J Mascis + the fog

"After fulfilling his contractual obligations to Blanco y Negro in the UK and Sire Records/Reprise Records in the US, J Mascis went to his home studio in Amherst, MA, named Bob's Place after his bulldog. Recording most of the instruments on the record, he emerged from the studio with the first "J Mascis and The Fog" album, "More Light", an album title inspired by J's growing interest in "hugging saint" Ammachi. One of the pivotal songs on the album, "Amma Ring", is also about Ammachi. J Mascis signed with Artemis Records to release the album.



To promote More Light, J enlisted sometime Dinosaur Jr. drummer George Berz and former Minutemen and fIREHOSE bassist Mike Watt. J had worked with Watt several times before - Including when he produced 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 Mike Watt's first solo album Ball-Hog Or Tugboat?. They went on four tours between Autmn 2000 and spring 2001, including a tour of Japan and Australia, a European tour, and two full tours of the US. The set lists were a mix of songs from More Light and Dinosaur Jr's back catalogue, along with some Stooges songs and a coverof Black Flag's "I've Had It" with lead vocals by mike Watt.



During their first European tour, J Mascis + The Fog did a John Peel session for BBC Radio, during which they recorded a medley consisting of Teenage Fanclub's "Everything Flows", Pavement's "Range Life", and The Ruts's "In A Rut". This session is the only commercially available studio recording of that line-up featuring Mike Watt, and, along with a later J Mascis solo session from 2002, was released on CD by Strange Fruit in 2003.



At some of the tour dates, the band were joined onstage by Ex-Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, during which time J Mascis + the Fog would play some Stooges classics. Sometimes they would be joined by guests including Evan Dando and Bobby Gillespie; a London appearance by the Fog with Asheton and Gillespie was marred when a fan spat upon Gillespie, which provoked the singer into hitting the fan with a mike stand as the Fog and Asheton were playing, ironically, "No Fun". The Gillespie incident notwithstanding, these appearances by Asheton later led to a one-time supergroup of J, Mike, Ron, and Ron's brother and fellow Stooge Scott Asheton, which inevitably led to the reformation of the Stooges themselves with vocalist Iggy Pop and Mike Watt replacing the late original Stooges bassist Dave Alexander.



A second European tour behind More Light was cut short when the band was involved in a van accident en route to a Swedish concert. J suffered minor back injuries but rebounded from them quickly and began work on the second Fog album, Free So Free, released in 2002.



In 2005, J 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. And what a tour it was.