Gloves off, earplugs in, here come Dinosaur Jr
Dinosaur Jr have mellowed sincere-forming, but they're still as committed to maximum noiseas when theywere alt-rock pioneers back in the '80s, writes Charlie Carter
Not long ago, local officials seriously considered issuing gig-goers with gloves to dampen the sound of clapping from Hong Kong stadium. But times have changed, and the city is now preparing to welcome a band that is widely seen as the loudest in the world.
For almost three decades, US alternative rockers Dinosaur Jr have been a watchword for loud. The three-piece's ear-splitting brand of distorted guitar rock, fusing hardcore punk with psychedelic melodicism, when played live has been known to push the audience towards the back of the room, and earplugs are common accessories at their concerts.
"We still have that sound," boasts drummer Murph, known to his mum as Emmett Jefferson Murphy III, who along with guitar-hero band leader J. Mascis and indie icon bass player Lou Barlow formed the influential band in 1984.
"We take pride in being one of the loudest bands out there," he has said. "It's fun to have a lot of firepower at our disposal, and we definitely use it. But we've been wearing earplugs since we were, like, 20. We're not stupid."
Throughout the late 1980s and early '90s, Dinosaur Jr - originally named Dinosaur but changed for legal reasons after the so-called supergroup The Dinosaurs threatened to sue - along with fellow Bostonians The Pixies and New Yorkers Sonic Youth shaped America's nascent alternative rock sound.
Borrowing from the likes of Black Sabbath, Black Flag and with a touch of surf-pop thrown in, they forged a heavy, cranking and melodic brew that pioneered the loud-quiet-loud template that birthed America's first world-beating alternative phenomenon: grunge. They would influence Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and carve out one of the more nuanced careers in rock - never becoming stadium-filling huge, but never far from legend status.