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Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Bob Mould at the Herbst Theatre 10/16/07
Azerrad: Were you a punk at St. Paul?
Mould: Absolutely.
Azerrad: Are you still a punk?
Mould: Probably.
If you saw Husker Du play at some dingy punk club in 1983 you would probably have a hard time believing that 24 years later the big guy holding the Flying V and bellowing his soul out would be having a deep and thoughtful discussion about his career at a theatre across the street from San Francisco City Hall. But that's exactly what Bob Mould was doing, on his birthday no less.
As part of Noise Pop's Talking Music series Michael Azerrad, author of Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981-1991, interviewed Mould about all the major personal and musical events of his life. Azerrad's book remains one of my favorite books about music and I especially love the chapter on Husker Du. This is due to the fact that the music Mould, Grant Hart and Greg Norton created in the 1980's just smashed into me when I was growing up in the 1990's. I love most of Husker Du's music but it was Zen Arcade by itself that shifted my outlook on music considerably. To hear sweet melodies stand beside moments of fearsome anger made me realize how powerful music could be if you could combine those opposing elements. At this point Mould's guitar playing has had such an influence in how I approach the instrument I don't even have to think about it. More than a decade after studying "Celebrated Summer" and "Charted Trips" I find myself using droning open strings to string together chord changes. I picked that up from Mould.
Early in the discussion Mould talked about how he was immediately drawn to playing music at young age. When he discovered punk rock with The Ramones' first album his love of music was clearly taking over his personality. He knew he had to leave the small upstate New York town he lived in and flee to Macalester College in St. Paul, MN one for it's leftist politics but also becuase the Twin Cities had an awesome punk scene. Joining with fellow songwriter Grant Hart on drums and Greg Norton on bass to form Husker Du, Mould didn't just join that scene but would soon moved punk rock as a whole forward.
Like a lot of hardcore bands Husker Du's music was fast and loud but there was always this introspective rage in the songs. Mould said that came from being at the time a self-hating homosexual. He was uncomfortable with himself and with a government that didn't deem him "part of the program." Listen to songs like "I Will Never Forget You" or the band's cover of "Eight Miles High" and you will hear that cathartic howling coming out of Mould. Mould said that he and Hart being gay was never a problem in the punk world, perhaps that was becuase everyone else there was on the fringes of society as well. The band toured constantly while also creating these great albums and for seven years the guys were just spent. When there manager killed himself and drugs became a bigger problem the three went their separate ways.
Mould retired to his farm and created the album Workbook which featured quiet acoustic guitars and strings. If Mould's intense playing in the punk days was emotionally catharsis then this was a catharsis from the catharsis. Mould would not be away from the electric guitar and traditional rock 'n' roll for long. He formed Sugar in the 1990's and played with the bands he had influenced in his earlier days including The Pixies and Nirvana. I learned that Mould was actually in the running to produce Nevermind. When touring with Nirvana in Europe he said he was scared of these three young guys becuase they struck him as so similar to how Husker Du was on tour. Mould was was satisfied that he saw his innovations appreciation by a modern audience, both with Sugar and Husker Du's acolytes. When seeing the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Mould just thought to himself "We won."
Mould's output slowed down in the late-1990's, saying at one point he was done with rock music. He actually got a job writing for the wrestling producers WCW for seven months. But Mould has come back to rock 'n' roll and even playing Husker Du songs in concert now. It's a sign of how, after living a life filled with extremes, he has become confident and landed. The once self-hating homosexual, who was outed in a Spin article during Sugar's days, now writes an advice column in a Washington DC weekly. DC is Mould's home now and he has teamed with Fugazi's Brendan Canty is making new records. He has a DVD out, Circle of Friends, that features him playing new stuff as well as Husker Du and Sugar songs. A new CD is coming out as well.
Throughout the interview it was clear how sharp and perceptive Mould is. He has plenty of things to say about the record industry. He believes that bands have to reconnect to audiences now as ticket sales will be the main source of revenue. It's not a controversial idea for someone who came up in the hardcore punk days, when crashing on a fan's couch was de rigueur. Mould's made his career with independent labels, his new record will be from Anti-, but he has nice things to say about the major labels, insisting that the only people let working there are ones who really love the music.
Mould ended the night by playing six new songs, one of them was "Again and Again" from the forthcoming record, on an acoustic guitar. It was magical seeing the light reflect off of Mould's guitar in the spotlight was he played. The hard strummed guitar chords and wordless howls used to come from a place of anger. They still hold power but now they're delivered with songs comfortable told with plenty of workmanship, a favorite word of Mould's, behind them.
After the event Mould was signing DVDs. I finally got my chance to tell Mould how important his music is to me. I told how much his playing has influenced mine and thanked him for all the wonderful work. He was modest about his playing but appreciative. It was a great way to end a great night.
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