Dinosaur Jr have announced There Near, their 13th album and first in five years, which will be released August 28 via Jagjaguwar. We’ve got an exclusive purple and white splash vinyl variant, limited to 500 copies, that you can preorder now.
“I bought the same amp that Chris Dixon had when we made our first album,” J Mascis says regarding the sound of the album, which is powered by a ’70s Mesa Boogie MK1 amp. “Chris recorded us at his house with his amp. It has a real interesting sound I haven’t gotten for a while. And it’s something I was trying to get back to on this album. The Stones started using Mesa Boogies in the ’70s after they heard Santana playing through them. Then The Clash copied The Stones, etc. As the years went on into the MK 2 and so on, the Boogie got more metal sounding. But the MK 1 has a souped-up Fender sound. You always hear how Rick Rubin always makes bands he’s producing sit down and listen to their first album and say let’s get back to that sound. So I just gave myself his advice.”
The first single off the album is the immediately satisfying “Several Got Away,” which comes with a video that feels very much in the tradition of “Feel the Pain.” Says director Guy Kozak, “I wanted to do something a little tongue-in-cheek with a kind of ‘backyard movie’ feel that could fit in nicely with the existing canon of Dinosaur Jr. music videos. The first bit of inspiration came from a great Henry Darger painting of kids being terrorized by two giant floating hands of fire. Then I got thinking about the rapture and it came together from there. The guys were really game for it all and I was honored that they let me chase them around a big field with my camera like a psycho. We were on a tight schedule with the turnaround so I had to learn a lot of VFX stuff over the course of weekend, but I like the way the effects all turned out.” Watch the video below.
Dinosaur Jr are on tour this summer playing Where You Been in full with Band of Horses (playing Everything All the Time), starting at Kingston’s Ulster Performing Arts Center on July 10, and then New Haven, CT’s College Street Music Hall on July 11. They’ve also just announced fall headline dates with Stef Chura opening. Check out their full schedule below.
There Near
1. Several Got Away
2. No Friends
3. Everything At Once
4. Take Me With You
5. Blowin’ Up
6. Gone Off
7. Clam Along
8. Walk Me Back
9. Read The Room
10. Put It Down
11. No One’s Ready
Dinosaur Jr. Tour Dates
Fri. July 10 – Kingston, NY @ Ulster Performing Arts Center +
Sat. July 11 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall +
Sun. July 12 – Hammondsport, NY @ Point of the Bluff Vineyards +
Tue. July 14 – Richmond, VA @ Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden +
Thu. July 16 – Wilmington, NC @ Greenfield Lake Amphitheater +
Fri. July 17 – Asheville, NC @ Hellbender by The Orange Peel +
Sat. July 18 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern +
Mon. July 20 – Knoxville, TN @ Tennessee Theatre +
Tue. July 21 – Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing Company +
Wed. July 22 – Louisville, KY @ Iroquois Amphitheater +
Fri. July 24 – Lansing, MI @ Grewal Hall
Sat. July 25 – Fishers, IN @ Nickel Plate District Amphitheater +
Sun. July 26 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! +
Tue. July 28 – St. Louis, MO @ The Factory +
Thu. July 30 – Davenport, IA @ Capitol Theatre +
Fri. July 31 – West Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom +
Sat. Aug. 1 – Omaha, NE @ Astro Theater +
Fri. Oct. 9 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl*
Sat. Oct. 10 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre*
Sun. Oct. 11 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up*
Thu. Oct. 15 – Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues*
Fri. Oct. 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether*
Sun. Oct. 18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Castro Theatre*
Tue. Oct. 20 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades*
Thu. Oct. 22 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall*
Fri. Oct. 23 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune*
Sat. Oct. 24 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune*
Mon. Oct. 26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Complex*
Thu. Oct. 29 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre*
Fri. Oct. 30 – Fort Collins, CO @ Washington’s*
Mon. Nov. 2 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater*
Wed. Nov. 4 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues*
Thu. Nov. 5 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s*
Fri. Nov. 6 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger*
Sat. Nov. 7 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s*
+ co-headline with Band of Horses
* w/ special guest Stef Chura