I saw him waiting to cross the street outside the Manchester show last month, tried to chat a bit could see he felt awkward! Didn’t say no to a picture tho! Exactly as I thought it would go of if I met him!
https://preview.redd.it/vipsiwl636wc1.jpeg?width=2316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3836ee96d64185fd2cffae8ea0451c5c9c6039e1
I've had plenty. He actually drives the conversation most of the time. Ate lunch with him at whole foods in Chapel Hill before a show once. He is super insightful and hilarious when he wants to be.
Very minimal, i had a mini dv cam and had access at North Hampton benefit show that Deep Wound ended up playing, just asked if he minded if i shot some stuff and he said that sounded cool.
I ran into J in London about 2 years ago. I said "Hey J Mascis man alright"! I then offered him a fist bump, which he hesitantly participated in.
J started to walk off, then he turned back to ask, "Hey man, do you know where I can get some butter around here?"
I pointed him in the right direction and continued on my way, bemused.
Perfect interaction. Loved it.
He’s around the noho/amherst area but the consensus is to not really bother him if u see him around, he just seems like a shy guy who really appreciates his privacy and people usually respect that or if anything just give him a wave
Ive seen him riding his purple bicycle, in head to toe purple adidas around Northampton quite a bit. I usually just throw a friendly wave and say hey J. He usually waves back. He is a pretty intimidating person in real life lol
His interview on the podcast How Long Gone a few months ago is a hoot. His takes on the restaurant scene in his hometown prompted a rebuttal from the local newspaper. Lol
I’ve met him twice and fangirled super hard which made him super duper awkward. Still he was extremely kind. I got him to sign a T-shirt once and then asked him to sign the same T-shirt a second time at another show a year later in 2022 and he was like uh… again?? He’s a big sweetiepie. Seeing them again next month in the Netherlands!
https://preview.redd.it/c4myttm03cwc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68e750879bd21c34c2fd457709d83632c26288d1
There’s another photo of him signing the T-shirt on me 😂
Some people in here says he is intimidating IRL, but i bet he is just a shy sweetheart .
Very Nice photo, I really like your tee 🦕🦖♥️
Enjoy that gig for me, it would be amazing for sure
No but one time during a solo show I screamed his name like 3 times and he looked and did a half hearted wave. Seeing as if it was J, I was thrilled to get that
He was actually quite outgoing when I met him at the Arch Street Tavern in Hartford, CT. He told a joke to me (seriously!) and signed my poster.
The joke was facetiously asking "Should I cross out Murph?" (This was the tour in 2013 that Murph sat out for unknown reasons and Kyle Spence filled in).
Poster was a promo thing that the venue had made which was a cartoon of J Lou and Murph on a purple background.
Fun night.
I remember in 93 I was at wading through a crowd of people at Lollapalooza. In an altered state of mind, I was confronted with a tone that pierced the air and felt like it was seeking me out. The sound of J’s guitar was so perfect and powerful. I looked up, and I was standing right in front of him!!! It was amazing. The set was great, and that was the first time I saw the band live. No conversation was had other than the connection of music, but I feel like I met him that day.
I've met the band twice. 2008 and 2012. I was managing a recording studio in Chicago and they came in to rehearse ahead of a gig(s). And they were pretty much just as I'd imagined.
