Mascis Quotes & Sayings

It's harder to play drums than guitar, physically. I'm always kind of on the edge. I guess that's how I play everything: on the edge of my ability. — J Mascis

All labels are offensive in some way. — J Mascis

I've always worn earplugs, but I'm sure my hearing's not great. — J Mascis

Your mind can do wonders, so scary movies are not the healthiest for me because it does freak me out. — Diora Baird

'No Bones' has some reverb that I kick around. — J Mascis

Between the Dinosaur Jr. albums and his recent solo albums, 'Several Shades of Why' and 'Heavy Blanket,' J Mascis is emerging as one of the last men from all that '80s indie madness, still writing songs that you want to listen to over and over. — Henry Rollins

I play a Fender Jazzmaster and three stacks and a combo, two old Marshall Plexis and a Hiwatt combo and a Hiwatt combo with Marshall cabs. — J Mascis

It seemed so wimpy at first when I started to play [guitar]. So I started playing loud with lots of effects just to try to mimic the dynamic [of the drums]. Drums seemed a lot more expressive. [I was] Trying to emulate the feeling of playing the drums on the guitar - I guess that's why I played it so loud. — J Mascis

I enjoy having some boundaries to work within. That's why I generally don't like alternate tunings and stuff like that. I like the boundaries of regular tunings. — J Mascis

Generally my songs are just some riffs slung together as an excuse for a guitar solo. — J Mascis

I love Florida. I love the beach. I love the sound of the crashing surfers against the rocks. — Emo Philips

Be a good neighbor, and leave me alone. — Ashleigh Brilliant

People have to do what they want to do. — J Mascis

Yeah, you know, I'm always into cassette. At least they seem to be the longest-lasting medium we used to have. I don't play cassettes much anymore, but I play records all the time. — J Mascis

Get up, groan, write a bit, moan, eat breakfast, write some more, cycle my bike through the Sligo hills, make up country songs as I pedal along, sing them, have lunch, have a nap, groan, moan, write a small bit more, cook dinner, feed wifey, open a bottle, or several, slump, sleep. — Kevin Barry

In some settings, however, rampant opportunistic behavior severely limits what can be done jointly without major investments in monitoring and sanctioning arrangements. — Elinor Ostrom

It's good to have certain restrictions sometimes, but it's definitely more fun to play really loud, with distortion. — J Mascis

The bank balance was Noel Constant's share in the estate of his anarchist father. The estate had consisted principally of Government bonds. — Kurt Vonnegut

To hear is to doubt, to see is to be deceived, but to feel is to believe. — Ed Parker

I'd definitely be into doing some zombie slaying music. That'd be cool. — J Mascis

I have limited interests. I really like all sorts of gear. Guitar gear. Recording gear. Stuff like that. I like music, you know. — J Mascis

Nikhilananda's birthday. Maybe we'd Morris dance, naked, around the base of an old-growth California redwood, its branches lavishly festooned with the soiled hammocks and poop buckets of crunchy-granola tree sitters mentoring spotted owls in passive-resistance protest techniques. You get the picture. In place of Santa Claus, my mom and dad said Maya Angelou kept tabs on whether little children were naughty or nice. Dr. Angelou, they warned me, did her accounting on a long hemp scroll of names, and if I failed to turn my compost I'd be sent to bed with no algae. Me, I just wanted to know that someone wise and carbon neutral - Dr. Maya or Shirley Chisholm or Sean Penn - was paying attention. But none of that was really Christmas. And none of that Earth First! baloney helps out once you're dead and you discover that the snake-handling, — Chuck Palahniuk

You might as well play at the show everyone else is playing at. — J Mascis

I have a couple of gold teeth. I had braces for a year but I didn't wear the retainer. — J Mascis

I was just reading about Paul Simon in 'Uncut', and it was fascinating. I never think about him much or think about his music or anything, but it's interesting to hear his ideas on stuff. — J Mascis

When I play a solo I'm just expressing that moment. It can go horribly wrong easily enough. — J Mascis

Usually I like to have them, but going drum-less pushes everything in a new direction and makes it easier to keep things sounding different. — J Mascis

I've forgotten many things, but I'll never forget a melody. — Michael Jackson

I've never liked rehearsing too much. — J Mascis

I don't have any tattoos but I've thought about getting Ernie, from Bert and Ernie, on my earlobe. He made a big impression on me as a kid. And I have pretty big earlobes. — J Mascis