transcription of Feel The Pain in it, do you? If so, any chance for a scan? pleeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzz [img]images/smiles/converted/tongue.gif[/img]
</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Soon as I get another scanner I will do that one and the Start Choppin one [img]images/smiles/converted/smile.gif[/img]

I will also take you up on your offer and send some scans your way for translation! Robert said his girlfriend may be able to help me with some of the Japanese articles so that will be cool.

[img]images/smiles/converted/biggrin.gif[/img]

[FlyingCloud]

Hey, I could help you, too, with the German stuff. I might have some German articles myself, somewhere… [img]images/smiles/converted/smile.gif[/img]

[Bartman]

>Soon as I get another scanner I will do that one and the Start Choppin one

Wooooooo, thanks a bunch Jeremiah!

>I will also take you up on your offer and send some scans your way for translation!

Allright, send away

>Robert said his girlfriend may be able to help me with some of the Japanese articles so that will be cool.

You mean those articles about J’s gear and stuff? Way too cool indeed [img]images/smiles/converted/mouth_water.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/converted/eek2.gif[/img]

[img]images/smiles/converted/idea.gif[/img] Somebody send this man a scanner, fast!

[SG]

Here`s Part 1 of "Fossil Fuel"by Mike Mettler
from Guitar Nov94:

(Face it:You can try and try and try,but you just can`t pidgeonhole the sound of Dinosaur Jr.`s gifted guitarist,J Mascis.There`s a wee too much single-note acoustic Martin pickin on his band`s new Without A sound(Sire/Waner Bros.)to hold upthe crusty ol tags"grunge" or "alternative" for very long if anything Mascis is the alternative to alternative-as a couple of Sound`s steller,in yer face wind outs(the agressive Yeah Right and balls out Grab it)or a few tunes rooted in country traditions(the tremulous I Don`t Think So and the jangly On The Brink)easily attest.actually,there is problably no tag J would be comfortable accepting.)
"There always seems to be another label,"(he laments)"first it was grunge then slacker and now Generation X is the latest one.They`re all annoying,obviously.If anything,I`d rather be called punk rock."(Fair enough,The aesthetics of the fabled punk movement are indeed pervasive throughout the Dinosaur jr canon,which consists of six albums and a gaggle of EP`s and bonus track filled import singles;in fact,the lineage of the 28 year old Amherst,Mass. native`s first three albums-1985`s Dinosaur,1987`sYou`re Living All Over Me,and 1988`s Bug-can be traced immediatly to the family tree branch that bears the name of punk`s direct decendent,hardcore.Even back then,Mascis readily displayed an inherant knack for adding a twist to the punk equation:"The original concept was to play country really loud,"(he said at the time.Today he appears much closer to acheving that pariticular goal,especially on a track like the aforementioned`I Don`t Think So`,whose ringing,right channel solo chimes of Sweetheart of the rodeo-era Byrds)"Yeah,that ones pretty country,"(Mascis agrees)"But I don`t follow the current country scene at all.I just like classic players like James Burton,Glen Campbell,and the Byrds guy-what`s his name?-Clarence White."

[jeremiah]

thanks yet again [img]images/smiles/converted/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Author]

Posts