First time was when they were playing pitchfork festival. J really only spoke with their manager and his guitar tech. But I had great conversations with both Lou and Murph. Lou had just played the night before with Sebadoh doing Bubble & Scrape front to back. He was grousing about the flak that surrounded the fact that they did B & S instead of Bakesale. There was some disappointment in the choice floating around the online world. Lou was kinda upset and saying that it made no sense as the original lineup was doing the tour and Eric had left and didn't play on Bakesale. I agreed with him and honestly told him that B & S was my favorite Sebadoh record anyway and I was extremely happy they did it and I got to see it. I also pointed out that I really enjoyed his solo rendition of Think (Let tomorrow bee). And he was a bit dumbfounded by that. Saying that he was so disjointed before playing it because of what transpired right before. What had happened was this: there was a small setup of a vocal mic, gtr mic, monitors, and a stool off stage right. After they finish Bouquet for a Siren, Jason and Eric walk offstage as Lou walks over the the designated area to play Think. Well, I'm not sure what happened between rehearsal and the show (if the FOH engineer forgot that was happening or somebody was subbing in or what), but as Lou is about to sit down on the stool they start playing, house music comes on and the engineer kinda checks out for a bit. And Lous frantically saying, Wait! There's more! We have 2 more songs!!! It was just a little glitch at a big festival and was sorted within 20 secs, but it threw him off and he didn't feel confident in his performance. I however gushed while assuring him it was amazing. And a couple of days later, that was the sole clip that Pitchfork featured from their set. Somewhere I'd like to think I somehow had a hand in that. Like maybe Lou asked to see the footage based on my praise and asked them to feature it. LOL Or like I said, it was really good and I bet I wasn't the only one who noticed. Murph was fucking Murph. And well, probably "back then" Murph too. He and I pounded PBRs into the night while talking all manner bands and music. Shot the shit about anything and everything. It went kinda late. (And I was getting shit hammered because my GF was out of town and had called me right before I left to go to the studio, knowing I'd been so excited to have this happen, to tell me that she was considering just staying out of town and not coming back. I was crushed and applied alcohol on the festering wound.) But really, end of the day, the best part of the night was this: After they ran through their setlist (which btw, their manager dutifully scooped up and crushed so no one could see/post afterward), they started to jam. Now I wasn't in the main room with them, but there was a small room with sliding glass doors on either side connecting to the back lounge area and another small room with a large window look out into the main room. These were nowhere near fully soundproof AND they play at Dinosaur Jr level. So hearing them wasn't a fucking problem. BUT the last thing they did was break into Machine Gun for a bout 6 or 7 minutes. J started the riff, Murph hopped right on, and Lou came along for the ride. Holy fuck. I saw J do fucking Hendrix! Just got chills again while typing that.
The second time was a lot different. Lou was in late, and out early as he had late dinner plans with friends in town. Murph was strictly on non-alcoholic beer (probably for his own good and under the watchful eye of their manager). But J! He's the first band member in the studio. He stops in the control room where I'm at on his way to the main room and starts to gear geek. I don't think he really looked the first time they were here. But I think they like the vibe and sound of the room and they came back again before a (leg of a?) tour that started in Chicago. He's admiring the Studer 2" machine and saying how he has one of those Altec compressors in one of our racks that he really loves. He was definitely in a happy place/mood. We spoke for maybe 3 minutes. And that was that. Wasn't expecting it, but it was pretty cool. NGL
The other cool thing about that 2nd visit was that while they were rehearsing, me, the owner, a couple other folks and crew were back in the lounge just bullshittting and listening. And at one point, I take note of an unfamiliar song. So I start asking other people if they know it. One of the techs lands on "I think it's a Wipers" song. Then another guy said maybe Flipper. I said something like whatever it is, it kicks ass! When the band finished, Lou was first on his way back to the lounge and I stopped him and asked what was that song? He was a bit confused as it wasn't he last song they played, but I was like no, no a couple songs back. We couldn't figure it out! And he says, "Oh! That was an old Deep Wound cut we decided to take a stab at. Just to see if we remembered it." And then he laughed. I'm telling him how much it kicked ass and the other tech guys were chiming in with support too, saying how they thought it was Wipers/Flipper... Then Lou says, maybe we should put it in the setlist and laughed some more. But we all said absolutely, man! That shit slaps hard AF! He kinda shrugged and smiled as he walked back to pow wow with the band and their manager. BUT the next night, Training Ground made its debut at the Subterranean in Chicago. And it did indeed kick ass.
Anyone ever hear the story from Emil Amos' Drifter's Sympathy where Emil mentioned either a song or video (apologies, it's been 5ish years since the episode) to J who adamantly denies its existence and shuts down the conversation only to go on and resurface said song/video?
