Mascis and Barlow had previously played together in a hardcore punk band called Deep Wound, formed in 1982 while the pair were attending high school in western Massachusetts.

Cosloy had dropped out of the University of Massachusetts Amherst to focus on running his independent record label, Homestead Records, and promised Mascis that if he were to make a record Homestead would release it.

While Barlow had played guitar in Deep Wound, he accepted as he was impressed by the material Mascis was creating.

During the recording process, tension emerged between Mascis and Murph because Mascis had very specific ideas for the drum parts.

Mascis ( who had started out as a drummer ) recorded many of the drum parts by himself, layering the various instrumental parts through overdubbing.

While Mascis ' guitar, voice and songwriting ensured that the album had its share of the band's old sound, it was much quieter and more layered, with more use of keyboards and acoustic guitar, and with a noticeable lack of the power-trio roar that the original lineup had been known for.

In 2002, the two shared the stage for two shows in London, with Barlow singing I Wanna Be Your Dog along with Mascis, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton and Mike Watt, who had been performing Stooges songs as " Asheton, Asheton, Mascis and Watt ".

Later that year, he and Barlow shared the stage at benefit show for autism at Smith College organized by Barlow's mother in Northampton, Massachusetts, and played together as Deep Wound after Mascis and Sebadoh had completed their respective sets.

Although the band already had a singer, Mascis convinced them to replace him with Charlie, and Deep Wound's line-up was complete.

In 2005, Mascis put his Fog project on hold in order to tend to other business, mainly the reformation of the original Dinosaur Jr. lineup, to coincide with the re-release on the Merge label of the first three Dinosaur Jr. albums that had previously been on Homestead and SST.

The tour was a short one by Watt standards ( not even two months ) because Watt had another commitment impending-playing as a member of J Mascis and the Fog on the former Dinosaur Jr frontman's first solo tour.

The group's first tour ( dubbed the " Time To Cat And Not Mouse " tour, since Watt had just finished touring, or " sidemousing " as he calls it, as a member of J Mascis and the Fog ) in the fall of 2001 was originally scheduled to start on September 11, 2001 ; Watt was in the process of leaving his apartment to pick up Trebotic and Watson when one of his friends called him and told him to turn on the news ; the night's opening date in San Francisco was postponed until the end of the tour, and Watt would perform each night's show on the tour wearing dark sunglasses in memory of the victims of the 9 / 11 attacks.

In 2000, indie rock veterans J Mascis ( of Dinosaur Jr ) and Mike Watt ( of the Minutemen and fIREHOSE ) teamed up with the Asheton brothers to perform Stooges covers ( and other material ) live.

Initially unable to play his bass, he rebuilt his strength with intense woodshedding and practice as well as live club gigs where he performed sets of Stooges covers with Hellride in California and with J Mascis and Dinosaur Jr. drummer Murph in New York under the name Hellride East.

Since disbanding, Mike Watt has released four solo albums and been involved in numerous musical projects including the longstanding bass duo, Dos ( with ex-Black Flag bassist and wife, Kira Roessler ), Banyan ( with Jane's Addiction drummer, Stephen Perkins ), Jay Mascis and the Fog, the Stooges and the Unknown Instructors ( along with George Hurley ).

A few days later Mascis called Barlow and Murph to form a new band without telling Nakajima ; " I was kind of too wimpy to kick him out, exactly ," Mascis later admitted, and explained, " Communicating with people has been a constant problem in the band.

Some of the singing was done by Mascis in his trademark nasal drawl, often compared with Neil Young, but the majority of the lead vocals were by Lou Barlow.

Mascis was reluctant to sign a two-album deal with Homestead, but Cosloy felt betrayed ; Cosloy said, " There was no way I couldn't take it personally.

This time around, Mascis did most of the lead singing, often in a detached drawl that presented a contrast with the extreme music.

Despite the album's success, tension between Mascis and Barlow began interfering with the band's productivity, and in 1989, after touring in support of Bug, Barlow was kicked out of the band.

