J Mascis + The Fog | |
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Origin | Amherst, Massachusetts, United States |
Genres | Alternative rock |
Years active | 2000 | –2003, 2009, 2012
Labels | Ultimatum, City Slang |
Associated acts | Dinosaur Jr., Witch |
Members |
J Mascis Kevin Sweeney Kyle Spence |
Past members |
Mike Watt George Berz Dave Schools |
J Mascis + The Fog is the post-Dinosaur Jr musical project embarked by Dinosaur Jr's founding member, musician J Mascis.
After fulfilling his contractual obligations to Blanco y Negro in the UK and Sire/Reprise in the US, Mascis holed up in his home studio in Amherst, MA, which he named Bob's Place after his pet bulldog. Recording 99% of the instruments on the recordings, he emerged from the studio with the first J Mascis + The Fog album, More Light, an album title inspired by Mascis's growing interest in "hugging saint" Ammachi. One of the pivotal songs on the album, "Ammaring", is also about Ammachi. Mascis signed with Artemis Records to release the album.
To promote More Light, Mascis enlisted sometime Dinosaur Jr. drummer George Berz and former Minutemen and Firehose bassist Mike Watt. Mascis had worked with Watt several times before - most notably producing the final Firehose album Mr. Machinery Operator (1993), on which he also contributed some guitar and vocal parts, and contributing guitar and drum performances to several songs on Watt's first solo album Ball-Hog or Tugboat?. They embarked on four separate tours between October 2000 and the spring of 2001, including a tour of Japan and Australia, a European tour, and two full tours of the US. The set lists would be a mix of songs from both More Light and the Dinosaur Jr. back catalog, along with a handful of Stooges songs and a version of Black Flag's "I've Had It" with lead vocals sung by Watt.
During their first European tour, J Mascis + The Fog participated in a John Peel session for BBC Radio 1, during which the band recorded a medley consisting of Teenage Fanclub's "Everything Flows", Pavement's "Range Life", and The Ruts' "In a Rut". This session is the only commercially available studio recording of the 2000–2001 line-up featuring Watt, and, along with a later J Mascis solo session from 2002, was released on CD by the Strange Fruit label in 2003.