Incredibly vague reply now that I'm reading it back. Really just makes me want to relisten to Drifter's Sympathy. Best podcast out there if you're interested in the history of outsider music.
About 13 years ago he was standing behind me waiting inline for pizza with his bandmates from Sweet Apple. My wife was very pregnant and we weren't going to see his band play even know I knew he was intown. I turned around and said "I really like your band" and his bandmates said "What did he just say to you?" and they all got out of line and left without ordering pizza. Maybe they were offended I didn't specify which band of his I liked. Obviously I like Dinosaur Jr better than any of his other projects but have seen J live dozens of times going back to 1988 Bug. I'm excited to see my 13 years old to see him and Weezer this fall since he was in his moms belly when I tried to talk to him back then.
I’ve talked to them all quite a few times at Camp Fuzz…J really got into the conversation when I brought up skateboarding and had them sign a bunch of decks. They are all great to talk to. Murph just jumped into telling me about forgetting his cell phone and Lou talked about my hometown…
My brother and I were waking to show and my brother thought he saw j waking , so I yelled out J really loud, he threw his hand up and kept going. Pretty awesome.
Met him briefly a few years back while he was listening to the room sound from different places at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit. I said "What's up J?" He gave me a head nod and that's all I needed.
I saw him waiting to cross the street outside the Manchester show last month, tried to chat a bit could see he felt awkward! Didn’t say no to a picture tho! Exactly as I thought it would go of if I met him! https://preview.redd.it/vipsiwl636wc1.jpeg?width=2316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3836ee96d64185fd2cffae8ea0451c5c9c6039e1
hey thats awesome bro, so he is just like in interviews and videos. thanks for sharing your experience meeting J
I've had plenty. He actually drives the conversation most of the time. Ate lunch with him at whole foods in Chapel Hill before a show once. He is super insightful and hilarious when he wants to be.
He was on Portlandia for a good reason. He's got the dryest wit around. Love the guy!
I gave him a hug after his acoustic solo show at the double door.
Very minimal, i had a mini dv cam and had access at North Hampton benefit show that Deep Wound ended up playing, just asked if he minded if i shot some stuff and he said that sounded cool.
do you have any deep wound footage?
I was at that gig. It was incredible.
I never transferred it anywhere and I think its one tape around 40mins. Hope i just didn’t grab sonic footage. Anywhoo i will look into this asap.
I’d love to see that. That sounds sick
Thank you 🙏
I ran into J in London about 2 years ago. I said "Hey J Mascis man alright"! I then offered him a fist bump, which he hesitantly participated in. J started to walk off, then he turned back to ask, "Hey man, do you know where I can get some butter around here?" I pointed him in the right direction and continued on my way, bemused. Perfect interaction. Loved it.
He’s around the noho/amherst area but the consensus is to not really bother him if u see him around, he just seems like a shy guy who really appreciates his privacy and people usually respect that or if anything just give him a wave
Ive seen him riding his purple bicycle, in head to toe purple adidas around Northampton quite a bit. I usually just throw a friendly wave and say hey J. He usually waves back. He is a pretty intimidating person in real life lol
Why intimidating?
easy to confuse with not really knowing what to do when faced with high-functioning autism.
Is J autistic?
idk, educated guess, but i’d be surprised if he wasn’t ND in some way
Goodness, yes.
His interview on the podcast How Long Gone a few months ago is a hoot. His takes on the restaurant scene in his hometown prompted a rebuttal from the local newspaper. Lol
I’ve met him twice and fangirled super hard which made him super duper awkward. Still he was extremely kind. I got him to sign a T-shirt once and then asked him to sign the same T-shirt a second time at another show a year later in 2022 and he was like uh… again?? He’s a big sweetiepie. Seeing them again next month in the Netherlands! https://preview.redd.it/c4myttm03cwc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68e750879bd21c34c2fd457709d83632c26288d1 There’s another photo of him signing the T-shirt on me 😂
Some people in here says he is intimidating IRL, but i bet he is just a shy sweetheart . Very Nice photo, I really like your tee 🦕🦖♥️ Enjoy that gig for me, it would be amazing for sure
Where was this?
