Lou Barlow Planning New Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr. Music
Sebadoh singer/guitarist Lou Barlow has a big few months ahead of him: Wednesday night the band kicked off an East Coast tour in New Haven, Sub Pop is releasing a double disc expanded version of the band’s underrated 1994 album Bakesale in June and in June and July, Barlow will get back together with his former Dinosaur Jr. bandmate J Mascis for a series of shows based on the third Dinosaur record, Bug.
Barlow and Mascis plan on playing Bug in its entirety at each show. “We’ll do that for a month, and then I’m going to continue to do Sebadoh after that. Then at the end of the year, there’s talk of getting back together and starting to piece together a new Dinosaur record.”
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But before that, Barlow is planning to work on some new music on his own. “I’m not going to work for two months and just write songs, and see what I come up with,” he tells Rolling Stone. “Hopefully, that will be fodder for a Dinosaur Jr. record, maybe a Sebadoh record, and maybe a solo record, too.”
In the meantime, though, perhaps the Bakesale reissue will serve as inspiration. The expanded version will include the original album as well as a disc of extras, including unreleased songs, four-track demos and acoustic renditions of such favorites as “Rebound” and “Magnet’s Coil.”
Live Report: Sebadoh in New York, Jan. 18, 1997
“We had recorded four songs of mine while we were on tour,” Barlow recalls. “We had stopped at Chicago and recorded four songs at Steve Albini’s house. This was when Eric Gaffney was still in the band – he and I founded the band together, and Jason Loewenstein joined.
“But Eric then quit the band after that tour,” Barlow continues. “Eric was really an integral part of the band – he was part of the band’s identity. But when he quit, it was a huge relief, and we just immediately hopped into the studio and started recording more songs.”
Soon after, the band experienced a burst of creativity. “The remaining sessions for the record were done really quickly and there was a really amazing spirit behind all of it,” he says. “It was pretty off-the-cuff, but I felt that lyrically and melodically, the songs were really developed. We captured them all at an early enough stage that it was still fresh. That’s what I remember – it was a really great time.”
For Sebadoh’s current tour, which wraps up in New York City on April 10th, fans can expect a healthy dose of tunes from the group’s mid-Nineties peak:”A whole lot of songs from Bakesale and Harmacy, and other songs too.”