So much has happened since three guys from Amherst, Massachusetts, changed the way guitar was played - and they weren't even around for most of it. Dinosaur Jr., an underrated mélange of feedback, punchy drums and wandering melodies, haven't been a band in 15 years. Three presidents have been in office, grunge came and went and the country has been immersed in a digital revolution where downloading music is replacing the art of collecting records. Even in an age where giant tsunami waves swallow countries and human cloning is a reality, surely it is still a shock that guitarist/singer J Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Emmett Jefferson "Murph" Murphy III are able to share a stage together once again - and rock the hell out of the masses in the process.

There has been no question as to the whereabouts of the estranged Mascis and Barlow over the years, as they remained visible while immersing themselves in their own projects - Mascis keeping the name Dinosaur Jr. and releasing groundbreaking records such as Where You Been, with Barlow diving into Folk Implosion and Sebadoh. However, one mystery still remained: What the hell ever happened to the drummer? The Murph with all the mystique, the shy third party who quite literally moved under a rock, reverted back to nature and temporarily gave up music. Chicago Innerview pried him out from under his rock to ask him a few questions.

"I've took a bunch of time off, been hanging around for about a year and a half, just doing the woodsy thing," he said. "I was actually starting to play a lot on my own and practice and get back into it. When I got the call [about the reunion] I had been playing for about six or eight months, so it was all just really good timing. I didn't have any idea about the reunion. I just, on my own, started to get some different projects going - just starting to get back into the whole thing. Before that, I had done the Lemonheads gig, and then I spent a lot of time in New York doing session work, and it was cool but too surreal. That whole scene was just kind of crazy and I just got tired. The city was just too much, so I went the total opposite extreme and moved up to the Maine/New Hampshire border."

It was 1984, the year that the United States didn't become totalitarian after all. Dinosaur Jr. (then just simply 'Dinosaur') were merely kids. Their self-titled debut was a rough cut of a new developing scene under the independent SST label. The album was raw and enticing, a clashing of tastes like a radio stuck between stations. "I was always the generic guy," Murph professes. "J and Lou were so hard-lined, and really into a specific ethic. Back in high school, all they were listening to was hardcore. I was always open to a lot of stuff. J was really diehard, and I think those were some of the differences. I didn't grow up in Amherst, I moved there when I was in high school. I grew up outside of New York City, so I was seeing rock shows since [I was] 15 and brought in a more worldly view."

Eclectic and a bit deafening, the elusive trio released their last two records (You're Living All Over Me and Bug) by the late '80s. Mascis' unfathomable guitar tones and effects were unlike the riff-reliant metal dominating the rock world. Although they were part of the early formation that would later be known as grunge, their influence is displayed in a plethora of other mediums including alternative and even today's indie.

Internal conflicts between Mascis and Barlow mounted, and by Bug, even Murph would soon part ways. "J's just really consistent," he rationalized of his reasons for recording with Mascis in the last years. "When you find a certain chemistry, he just sticks with it. I'm that way too I guess. I think it is because I'm not a songwriter, we didn't clash in the same way he and Lou did. Lou needed to find his voice. Also, J is a drummer, if not more so than he is a guitar player. We were always able to bond on the drumming level, and I think it was easier for him and for me. Even though at some points it was really frustrating, it was just easier having two drummers in the band because you can just see things more eye-to-eye. Now, it's really great. We can talk about drums, compare notes, and it's actually pretty cool. I think that had a lot to do with why I stayed on."

Today, Dinosaur Jr. has reformed despite all odds and are just off a hectic summer of festivals, including Lollapalooza. Now, an entire legion of young fans has the chance to witness something never thought possible, at least on this earth. "It's really not that different," Murph commented on the new generation of Dinosaur Jr. disciples. "I really expected our audiences to be older people who were feeling nostalgic and it's actually been about 80 percent more young kids like it was back in the day who heard about us, but never got the chance to see us. That was really cool."

To follow up their surprise reformation, the band will be taking part in a very short and exclusive tour of just four shows in two cities, split evenly between New York and Chicago. "We like Chicago. We've always had really good gigs at the Metro, and we want to do a full tour, but right now we're finishing up the loose ends of this one and I think we just needed a rest. At some point we want to do more coverage," Murph said.

Even in the midst of the inevitable, there is still hope for new material. With such an impressive beginning, there is much skepticism regarding their current potential - after all, it has been over a decade. "It would be nice to do some more stuff," Murph said. "J seems pretty open, we haven't talked about writing or anything, but we are definitely going to keep playing. It's almost so new again that we'll see what happens."

Whatever issues the feuding icons endured over the years, Murph is content on Dinosaur Jr.'s current state of brotherhood. After their first round of reconciliation, the future looks bright. "It's been like family showing up at shows, people coming on tour, brothers and sisters or wives coming on the road with us at different points - this would never have happened back in the old days. We wouldn't have been able to tolerate each other's families or a lot of personal stuff. We wouldn't have been able to integrate it at all. We've all kind of developed our own lives. I always say it's like brothers in high school that didn't get along, then as they got older and once they're settled down and married they're able to hang out, have Christmas together or do the barbeque or whatever stupid domestic thing they do - and you just kind of get over it and move on."

Dinosaur Jr. :: with The Ponys :: Metro :: November 29-30.

Listen to an mp3 of DINOSAUR JR.'s "Freak Scene" courtesy of Better Propaganda