Chatty he’s not! Watch or listen to any interview with alt-rock guitar icon J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr fame and you’ll realise that he’s probably got better things to do with his time than talk to some music journalist from the other side of the world. Reputable American magazine Village Voice famously ran a feature in March 2011 titled Five Awesomely Awkward J Mascis Interviews and then followed up a month later with Five MORE Awesomely Awkward J Mascis Interviews. He was just as reticent to connect in an interview conducted by a ten year old kid in 2014 but to the credit of the kid, he managed to get J to smile throughout most of it. Is he rude? Nah, I don’t think that’s it, he’s pleasant enough. Lazy? Yeah, perhaps there’s a bit of that. Speaking with the press is part of the process he knows he has to deal with in order to get his music out there and he complies with as little vocabulary effort as possible. It’s in his music too, he sings with the same laconic flair but I guess we don’t question that as much. His persona is all part of the weird and wonderful package that is J Mascis and contributes to the fabulous alt-rock music that we’ve come to know and love for over three decades not only with Dinosaur Jr but with his other projects too such as Witch, The Fog, Deep Wound and Heavy Blanket.

Long story short, J Mascis is coming to Australia in February 2024 for a national tour with Dinosaur Jr to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of their acclaimed album Where You Been. The original band consisting of Mascis on guitar, Lou Barlow (bass, vocals) and Murph (drums) will play the seminal record in its entirety followed by a set of songs from their extensive catalogue. Dinosaur Jr will also headline the Tent Pole festival in Geelongon February 17, along with Mogwai, Calexico, Cash Savage and The Last Drinks, Civic, Our Carlson and more.

Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips sat down with J Mascis over a zoom call in an attempt to see if we could get a decent conversation going. We gave it a good crack anyway!

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