Dinosaur Jr digs for DVD concert plan, Boston Herald-Dec 3 ‘

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Dino Jr digs for DVD concert plan, Bostonherald.com

Dinosaur Jr. digs for DVD concert plan
By Linda Laban
Saturday, December 3, 2005

Dinosaur Jr. frontman J. Mascis does not talk to the press very often. When he does, there’s no pat rhetoric. There is plenty of silence and monosyllabic replies. And somehow that’s fine.

There’s nothing staged or calculated about Mascis and his seminal alt rock band, formed in western Massachusetts in the early ’80s. That lack of artifice could be something of a problem when they shoot their shows tomorrow and Monday at the Middle East for the first Dinosaur Jr. DVD.

“I just want to try and make it interesting,� Mascis said by cellphone from a diner in Chicago. There’s a pause. A long pause. “It’s kind of boring to watch a DVD that’s just a concert the whole way through.�

The band hasn’t yet nailed down a plan to make it interesting.How about adding blasts of pyro or midget strippers to liven up the stage?

Mascis chuckled softly. “Those sound like good ideas,� he said.

Fans may think Dinosaur Jr. performing with its original lineup is wonder enough. Mascis kicked bassist and co-singer Lou Barlow out of the band in 1988. While he and one-name drummer Murph carried on as Dinosaur Jr. until the late ’90s, Barlow kept busy with Sebadoh and Folk Implosion.

The bad blood between Barlow and Mascis is legendary. But so is their terrific musical chemistry.

“We always got along musically,� Mascis said. “We’ve all grown up now and we can deal with each other better than when we were kids. It was kind of a drag a lot of the time before.�

He let loose another chuckle, even softer than the first.

“Since then we’ve all played with even worse people,� he said, “which makes it easier to get along.�

While Mascis and Murph live in the Amherst area, Barlow now lives in Los Angeles. They finally stepped onto a stage together in April 2004, at a benefit show in Northampton. Not as Dinosaur Jr., but as Deep Wound, the band that predated Dino J.

The burning question is, of course, have the three written any new songs?

“I’m sure we all have new songs,� Mascis said, “but we haven’t really talked about recording or anything. I’m sure we’ve all talked about it with other people, but we haven’t talked about it with each other.�

Why not?

“I don’t know.�

Maybe, it’s suggested, if they talked about it together then it might actually happen.

Silence. Then Mascis added his last words on the issue: “Or not.�

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