However a few of singer/guitarist Bob Mould’s greatest music occurred after Hüsker Dü – as evidenced by his work with Sugar and as a solo artist all through the ’90s. And he continues to supply up memorable and impressed music to at the present time, as evidenced by his fifteenth solo effort total, Right here We Go Loopy.
Mould spoke with AllMusic a month earlier than the March 7, 2025 launch of Right here We Go Loopy, and was up for looking again all through his profession, in addition to the story behind his newest solo effort.
It has been 4 years between Right here We Go Loopy and your final launch, Blue Hearts. Why so lengthy?
“I feel, like a lot of the world, I obtained somewhat knocked off my regular cycle. Sometimes, my cycles for my complete grownup life, give or take just a few months right here and there, is months of writing a document, then a time period to document a document, then, {that a} bizarre time period the place I’ve turned in my homework, however no one will get to have a look at it. And that is the interval that you just and I are in presently – the press and the all that stuff. After which there’s the discharge, after which there is a tour. So, Blue Hearts had a plan that was constructed precisely that means, however with out touring, every part type of froze in place.”
“I’m the sort of musician who actually appreciates performing and getting suggestions on new materials, and I type of misplaced that a part of my MO for what, a couple of yr and a half. I do not assume I used to be capable of get out and do exhibits till the autumn of ’21. So, spending a lifetime in that sort of repetitive cycle and having it damaged, I used to be somewhat bit little bit misplaced with, ‘I’m wondering if these things’s any good?’ That final little little bit of suggestions was lacking. I used to be writing by means of ’20 and ’21 with some combined outcomes. I used to be a bit preoccupied with different stuff. Y’know, staying alive I assume being the principle one. So I feel that is a part of the drag in time.”
“I imply, I feel the stuff that I used to be writing throughout that interval wasn’t…I had a pair good songs – ‘Respiration Room’ was an early music, ‘When Your Coronary heart Is Damaged’ was a fairly early music. But it surely wasn’t top quality output all the best way round. Simply in a time like that, I’ve realized from expertise, for those who rush it, it is most likely not going to be your greatest work. So, simply wait. Simply maintain working and it will all come into focus. And thru ’22 and thru ’23, I used to be out doing numerous solo electrical work and making an attempt out new stuff.”
“Form of rebuilding that reference to the viewers and getting a superb sense of how Blue Hearts hit them, how the brand new materials that I used to be taking part in was becoming subsequent to the catalog. And that was the sort of stuff that was lacking. So once I was getting that, then every part begins to line up somewhat bit higher. I do know that is a brilliant lengthy reply to a quite simple query, nevertheless it was a protracted break. I used to be tremendous busy with touring in ’22/’23, and a good bit of ’24. It is simply now that it feels just like the cycles are again. The cycle, so to talk, is again in place.”
Let’s focus on the monitor “Right here We Go Loopy” and its video.
“The video was shot and directed by a gentleman named Gus Black. And the brand new document firm, effectively, the brand new mum or dad firm, BMG, had labored with Gus previously. I noticed a bunch of his work and actually linked with it. And Gus and I talked for like an hour and mentioned, ‘Yeah, let’s attempt to make this video. Let’s do that, and do that, and perhaps do this if we’ve somewhat additional time.’ We shot every part within the totally different desert places in Southern California. And I feel Gus did an incredible job. It is a very cool video. I had numerous enjoyable working with him.”
“The music itself, effectively, it is the title monitor. And very like the title monitor from Sunshine Rock, or the title monitor from Sgt. Pepper, it was…because the recording was wrapping up, it turned fairly clear to me that that could be the opening for the document. I had different songs in thoughts to be the opener, however that one turned out actually nice, and it felt like one of the best ways to introduce folks to the remainder of the album. To type of set a time and a spot and a location and a sentiment. It is identical to that, ‘We hope you’ll benefit from the present’ sort of factor.”
“When Your Coronary heart Is Damaged” I believed is a standout monitor on the album, too.
“That is a superb one. That is an prompt basic for me, proper? Mid-tempo, super-pop catchy guitars with super-depressing lyrics. [Laughs] That is type of my specialty, I assume. However ‘Right here We Go Loopy’ is attention-grabbing, as a result of it is numerous like, small snapshots of what I have been as much as the previous few years, and issues that I am simply making an attempt to type of set this huge open area for folks. And simply displaying folks bodily places, specific objects that come to thoughts, recurring themes.”
“The title is, gosh, perhaps I ought to put a slogan mark on ‘Right here We Go Loopy,’ in order that some chain restaurant would not steal it. [Laughs] But it surely’s a type of titles, proper? It is a good one and who knew by placing out the monitor on January eighth, that it might be considerably well timed in a normal sense. I did not see that coming.”
I’ve at all times discovered the ’90s to be a really attention-grabbing a part of your profession, together with Sugar and your solo work. What do you recall about that period specifically?
