Sometimes it truly is an honor to see a great act in a very intimate, and personal setting. Thursday night at the Black Cat’s backstage proved to be one of those nights as indie-rock legend, J Mascis performed to a small audience lucky enough to have a ticket to his sold out appearance.
J Mascis needs no introduction. He could easily be labeled an indie-rock guitar god and the master-musician and guitar virtuoso behind indie pioneers, Dinosaur Jr., not discounting the incredible talents of Mr. Lou Barlow. Mascis has also been associated with acts like The Fog, Witch, and Deep Wound, and over the past 25 years Mascis has displayed his talents was a writer, performer, studio musician, and producer, and has even scored and has been featured on multiple soundtracks, notably 1992’s Gas Food Lodging.
Besides his work on his own material, Mascis has been involved with the countless projects of other musicians including Sonic Youth, the late, but intrepid GG Allin, The Hold Steady, Mike Watt, and Firehose.
Although I have seen Dinosaur Jr. perform several times even in recent years, I have not seen J perform in an acoustic environment for quite some time. In fact, I believe it was the mid 1990s when his album Martin and Me was released, I witnessed him play a completely acoustic set on the Black Cat’s main stage, and although that show was completely sold out, it still felt like a very small room.
Currently touring to promote his latest release, Tied to a Star, Mascis is in a sense picking up where he left off with his last solo project, Several Shades of Why. As he took the stage, he was very well received by the audience and everyone knew that something magical would be happening as he took to his instrument.
Mascis was in usual form as his long, mostly gray locks of hair fell from his “Creature from the Black Lagoon” hat and peered out at the crowd through his bright purple glasses. With only two older Gibson acoustic guitars with pick-ups installed, a small Vox amp head and a pedal board, a few effects including a small looping station and a few overdrive and echo selections, leave it to J Mascis to make his acoustic show a pretty loud one. What is amazing about seeing him play live is watching the percussiveness of his playing. His strumming hand is so much more active on an acoustic guitar then on his electric work. It’s so fun to hear the pops, bangs, and bumps while he plays through his hollow wooden instruments.
Covering classic songs like “Raisins,” “Out There,” and “Not the Same and Pond Song,” Mascis mixed the night’s music up pretty well between the old and the new. He even threw in a cover of Mazzy Star’s, “Fade into You” into the set. For his encore, Mascis simply sat down with a “thank you very much” in his monotone, picked up his guitar and went right into the his beloved cover of The Cure’s “Just like Heaven.”
In a sense, I always like to think of J Mascis as a sort of anti-front man. His personality alone naturally lends to that very well. He has always been reluctant to do any sort of press, whether it’s an interview, an appearance, or even a short comment about his music. It’s only been most recently, and I suppose in more media savvy years, that you can see J doing different spots for music sites discussing his catalog of work. I hope people can appreciate that he’s talking these days.
Dinosaur Jr. will always have a special place in my heart and it was so very nice to see Mascis still performing live in this capacity. He still cranks out some classic beloved tunes for his hardcore fans and the intricacies and structure of his new work is something that current and future generations can aspire to.
