With the impending release of their ninth studio album and a nationwide tour in support of it, alternative rock legends Dinosaur Jr. are gearing up for a return to Buffalo’s Town Ballroom on April 6. “I remember our last gig there was really fun,” recalls Emmett Jefferson “Patrick” Murphy III, better known as monosyllabic drum-god and founding member “Murph.” After releasing a handful of influential albums in the late 80s and early 90s, the group disbanded for nearly a decade before reuniting in 2005 and releasing the critically acclaimed Beyond two years later. Two weeks before the group revisits the Queen City, Murph called up Generation to catch us up on all things Dino.
Your website says the group is planning on road-testing a bunch of new material while on tour this spring. Is the new album finished up yet?
It is, actually. The new record is totally done and we are just finishing up the artwork and it is scheduled to come out around June 23. It’s called Farm.
After eight studio albums spanning nearly three decades, what does the band do when they get in the studio? Should we expect the same Dinosaur Jr. sound, or does the album divert into any new directions?
We don’t really think about that. We just have a formula that works, and we stuck to it. It is definitely a big, rock sounding record. It is almost more reminiscent, to me personally, of Where You’ve Been (1993) or something. I’m personally really excited about it. I’ve been listening to it a lot, which is something I don’t normally do when we do a record.
What is the formula, exactly? It’s been 25 years since the first album, and the group has gone through a lot, including a hiatus of nearly ten years. Does the group still just plug in and connect when it comes time to make an album?
J [Mascis, guitarist and singer] still comes up with lots of ideas, and he kind of does demos, and then Lou [Barlow, bassist and singer] and I kind of interpret them and get them together, and as we all sit down and go through the material as it takes shape. We don’t really fight that process. Lou and I do a little more contributing than we did before, but really, if J has a really solid idea for a song, we just go with it, and our chemistry just kind of works together. It’s the path of least resistance. There’s less friction that way, you know? If you have everybody trying to decide something or decide on a mix sitting in a room, it becomes kind of a nightmare, and we kind of learned early on that is not the most advantageous way to go about songwriting or producing new material.
After going your separate ways for nearly a decade, is the band back in the full swing of things?
It’s been around four years now [since the reunion], and we’re still doing it because we’re comfortable. It definitely feels more like a band these days—before it felt more like a reunion gig. We really weren’t sure how long we were going to do it or what the reaction was going to be or how we were going to feel, but everything has gone so well. It’s just pretty obvious that we should keep doing it.
The band’s 1989 cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” was recently re-released on a tribute album by NME, along with renditions by a handful of younger acts, including Art Brut, British Sea Power and Editors. Is it refreshing to still be grouped together with younger acts?
I think it’s cool. I’m glad. We welcome it. We’re lucky that we’re not lumped in as these grumpy old men or something.
I’ve caught the group a few times since you got back together and can attest that Dinosaur Jr. shows are some of the loudest events anyone can experience. Well, gosh, Murph, why so darn loud?
It’s just how we learned to play together. Anything else would just feel unnatural. It’s just kind of how we have to have it to feel like things are working. We pretty much have to feel the music. We literally have to feel the air blowing through the speakers, or it just feels like something is missing.
