SEVERAL SHADES OF… J Mascis
Mar 24, 2011
The guitar-slinging guitarist and occasional man of many words weighs in heavily, or at least astutely, on what's up in his world.
BY MAX BLAU
While he remains most widely known as the leader of Dinosaur Jr, J Mascis has constantly immersed himself in numerous other acts over the years including Deep Wound, Upsidedown Cross, J Mascis and the Fog, Witch and Sweet Apple. As Mascis approaches his thirtieth year as a professional musician, the guitar legend continues to reinvent himself despite having very little left to prove in his career - this time with a new solo record, Several Shades of Why (Sub Pop).
On it, Mascis emerges as a much different beast from the bulk of his past projects. Throughout his twenty-nine year career, and despite occasional solo diversions into acoustic music as a live performer (he also contributed ethereal/atmospheric compositions to the soundtrack of 1992 film Gas, Food, Lodging), Mascis has long demonstrated a core affection for loud, roaring riffs and fiercely melodic noise rock. Several Shades of Why, his first true acoustic record, strips away all the signature distortion and raw energy typically associated with his songs. Instead, Mascis relies on his understated voice, acoustic guitar and a handful of notable contributors (among them, Kurt Vile, Band Of Horses' Ben Bridwell and Black Heart Procession's Pall Jenkins) to craft a record that speaks volumes about his ability to delve into seemingly any musical style from folk to doom metal, and succeed. We recently spoke with Mascis about his new record and his touring plans, about paying tribute to Neil Young recently and what's next (or not...) for the heralded musician.
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BLURT: After all these years working with noisy, electric guitar-based acts, why did you finally decide to put out an acoustic record?
J MASCIS: I just wanted a change, you know? I've always liked acoustic music. Meg [Jasper] at Sub Pop was bugging me about doing an acoustic record, but then the Dino reunion happened so it kind of got put on the back burner, so it's been quite a while. [But I've] thought about doing it and now it actually happened.
Several Shades of Why includes a pretty long list of guest contributors including Kurt Vile, Sophie Trudeau (A Silver Mt. Zion), Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene), Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses) along with numerous others. How did you get all these great artists on the record?
I just asked them, you know. People did a lot of stuff, and I just picked things that I liked out of it. I didn't tell them what to play, I just wanted to see what they came up with and then picked parts out of it.
Did you work with them in person or did you send demos out to them like you did with some of your recent collaborations including The Hold Steady and Dead Confederate?
I think half of the people recorded it in their own studio or whatever, and the other half came to my house to record it. You can do a lot these days just sending tracks around on the Internet.
So I take it that's how you and Kurt Vile got together for the tour then?
Yeah, he opened some Dino shows...He recorded some of [Several Shades of Why] at my house.
Do you have a recording studio in your house or were you just working on writing parts of it there?
Yeah I have a studio at my house.
In terms of the new record, tell me about the album title--Several Shades of Why. What's behind the title?
I just came up with it in a lyric, you know. Just thought it sounded cool so I promoted it as the title... it got promoted to song title then to album title.
Is that your usual process in naming songs and albums?
Sometimes, yeah. Trying to get out of that lately, but yeah [that's what I do] on a lot them.
We touched a little bit earlier on the acoustic nature of the record. But I'm curious as to why you chose to not have drums on the new album as well. Why did you go that route?
I just tried to make it sound different. Add some limitations so it wouldn't sound like all my other stuff, you know.
I know you're pretty particular with your guitar set-up. How big of a difference does it make you having the same set-up across albums as well as in performance?
I don't have a solo set-up yet. I have a couple ideas of what I want to use, but nothing I'm used to yet. With Dino, I'm used to all the gear that I have so it's harder to switch up and use different stuff. It should be cool.
While you don't have everything planned out yet, what are some of your ideas that you have in mind for this tour? Do you think you'll have touring members playing with you?
I'll either play or not play through an amp. Or I'll play through the amp and not mic the guitar. I don't know if the amp will just be a monitor or if I'll play direct through the P.A. or something.
Will you be playing songs from across your catalog or just your new solo work?
I'm sure [I'll play] some Dino songs and some other stuff.
In terms of moving forward, do you have any idea what you plan on doing next - whether it's trying something new again, solo work or returning to one of your others projects?
Probably all of the above.
Have you started working on anything new yet with any of those?
No. Not yet.
After all these years and different projects, are there any particular groups or works that you've done that you most closely identify with?
Well, everything reflects that [certain] period of time, you know. I've always liked this band Upsidedown Cross that I played drums on.
A few weeks ago, you played a Neil Young show in New York. How did that go? How was your experience there celebrating Neil Young's music?
Yeah, it was fun. I got the band together - it seemed kind of like Crazy Horse or something. Nobody else [was doing that]... mostly it was acoustic acts. It felt like we were the only ones really trying to play Crazy Horse. So that was kind of cool. There were all these old ladies in the front all dressed up - they have season tickets to Carnegie Hall. [laughs] That was pretty funny.
They were all there to see you, right?
[laughs again] They're all there to see whatever's at Carnegie Hall.
J Mascis is currently on a U.S. tour with opening act Kurt Vile through April 10 - see full tour itinerary at his official website, along with upcoming UK and European dates as well as further North American shows later this spring.
[Photo Credit: Timothy Herzog]
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