EMMETT JEFFERSON MURPHY III – aka MURPH – of legendary alt-rock act DINOSAUR JR. gives PATRICK EMERY some tips on achieving longevity and healing old rifts.

Emmett Jefferson Murphy III – or Murph as he’s affectionately known to Dinosaur Jr. fans – looks back on the day Lou Barlow was formally kicked out of the band with a mixture of regret and resignation. Describing the final days of the original Dinosaur Jr. line-up as “very tense”, Murph acknowledges that the way he and J Mascis dealt with Barlow’s departure could have been better. “J’s whole thing was ‘We’ll just break up and reform without Lou’.  But I said ‘No, we’re just kicking him out’”, Murph says. “We were sitting around in a kitchen in Northampton and I was saying to J that this was bad karma to do that, and we should just tell Lou. Then Lou burst through the door – he’d found out through some of his friends in the scene what we were going to do”, Murph says. “It wasn’t great way to deal with it – but I suppose it worked out in the end”.

Murph was still in high school when he joined Mascis and Barlow in the fledgling Dinosaur outfit (the ‘Jr.’ was added after a threat of litigation from a band titled ‘The Dinosaurs’). “I’d been in a horrible boy band, and the other guys had been in Deep Wound. J had been playing drums and he wanted to switch to playing guitar, so I was recruited to play drums”, Murph says. As a (recently) former drummer, Mascis was very particular in his instructions to Murph. “J had serious ideas about drums – he’s not so particular now, but back then he was super critical”, he says. Murph says the band “winged it” on the first Dinosaur Jr. album, adopting an approach that would be used subsequently for the band’s ‘comeback’ albums. 

While Dinosaur Jr. gradually gathered popular interest to match its powerful sound, the band’s internal dynamic – particularly the tension between Mascis and Barlow – was increasingly problematic. Murph found himself in the role of mediator. “I was definitely the mediator between the two of them. Certain times it was just comical – they were like a divorced couple sitting on the couch with me as the kid in the middle, and I’d be passing messages from one to the other. It was that bad at some points”, Murph laughs. Barlow’s personality had morphed from shy to extroverted overnight, and it was too much for Mascis and Murph to handle. “Lou went from being really introverted to getting a girlfriend and becoming ‘Super Lou’ and becoming really opinionated”, Murphy says. “It became really tense, and both J and I were really annoyed”.

Barlow left the band after the recording of Bug, while Murph hung around until the release of Green Mind. By the end of his original tenure in the band Murph admits Mascis had all but taken over the band’s songwriting process. “J was becoming more of a singer-songwriter”, Murph says. “Green Mind was when he really took off as a singer-songwriter”. Murph went onto to join The Lemonheads briefly, while Mascis eventually retired the Dinosaur Jr. moniker in favour of J Mascis and the Fog.

In Christmas 2004 Murph was surprised to be tracked down at his mother’s house with an offer to reform the original Dinosaur JR. line-up. “I got a call from Brian, our manager. It was really strange, because I don’t usually get calls there”, Murph says.  Despite the tension of the band’s earlier tenure, both Murph and Barlow were happy to re-unite with Mascis. “Lou and I were really into it”, Murph says. “It was natural, and it wasn’t tense at all. We knew if J wanted to do it, then it would work out”.

Having realised that the band members could still work together, Dinosaur Jr. returned to the studio in 2006 and recorded the critically acclaimed comeback album Beyond, followed by 2008’s Farm. “The only difference between the first few albums and the later records is that J has his own recording studio in his house, so we don’t have the pressure of going to another studio and having to record in a really short time”, Murph says. “Farm was reminiscent of the early records, in that it had a really big drum sound”.

While Mascis and Barlow have largely mended their personal differences – Murph acknowledges he’s still occasionally required to mediate between the two – the band’s principal songwriters adopt differing, and distinct, songwriting styles. “J approaches things from a composer’s point of view”, Murph says. “He has a set formula. He’s still very specific about the writing of parts for the songs. There’s more room for interpretation in relation to the breaks and solos, but the basic changes in the songs are set in stone”, he says.

Dinosaur Jr’s second coming has now last over four years, with two successful albums. Having missed touring Australia as the original line-up in the early 1990s (Barlow was replaced by Team Dresch bassist and Chainsaw Records founder Donna Dresch on Dinosaur Jr.’s first Australian tour) Dinosaur Jr. is about to embark on its third tour of Australia since its 2005 reformation. “I fell like we’re a bit like brothers now”, Murph says. “It’s OK on the road. We feel like we’re a business as well as making music”.

Anyone who’s had the privilege of seeing Dinosaur Jr. in its contemporary incarnation will confirm that the band has lost nothing of its sonic power. “We’ve always worn earplugs”, Murph says. “We used to wear earmuffs in the studio, like you have on shooting ranges. I still wear them when I’m practising, because I’m very sensitive to noise these days”, he says. “We still like to feel the music as well as hear it – it’s hard when we play clubs that don’t have a big PA”.

Based on the quality of Farm, there’s still considerable life left in Dinosaur Jr. Murph says the band will continue as long as people want to hear the band’s music – and the band members’ bodies hold up. “I dunno how long we’ll keep going”, Murphy says.  “We’ll keep going as long as our bodies are up to it, and as long as there are fans out there who want to hear us. I feel lucky that we don’t have to really try – we just get up and play”, he says.

DINOSAUR JR. play Tuesday Mar 9 at The Zoo (supported by Kitchen’s Floor) and Byron Bay’s Great Northern on Wednesday Mar 10. www.dinosaurjr.com

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