J Mascis

Wed 14th Dec, 2011 in Features

Ahead of another return visit to Australia to play Falls and Sydney festival dates the enigma that is J Mascis brought us up to date with what he has been doing of late.

There are several curious projects and events happening in Mascis’ universe at the moment with the Bug album currently being toured in America, complete with Henry Rollins doing a Q+A with Mascis onstage, the release of Dinosaur Jr’s first three albums as a cassette box-set as well as the production of a replica of Mascis’ unique Big Muff guitar pedal called the Fuzz Munchkin made by Queensland’s Tym Guitars. Most bizarrely is a Weezer tour on a cruise liner in January alongside Ween, Sebadoh, The Antlers and Yuck. “I’m scared about that. I’m bring a lot of friends to try and buffer myself so hopefully I have a good time.” frets Mascis.

Mascis is brief and to the point (as he always is) when asked if he was nervous about releasing this album under his own name. “Yeah sure, you don’t know how it is going to be received or how it will sell.” That fear of how the audience will react to a solo album is somewhat negated by the fact that Mascis avoids reading any of the press for all of the music he releases. “Not really I can’t deal with that. Sometimes the record company sends me review but I can’t read them, they make me crazy whether they’re good or bad.”

Stepping out from the shadow of one’s band can be a blessing in that there is a ready-made audience waiting to hear what you’ve done on your own. The flip-side is that there are as many waiting to criticize any deviation from the sound and style of the band you’ve made your name with.

The desire to release a solo record in an acoustic form came from the simple desire to make a record that didn’t feature his trademark distortion and spiraling guitar solos. That decision led Mascis to sit down and write most of the songs specifically for the album with a specific set of style parameters in mind. “Stephen Stills, Incredible String Band, Pentangle. I had them in mind when I was writing the record,” he recalls. He then farmed his songs out to a selection of musicians like Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell and Kurt Vile to ascertain who might work best as guests on Several Shades of Why. “I just asked them if they wanted to play. I gave a lot of people a lot of songs to see what they came up with and I used the bits I liked.”

Mascis’ recent solo album Several Shades of Why isn’t his first release under his own name, that honour goes to 1996’s Martin + Me – a collection of acoustic Dinosaur Jr songs and covers recorded on tour. In that sense the new album is probably considered Mascis’ first true solo record as it was recorded in a studio with original songs of a consistent style and feel. To flesh out his Several Shades of Why sets he throws in a couple of Dinosaur Jr tracks as well as a cover of Edie Brickell’s Circle which has been in his sights since first hearing it when touring the Bug album. “We played it on the Bug tour, I guess Murph had the album when it came out and Maggie from Sub Pop was selling t-shirts for us and she suggested I play that song. I used to listen to it in the van and stuff.”

Touring the album has meant stepping out of the safety zone of Dinosaur Jr and the wall of volume and electricity that defines that band’s live shows. In typical Mascis style it isn’t something he particularly relishes. “Its a bit nerve-wracking, I just power through and try and get through the show. It’s all about survival up there and a sense of relief when I get off the stage.”

Catch J Mascis as Falls, Southbound and at a run of sideshows in January:
Tuesday 3rd January – The Toff in Town, Melbourne
Wednesday 4th January – The Toff in Town, Melbourne
Friday 6th January – Caravan Music Club, Melbourne
Saturday 7th January – The Sound Lounge, Gold Coast
Tuesday 10th January – Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane
Wednesday 11th January – Spigeltent, Sydney
Thursday 12th January – Spigeltent, Sydney
Friday 13th January – Spigeltent, Sydney