Lou returns to age of Dinosaur

27 May 2005

Lou Barlow: ‘Everything from 1999 to 2003 really sucked.’

For Lou Barlow, reforming Dinosaur Jr should have looked as appealing as smearing himself in jam and jumping on a wasps' nest.

He was dumped out of the punk-country trio in 1989 after years of awkward silences, goading and threats - and his simmering rage against bullying frontman J Mascis cropped up again and again in his songs for Sebadoh.

But now the spiritual father of lo-fi is set to play with Dinosaur Jr at the Forum next month - and he couldn't be happier about teaming up with the singer who once attacked him on stage.

"I did a show with Dinosaur in LA and it felt fantastic," he says. "It felt really good - it felt like a vindication."

An odd thing to say about a band who claimed to hate each other from day one.

"Playing with Dinosaur again felt like all the suffering I went through was worth it," he explains. "Maybe when I was kicked out of the band I went through a period of self-doubt. It felt good to move beyond it."

Barlow - who became a father in February - admits he has mellowed.

"Everything that happened from 1999 to 2003 really sucked," he says. "I've come to grip with changes - Folk Implosion breaking up, Sebadoh not being a real touring entity.

"There was a lot of change, a lot of heartbreak. I feel like I've come out of that."

In January he released his first solo album, Emoh, a quiet acoustic set which couldn't be further from Dinosaur Jr's noise fests. But Mary, a wickedly funny song suggesting the immaculate conception was

an excuse to explain an accidental pregnancy, shows

he hasn't gone soft.

Barlow will be playing a one-man show at the Islington Academy on May 29 with only a guitar and keyboard for backing.And he says he'll have no trouble shifting up a gear - and a few decibels - for the Dinosaur Jr shows.

"I love doing that anyway - I love quiet-to-loud," he says. "Doing that kind of dramatic shift brings more to everything."

A prolific songwriter, he will have a huge back catalogue to draw on for the May gig. But, he says, the set list is down to the audience.

"I'll go on the feedback I'm getting," he says. "I'll try to keep people happy."

o Lou Barlow plays the Islington Academy on May 29. Tickets £12. Call 0870 771 2000.

o Dinosaur Jr play The Forum, Kentish Town, on June 8-9 (June 8 sold out). Tickets £17. Call 0870 060 3777.