I haven’t thought about it,” says J Mascis, when being asked about his band, the alt-rock pioneers Dinosaur Jr, turning 40 this year. “I just put one foot in front of the other.” The response is akin to a verbal shrug, which is a common reply for Mascis. A lot has been written about his communicative reticence over the years and I can confirm every adjective used about him – laconic, phlegmatic, apathetic, listless – is accurate. Still, in between the monosyllabic answers, he is also quietly funny. And if you lean into these moments, rather than allow yourself to be choked by the suffocating silences that fill so many parts of the conversation, Mascis can actually be a hoot. Relatively speaking.
Just take his concept of having fun. “People always ask me after a show: ‘Did you have fun?’ and that drives me crazy,” he says. “I mean, maybe, but probably not. Fun seems to be the driving force for a lot of people but I’m not bothered about it.” Or his response to being asked how his hearing is after decades of noise being spewed into his ears. “I dunno,” he says. No tinnitus? “Oh yeah, I have that.” Is it manageable? “It is if you don’t listen to it.”