“If I take a look at ’89/’90 – Workbook and Black Sheets of Rain –Workbook was undoubtedly a press release of intent. ‘I’m not simply the man from Hüsker Dü.’ Black Sheets to me was type of a reimagining of what [bassist] Tony Maimone and the late [drummer] Anton Fier delivered to Workbook, and what all of the touring from Workbook obtained us to this heavier, louder model. And that was Black Sheets. And after that document ran its course and I parted methods with Virgin Data, the aim in 1991 to me was to simply begin writing what I hoped could be the perfect document I may probably write.”
“I used to be on the street, continuously doing solo acoustic exhibits. I’d play for 3 weeks and check out new materials. I would go residence for a pair weeks, write extra stuff. I would return out for an additional three weeks. And this was all type of planting seeds for what was to return. That is the understanding the fabric in entrance of the folks to gauge what’s good and what’s not. After which by the top of ’91 it turned clear to me which document corporations would have an interest, what sort of construction would work.”
“And January ’92 is me and David Barbe and Malcolm Travis – the three of us rehearsing and studying 30 songs at the back of a tire store in Downtown Athens, Georgia, with the intent of constructing the third Bob Mould solo album. And we obtained requested to do a present at 40 Watt the evening earlier than we began heading as much as suburban Boston, to document the album. And determined we should always give it a band title, and we got here up with the title Sugar. That is type of how that every one began.”
“The following three years was a whirlwind. I knew Copper Blue and Beaster had been actually good information. I did not foresee being the beneficiary of, y’know, I assume the wave of grunge that actually picked up steam when Nevermind got here out. And I feel, type of ‘reverse engineering’ why that document was profitable – it might take you to the Pixies, that may take you to Hüsker Dü. As like, only a small proportion of what made that document nice. I feel the roads had been already paved in a means.”
“I didn’t see the moment success of Sugar because it was occurring. I imply, the second I assume I knew, was we did a pair exhibits in London in late July/early August of ’92, and certainly one of them was at ULU – the College of London Pupil Union Constructing. And it was only a fully unhinged, insane present. Components of the PA falling into the gang, nutty stage diving – simply insanity that I hadn’t seen in years. And I may type of really feel it – ‘That is taking off, and we’ve not even put the document out.’ In order that was fairly thrilling.”
“We ran onerous and quick. In ’94, the recording of File Underneath Straightforward Listening, I used to be operating so quick that I did not have a very wonderful document written. However, we went with what we had. After which by the top of ’94, the band was wrapping up. And I feel our final present was in Sendai, Japan in January of ’95. After which I retreated quietly, understanding that that mission was carried out. I stored writing music. Recorded an album – a few of it at residence, a few of it in a small studio in Austin – and that turned the eponymous album that numerous us name Hubcap.”
“I didn’t intend to tour on that document. The ask from Pete Townshend to open a pair exhibits of his in New York within the spring of ’96 obtained me enthusiastic about getting out and dealing once more, and went out and did numerous solo touring. After which ’98 was The Final Canine and Pony Present, and by the point I obtained there, I used to be beginning to get stressed for one thing new in my very own life. Not my skilled life, however my private life. I had moved again to New York Metropolis and was integrating with the LGBTQ neighborhood greater than I ever had. So I used to be enriching my life in that course, and thought, ‘Possibly this may be a superb time to cease being solely the rock man who’s on the street in a van for his entire life.'”
“And in order that that notion of stepping away from rock touring with that document, that was 100% in earnest, that I simply felt like, ‘I am gonna take a break right here, and I am gonna construct this different life that I by no means actually took the time to construct.’ I feel that is it in a nutshell. There’s the professional wrestling stuff within the fall of ’99 by means of spring of 2000 – that type of ran parallel to my homosexual life in New York, my curiosity in digital music. A variety of issues had been shifting. To go write professional wrestling [music] and begin writing digital music, that finally led me to DJing for a lot of the aughts. I knew I needed to vary, I did not know what kind it might precisely take, nevertheless it all got here collectively fairly effectively. Naturally, I feel.”
The Sugar music “Your Favourite Factor” is a ’90s alt-rock basic. What do you recall about writing that music?
“Actual tremendous riff, tremendous catchy. I do not assume that one took lengthy to write down. Which may have been like, a half hour music. Which, numerous the nice ones are. However I simply thought it was a extremely cool signature riff. It is type of in that basic ‘Sugar tempo’ – y’know, the 120s to 130s. Simply these type of onerous driving 4 on the ground pop songs. The lyrics, there’s nothing revelatory within the phrases. However hopefully the best way that they had been constructed is attention-grabbing. Good music, although.”