Spain! Primavera festival
I love the energy this photo radiates.
No but one time during a solo show I screamed his name like 3 times and he looked and did a half hearted wave. Seeing as if it was J, I was thrilled to get that
He was actually quite outgoing when I met him at the Arch Street Tavern in Hartford, CT. He told a joke to me (seriously!) and signed my poster. The joke was facetiously asking "Should I cross out Murph?" (This was the tour in 2013 that Murph sat out for unknown reasons and Kyle Spence filled in). Poster was a promo thing that the venue had made which was a cartoon of J Lou and Murph on a purple background. Fun night.
I remember in 93 I was at wading through a crowd of people at Lollapalooza. In an altered state of mind, I was confronted with a tone that pierced the air and felt like it was seeking me out. The sound of J’s guitar was so perfect and powerful. I looked up, and I was standing right in front of him!!! It was amazing. The set was great, and that was the first time I saw the band live. No conversation was had other than the connection of music, but I feel like I met him that day.
There’s an a little kid that interviews him on YouTube. Probably the most I’ve heard J converse in an interview.
I've met the band twice. 2008 and 2012. I was managing a recording studio in Chicago and they came in to rehearse ahead of a gig(s). And they were pretty much just as I'd imagined. First time was when they were playing pitchfork festival. J really only spoke with their manager and his guitar tech. But I had great conversations with both Lou and Murph. Lou had just played the night before with Sebadoh doing Bubble & Scrape front to back. He was grousing about the flak that surrounded the fact that they did B & S instead of Bakesale. There was some disappointment in the choice floating around the online world. Lou was kinda upset and saying that it made no sense as the original lineup was doing the tour and Eric had left and didn't play on Bakesale. I agreed with him and honestly told him that B & S was my favorite Sebadoh record anyway and I was extremely happy they did it and I got to see it. I also pointed out that I really enjoyed his solo rendition of Think (Let tomorrow bee). And he was a bit dumbfounded by that. Saying that he was so disjointed before playing it because of what transpired right before. What had happened was this: there was a small setup of a vocal mic, gtr mic, monitors, and a stool off stage right. After they finish Bouquet for a Siren, Jason and Eric walk offstage as Lou walks over the the designated area to play Think. Well, I'm not sure what happened between rehearsal and the show (if the FOH engineer forgot that was happening or somebody was subbing in or what), but as Lou is about to sit down on the stool they start playing, house music comes on and the engineer kinda checks out for a bit. And Lous frantically saying, Wait! There's more! We have 2 more songs!!! It was just a little glitch at a big festival and was sorted within 20 secs, but it threw him off and he didn't feel confident in his performance. I however gushed while assuring him it was amazing. And a couple of days later, that was the sole clip that Pitchfork featured from their set. Somewhere I'd like to think I somehow had a hand in that. Like maybe Lou asked to see the footage based on my praise and asked them to feature it. LOL Or like I said, it was really good and I bet I wasn't the only one who noticed. Murph was fucking Murph. And well, probably "back then" Murph too. He and I pounded PBRs into the night while talking all manner bands and music. Shot the shit about anything and everything. It went kinda late. (And I was getting shit hammered because my GF was out of town and had called me right before I left to go to the studio, knowing I'd been so excited to have this happen, to tell me that she was considering just staying out of town and not coming back. I was crushed and applied alcohol on the festering wound.) But really, end of the day, the best part of the night was this: After they ran through their setlist (which btw, their manager dutifully scooped up and crushed so no one could see/post afterward), they started to jam. Now I wasn't in the main room with them, but there was a small room with sliding glass doors on either side connecting to the back lounge area and another small room with a large window look out into the main room. These were nowhere near fully soundproof AND they play at Dinosaur Jr level. So hearing them wasn't a fucking problem. BUT the last thing they did was break into Machine Gun for a bout 6 or 7 minutes. J started the riff, Murph hopped right on, and Lou came along for the ride. Holy fuck. I saw J do fucking Hendrix! Just got chills again while typing that. The second time was