Everything went pretty well in Lou Barlow’s childhood until he turned 12. That was when the auto industry collapsed and brake-maker Bendix transferred his father from Jackson, Mich., to Westfield, Mass.
“Everything changed,” says the frontman for 27-year-old indie-rock band Sebadoh. “I don’t regret that move that we made, but it changed me.
“People in the Midwest, there’s a lot of regional pride and a lot more, like, fake positivity — ‘that’s great, you’re awesome!'” he continues via a sketchy cellphone connection while driving through the desert from San Diego to Tucson, Ariz. “At school (in Massachusetts) there was a lot less racial diversity, a lot less tolerance. It was weird. I pretty much just went into music and kept my mouth shut. And when I met J and Murph, they were classic Massachusetts people. Definitely think twice before you chew your mouth off around them.”
“J and Murph” refer to J Mascis and Pat Murphy, who belonged to Barlow’s first band in high school. Until Barlow’s parents bought him a guitar, he had been disturbingly quiet, to the point that his counselor hypothesized some sort of mental illness. But he formed Deep Wound, a band influenced by the punishing energy of Black Flag and Dead Kennedys. Mascis joined as a drummer, then switched to lead guitar, and Deep Wound evolved into Dinosaur Jr., which would become one of the biggest alt-rock bands of the ’90s.
“I’m not gonna lie, it sucked. It wasn’t great,” says Barlow, 48, of his early years in Westfield. “But, you know, that’s when I discovered music, and music became my life.”
Dinosaur Jr. took off quickly, thanks to Mascis’ longhaired star power and high-volume virtuosity — 1987’s “You’re Living All Over Me” was a guitar-rock masterpiece, one of many crucial albums that influenced Nirvana and ultimately revolutionized MTV and radio. Mascis was a control freak, writing almost every song, but Barlow was growing into a sort of George Harrison of the band, and scratchy early songs “Lose” and “Poledo” established him as an unheralded utility player. He began to seek his own outlet.
Barlow and a friend, Eric Gaffney, recorded a four-track cassette tape and persuaded local stores to sell it. They called themselves Sentridoh, then changed to Sebadoh, and while they ended up rerecording the original tape, its herky-jerky production and rambling vocal quality gave the band a new identity: “lo-fi.”
Fearing Barlow was losing interest in Dinosaur Jr., Mascis fired him. Sebadoh began to churn out an album a year, peaking with 1994’s electrifying “Bakesale,” and Barlow formed several spinoffs, including Folk Implosion, best known for 1995’s “Kids” soundtrack hit “Natural One.”
Befitting Barlow’s personality, Sebadoh remains a collaboration. Gaffney left in 1993; his main partner now is drummer and songwriter Jason Loewenstein.
“Compare Sebadoh to more successful bands like Guided By Voices or Pavement; those bands have a definable sort of one voice that carries through on those songs,” he says. “When there’s too much of a push and pull (between band members), it’s not the most commercially advisable thing to do. We always really love the push and the pull.”
In 2005, Mascis reunited Dinosaur Jr., and Barlow agreed to return, but with a new approach to the band’s complicated three-way relationship. Barlow uses a word he learned from the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” to describe it: “revertigo.” It refers to people reverting to the way they were upon encountering past friends.
“I had a very strong ‘revertigo’ for becoming the kid that I was when I was in Dinosaur Jr. That’s a pretty insecure place that I was in,” he recalls. “When I got back into the band, I was going to try to battle against that insecurity and try to write songs for the band and try to tell J what I felt about things. I didn’t step in there and try to f— things up for J. I just tried to stand up for myself when I thought I needed to do that and speak my mind.”
Today, Barlow is in his comfort zone. Sebadoh’s 2013 album, “Defend Yourself,” is the band’s first in 14 years, and although it was inspired by the breakup of Barlow’s 25-year marriage and has its share of angsty punk guitars, its anchor is the singer’s high, soothing voice. In addition, Barlow is maintaining several different bands simultaneously and writing songs for all of them. After this tour with Sebadoh, he hopes to make another Dinosaur Jr. album with Mascis, then do a Sebadoh EP next year, then a solo album.
It’s somewhat complicated, because he and his family, including his girlfriend, ex-wife and their two children, ages 9 and 4, plan to move from California back to Massachusetts. That way they’ll be closer to family and bandmates, including Mascis.
“I figured I’ve got to do it now, because I don’t want to do the same things to my kids when they’re on the cusp of puberty,” he says. “I don’t want it to be an added challenge. My move, when I was 12, definitely gave me an immediacy to the choices I’ve made.”
When
: 9 p.m. Friday
Where: Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave.
Tickets: $20; 773-525-2501 or lincolnhallchicago.com
Twitter @chitribent