" The Freed Pig ", the opening track on 1991's Sebadoh III, documents Barlow's frustration with Mascis and his poor treatment within the band.

The new record was virtually a J. Mascis solo album, with Murph playing drums on only a few songs, as well as minimal contributions from Fleming and Spiegel, who were out of the band by the time the album was released.

For touring purposes, Mascis first added Van Conner, and then Mike Johnson to handle the bass parts and embarked on several tours to support Green Mind, with support acts that included Nirvana.

After 1997's Hand It Over, Mascis finally retired the Dinosaur Jr. name, with the group's final live performance being an appearance on the American talk show The Jenny Jones Show.

Following the reissues in 2005, Mascis, Barlow and Murph finally reunited to play on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 15, 2005, and in June that year, they kicked off a tour of Europe.

* Interview with J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., 2005

Billed as Asheton, Asheton, Mascis and Watt, the band performed sporadically before catching Pop's attention in 2003.

In 2000, Mascis asked Watt to participate in a world tour behind Mascis ' first post-Dinosaur Jr. release, J Mascis and the Fog's More Light.

At several of the shows, Asheton joined Mascis and Watt onstage, wherein the group would play entire sets of Stooges songs.

Watt and Mascis later joined Asheton and his brother, Stooges drummer Scott Asheton, for a one-time-only performance at a Belgian festival under the name Asheton, Asheton, Mascis & Watt.

The band included Mike Watt of the Minutemen, J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and Mark Arm of Mudhoney.

To promote More Light, Mascis enlisted sometime Dinosaur Jr. drummer George Berz and former Minutemen and fIREHOSE bassist Mike Watt.

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.

The Gillespie incident notwithstanding, these appearances by Asheton later led to a one-time supergroup of Mascis, Watt, Asheton, and Ron's brother and fellow Stooge Scott Asheton, which led to the reformation of the Stooges themselves with vocalist Iggy Pop and Watt replacing the late original Stooges bassist Dave Alexander.

Other musicians may take time from their own bands to tour or record as a sideman for another artist, such as Mike Watt with J Mascis and the Fog or Iggy and the Stooges.

At some of the tour dates, the band were frequently joined onstage by former Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, during which time Mascis and The Fog would play several Stooges classics.

His first album, Ball-Hog or Tugboat ?, featured appearances from dozens of musicians ( many were Watt's peers from the 1980s SST era ), including Henry Rollins, Eddie Vedder, J Mascis, Carla Bozulich, Evan Dando, members of Sonic Youth, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Frank Black, Nirvana, Soul Asylum, Jane's Addiction, the Beastie Boys and the Screaming Trees.

Mascis took Cosloy up on his offer to release an album and Dinosaur recorded their debut album for $ 500 at a home studio in the woods outside Northampton, Massachusetts.

" Gerard Cosloy was excited by the completed album, but was devastated when Mascis told him the band was going to release it on SST Records.

Murph said the album was recorded at Mascis ' home and marks return to the heavier, Where You Been LP era.

When the master tape of You're Living All Over Me arrived at SST, the label's production manager noticed the level on the tape was so high it was distorting ; however, Mascis confirmed it was the way he wanted the album to sound.

Already after the release of the debut album, Come received praise from Dinosaur Jr .' s lead singer J. Mascis, Hüsker Dü's Bob Mould, and Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain.

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.

Mascis signed with Artemis Records to release the album.

Mascis suffered minor back injuries but rebounded from them fairly quickly and began work on the second J Mascis + The Fog album, Free So Free, released in 2002.

The record is close to being a J Mascis solo album, with drummer Murph only featuring on three tracks.

It is the first Dinosaur Jr. album not to feature Murph on drums, who is replaced by vocalist and guitarist J. Mascis.

Mascis later admitted that his father's death affected his writing and performance on this album, and he took three years to deliver the next Dinosaur Jr LP, 1997's Hand It Over.