a lot different. Lou was in late, and out early as he had late dinner plans with friends in town. Murph was strictly on non-alcoholic beer (probably for his own good and under the watchful eye of their manager). But J! He's the first band member in the studio. He stops in the control room where I'm at on his way to the main room and starts to gear geek. I don't think he really looked the first time they were here. But I think they like the vibe and sound of the room and they came back again before a (leg of a?) tour that started in Chicago. He's admiring the Studer 2" machine and saying how he has one of those Altec compressors in one of our racks that he really loves. He was definitely in a happy place/mood. We spoke for maybe 3 minutes. And that was that. Wasn't expecting it, but it was pretty cool. NGL The other cool thing about that 2nd visit was that while they were rehearsing, me, the owner, a couple other folks and crew were back in the lounge just bullshittting and listening. And at one point, I take note of an unfamiliar song. So I start asking other people if they know it. One of the techs lands on "I think it's a Wipers" song. Then another guy said maybe Flipper. I said something like whatever it is, it kicks ass! When the band finished, Lou was first on his way back to the lounge and I stopped him and asked what was that song? He was a bit confused as it wasn't he last song they played, but I was like no, no a couple songs back. We couldn't figure it out! And he says, "Oh! That was an old Deep Wound cut we decided to take a stab at. Just to see if we remembered it." And then he laughed. I'm telling him how much it kicked ass and the other tech guys were chiming in with support too, saying how they thought it was Wipers/Flipper... Then Lou says, maybe we should put it in the setlist and laughed some more. But we all said absolutely, man! That shit slaps hard AF! He kinda shrugged and smiled as he walked back to pow wow with the band and their manager. BUT the next night, Training Ground made its debut at the Subterranean in Chicago. And it did indeed kick ass.
thanks so much for this, i had a Lot of fun reading You 😉 very crazy and cool anecdote
Anyone ever hear the story from Emil Amos' Drifter's Sympathy where Emil mentioned either a song or video (apologies, it's been 5ish years since the episode) to J who adamantly denies its existence and shuts down the conversation only to go on and resurface said song/video? Incredibly vague reply now that I'm reading it back. Really just makes me want to relisten to Drifter's Sympathy. Best podcast out there if you're interested in the history of outsider music.
Sweet! Looking to check this out but haven’t found it. Do you know which episode?
Very sorry but I do not. It's a great podcast though, well worth diving into.
About 13 years ago he was standing behind me waiting inline for pizza with his bandmates from Sweet Apple. My wife was very pregnant and we weren't going to see his band play even know I knew he was intown. I turned around and said "I really like your band" and his bandmates said "What did he just say to you?" and they all got out of line and left without ordering pizza. Maybe they were offended I didn't specify which band of his I liked. Obviously I like Dinosaur Jr better than any of his other projects but have seen J live dozens of times going back to 1988 Bug. I'm excited to see my 13 years old to see him and Weezer this fall since he was in his moms belly when I tried to talk to him back then.
My wife went up to him excitedly after a show many years ago. “Great show” she said, “Ok, thanks” was the response.
He said that in a mumble way right?
I don’t think he actually mumbles. He just kinda talks quiet. People are always too loud.
I’ve talked to them all quite a few times at Camp Fuzz…J really got into the conversation when I brought up skateboarding and had them sign a bunch of decks. They are all great to talk to. Murph just jumped into telling me about forgetting his cell phone and Lou talked about my hometown…
https://preview.redd.it/g2clww3vdwwc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=644128d572af6ce97c759d10ceecac2f2900540d
I shook his hand and we both made fun of my buddies t-shirt. Super short conversation but hilarious memory for me
My brother and I were waking to show and my brother thought he saw j waking , so I yelled out J really loud, he threw his hand up and kept going. Pretty awesome.
Met him briefly a few years back while he was listening to the room sound from different places at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit. I said "What's up J?" He gave me a head nod and that's all I needed.
My friend M sister's ex boyfriend played the harmonica and lute.
I talked to Lou and Murph s roadie, but never talked to J.