Interview with Lou Barlow
Words: Michael Spadoni and PJ Cheng
Photos: Courtesy of Madison House Publicity

Consider ourselves lucky because two belated Christmas gifts will be given to the city of Tampa in January: The 13th Annual Tampa Am and a once-in-a-lifetime Dinosaur Jr. concert.  To secure a legendary act, especially one that has just recently reformed after nearly a decade-long hiatus, is a feat that only enhances the props already gained worldwide by Skatepark Of Tampa.  Don't try and figure it out, just accept it.  We're about to witness a historical event on multiple levels.

The annual Tampa Am is known internationally for its fierce skating competition that always seems to exploit a few diamonds in the rough.  You'll wonder why some of these kids don't have their own video game yet.  Street and Vert battles will pursue for days, eventually sifting out the one amateur that will take home the coveted title along with the clout this contest accredits.

Sprinkled throughout the 4-day event are free welcome parties, art shows and one highly anticipated rock show featuring nineties-college radio favorites, Dinosaur Jr., who will be here to support The SPOT's 14 year existence.  Their style crosses over a variety of genres and every fan sees them differently: from alternative rock to metal pop to post-punk. However you choose to label them, Dinosaur Jr. albums contain squalling guitar work, liberal use of crash cymbals, melodic bass lines and J Mascis' raspy pipes in which he croons out such pop-laden lyrics.  Combined with the signature guitar solo that accompanies each track, Dinosaur Jr. might be hard to define, but their sound is easily distinguishable.  120 Minutes is long gone and the legion of fans that grew up to songs like Freak Scene and Little Fury Things have thrown out their grunge garb for more professional attire, but the albums continue to hold their weight amongst today's trendy music scene long after the original members disbanded.  J Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph have matured as well and perhaps that was the missing ingredient to reforming for a world tour as well as recording new material with more equally creative input.  Fresh off their latest gig playing All Tomorrow's Parties’ Nightmare Before Christmas festival, we caught up with Barlow to inquire about the reunion, the new album, and whether or not everyone's getting along.

REAX:  Is Dinosaur Jr.’s recent reemergence based on trying to influence a new generation of fans, placate your devoted fans, or to make amends with each other?
Lou Barlow:  Actually none of the above… I would say we’re doing it so we have something to do next year.  It gives us a reason to keep touring and we have new songs to play live to help invigorate the reunion process.

REAX:  Who was the first one who suggested the reformation of Dinosaur Jr.?
LB:  I think it was J’s Mascis manager.  He was really the architect behind it all.  He did something that I never thought would be possible.  But, over the years I started to find myself in the same room as J with minimal tension; I never thought because of that we would end up playing together again.  J’s manager is kind of a young guy who’s very ambitions.  He said, “You know J, a reunion would really work to coincide with your reissues coming out.’  And J’s like, “Well, whatever…  call Lou, call Murph, whatever, do your worst.”  J basically just let him do whatever he wanted to get this going, and in quick order, got Murph and I involved.

REAX:  How different is being on the road now compared to when you were just starting out as a band?  Is everyone getting along nicely now?
LB:  Yeah, I think we’re just functioning.  When we play, there’s really a feeling of… I just notice now that J actually seems to be enjoying himself.  Back in the day, either I was not able to see him enjoying himself or I just didn’t know what it looked like.  It seems completely different now.  Over the years, J and I put out so many records and we were doing things on our own.  Basically, we were living these parallel lives and this is kind of our post-collaborative stage.  We both have gone on from being kids and discovered that we are actually career musicians.  We’re still slogging it out and I think we’ve both managed to figure out ways to enjoy it as a band, and also how to make it work for ourselves personally.  Back then we were struggling to really just rationalize everything and to put it into perspective.  But, we had no perspective because we were kids.

REAX:  Do you think the tension was part of the band’s dynamic back then?
LB:  Sure… but a lot of the dynamic of the band comes from the way we play together.  I learned how to play bass to Murph’s drumming. We’re musical brothers, we grew up together.  The rhythm section that we made was built to play J’s songs. So, we’re really locked into this.  We formed the band and created our styles around each other, at least Murph and I did around J’s.  So, when all that stuff comes together, that’s the dynamic of the band.  I think the idea of “tension drove the band to this musical height” is just all stuff that critics and the kids at home want to imagine is going on.  For me, musically, it works because we play well together and we were actually at our best when we got along well.  I think the tension thing was pretty overstated.

REAX:  How has technology changed the way the full band wrote and recorded material for the new album compared to how it was done with an album like 1988’s “Bug”?  
LB:  There is no comparison.  We recorded it at J’s house so the schedule was completely open.  We were able to work at a very slow pace.  Whereas back in the day, of course, you would have two weeks in the studio and you had to have the record together after that.

REAX:  Did everyone work on the new material together?
LB:  I think there are 11 songs on the record.  J wrote 9 of them and I wrote 2 of them.  On J’s songs, he was really concerned with the guitars and the drums.  So he told Murph what to play and left me alone to figure out the bass parts.  Then he reevaluated them before I laid down the final bass line and recorded them.  With my songs, I had Murph come and visit me in Los Angeles and we pounded out a bunch of ideas that I had for the bass and drums.  Then we got together with J, gave him the structure and then put the songs together.  At least with my songs, the structure was dependent upon the communication between the three of us, which is what I really wanted.

REAX:  Do you think the use of an Analog 4-track is a lost art, or do you prefer working digitally recording the new songs?
LB:  I prefer digital 4-tracks myself.  All of my cassette 4-tracks don’t work anymore.  Recording at J’s house was pretty off the cuff.  He’s got a lot of great gear and he has this young guy who runs the board for him.  So, we were doing it ourselves as far as the recording went.  This guy J knows, whom he’s been working with since the Where You Been record, did the mixing.  I’m finding myself going backwards all the time, back to the 4-track approach.  We can’t really afford to spend the time that we need to spend on the record, just jamming and relaxing in the studio because it’s way too expensive.

REAX:  Do you have any way of describing the sound or feel of the new material?
LB:  It sounds like J, Murph, and I… that’s really all I can say.  In some places on the record there is a little more of a relaxed feel.  At least, more so than our early stuff.  I guess that’s probably because we’re 20 years older laughs.  It’s still noisy and it’s still pretty heavy… actually, it’s probably heavier because we recorded it better.

REAX:  Is there a release date for the new album?
LB:  I think it’s probably going to come out around May to coincide with the live DVD release.

REAX:  Where was the upcoming DVD recorded?  
LB:  Boston and New York City.

REAX:  Did the filming of that solidify the reuniting of the band?
LB:  I guess it did.  Yeah… we had been playing shows for a few months before we did the DVD.  It was just as we were really getting tight again, so when it comes out it’s going to be painful for me to watch.  I know I’d say, “Oh God… we’re so much better now.”  But, I don’t know what it’s gonna look like or sound like and I doubt I ever will.  I hate watching myself perform.

REAX:  What’s going on with Sebadoh getting back together?
LB:  We’re just going to try a tour of the states in the spring.  We got together and practiced the week before I started playing the Dinosaur Jr. tour that I’m on right now.  It was really fun and we’re going to see what happens on the tour.  If it works out… who knows.  I know that there will be a new Sebadoh record in the future. As far as what that’s going to entail and who is going to write the songs, that’s something that’s probably going to be determined by the tour in the spring.