Dinosaur Jr. comes back from extinction

Dinosaur Jr. has been making records since you were a fetus. But don't let that fool you into thinking these old men don't know how to rock.

By Meg Walsh

Published April 11, 2006

Dinosaur Jr. has been rocking the indie scene since before most students were born. The band formed in 1983 when members J Mascis (guitar/vocals), Lou Barlow (bass) and Murph (drums) came together from separate side projects to form Dinosaur Jr. after the break-up of Mascis' band Deep Wound. The name of the band came from a children's book they saw in the basement of Mascis' house, according to Murph.

Dinosaur Jr. has released eight albums in its 23-year history, but has not released any music since 1997's Hand It Over, which sported a collection of eclectic, melancholy rock songs. Before then, Dinosaur Jr. had released several highly rated albums, such as Bug, You're Living All Over Me and Green Mind. The band has been busy on the road for quite some time now before the re-release of some Dinosaur Jr. classics.

"We've been on tour almost all year," Murph said. "We just got back from Japan and Australia."

The band had 10 days off. Then it came back to the States to tour. After the band finishes touring the U.S., it will have a week off before heading to Europe.

"The whole tour is the reunion, and we're re-releasing the first three records, which we did, and now we're working on promoting the old stuff before we can start promoting new stuff," Murph said. "Anytime you release anything, it's good to back it up with some live shows."

Murph said he prefers playing live shows as opposed to spending time in the studio, which might explain why the band hasn't released a new album in nine years.

Dinosaur Jr. will play The Blue Note, 17 N. Ninth St., on Wednesday along with Priestess and Warhammer 48K. Blue Note patrons have a lot to look forward to when these anything-but-aging rock stars come to town.

"We still have the energy that we had in 1987," Murph said, "so it's getting a glimpse of the past. If you want to know what it was like to go to a crazy underground show back in '87, it's pretty much the same. We were never really involved in the commercial aspect, so we haven't needed to change. We were always more underground."

Murph said the Amherst, Mass., rockers plan to head back into the studio soon.

"I'm thinking, like, July we're going to try and focus on putting out some new material," he said.

The re-releases of Green Mind and Where You Been are due out on Rhino Records May 16, each with new bonus tracks. Rhino also will release a live recording of Mascis' 1993 performance at CBGB in New York.