Earlier than you mentioned one thing that I completely agree with: “The roads had been already paved” earlier than Nirvana’s Nevermind hit. As a result of I’ve at all times felt that bands such because the Pixies, REM, Hüsker Dü, and a number of other others from the 80s undoubtedly helped set the stage for various rock’s huge breakthrough within the early ’90s. Do you see that on the time?
“I feel I noticed it when Sugar obtained actually huge. I used to be like, ‘Oh yeah, we did this.’ [Laughs] On the threat of the sound of me patting myself on the again being louder than my voice. And I imply Mudhoney, Meat Puppets…there’s so many issues that obtained into Nevermind, proper? However yeah, I feel I knew, by the point Sugar was blowing up that if I had any doubts about what perhaps had occurred previously, then I feel that was type of like, ‘Oh yeah. That is proper.‘”
What had been your impressions of listening to Nevermind for the primary time?
“Properly, I had the demos as a result of I used to be in competition for producing the document. I didn’t have the demo of ‘Teen Spirit’ – I do not know if there was one, and I do not know if anyone obtained it, if there was. However I bear in mind sitting with Gary Gersh at Geffen, and it got here up. Historical past went the best way it did, and it was completely the proper means. Butch Vig was any person that I labored with again in ’84. Butch is wonderful. And it was an ideal match for what the songs on Nevermind had been. And every part went precisely because it ought to. [Laughs] Y’know, Butch does that, they blow up, after which it is type of like, ‘Oh, now I’ve obtained this E-ZPass for the toll street I’ll have had a hand in constructing.'” [Laughs]
How essential was MTV and 120 Minutes for alt-rock artists within the ’90s?
“MTV, basically – and Matt Pinfield and 120 Minutes, particularly – did a lot to raise all of us that had been making that sort of guitar-driven music within the early ’90s. It was so essential. There have been different exhibits earlier than it – a present again within the ’80s, The Slicing Edge. I do not forget that as a result of there was one episode, it was the primary time the Smiths had been on TV in America, I feel. There was one thing with Morrissey speaking.
I bear in mind going to see Stone Temple Pilots in 2000 or one thing with a pal. And after like, the thirteenth music, I checked out my pal like, ‘These are all Stone Temple Pilots songs?’ I had heard all of those songs perpetually, however I did not know who they had been.
“And that very same episode, Hüsker Dü was on, as effectively. There was type of a trampoline or basis being set already earlier than 120 Minutes. However yeah, 120 Minutes was the place that every one of us needed to be. It was the place the place everybody discovered about new music. It was the best way to get there. No query about it.”
“There have been numerous radio stations that had been round. Faculty stations, after which stations like WLIR in New York. So, that was all a part of constructing the firmament, as effectively. It was a protracted course of. It did not simply occur out of skinny air. And WBCN, and Matt was DJing down in South Jersey. So, that late ’80s by means of ’91/’92, all of that was vital infrastructure, as effectively. It is simply humorous – you recognize this and I do know this – however there’s type of a ‘mainstream historical past,’ like, ‘There was all this hair metallic, after which Nevermind got here, and it modified.’ There was lots of people who did numerous work to get to that time.”
Who’re a few of your favourite ’90s alt-rock artists?
“Not many. [Laughs] I imply, I’ve numerous respect for Pearl Jam and Nirvana. I bear in mind going to see Stone Temple Pilots in 2000 or one thing with a pal. And after like, the thirteenth music, I checked out my pal like, ‘These are all Stone Temple Pilots songs?’ I had heard all of those songs perpetually, however I did not know who they had been.”
“Throughout the ‘Sugar years,’ the bands that jumped out to me would have been my UK label mates, like Swervedriver. Or the Boo Radleys, who came visiting and toured with Sugar. However the greatest one to me was My Bloody Valentine. I maintain ready for any person to high Loveless. There have been information since then which have gotten near that stage…however that was like a beacon of sunshine of what will be carried out with this way. So, that may be the one which I’d at all times go to.”
“Swervedriver being up there on the high, as effectively. The way in which that Adam [Franklin] and Jimmy [Hartridge] method songwriting and placing stuff collectively and the sounds of their information was actually good, as effectively. It was simply the guitar interaction, Adam’s voice, the songwriting was actually complicated…nevertheless it stayed actually catchy. And I knew about these guys from like, ’88, after they had been known as Shake Enchantment – as a result of they despatched me the demos that turned Son of Mustang Ford. I’m going means again with them, and I am an enormous fan. I at all times sing their praises. And so they obtained new stuff – the brand new stuff is fairly cool, too. There is a monitor that got here out perhaps three weeks in the past. It is nonetheless obtained the entire earmarks. So, it is nice.”
What can followers count on from the upcoming tour?
“The touring for ‘Right here We Go Loopy’ within the US, it is precisely what you’d count on. It is me, and me and the rhythm part which have been on the final six information. It is simply going to be a pleasant celebration of this document. I’d counsel that will probably be a celebration of all six information that we recorded collectively. I would wish to put the highlight on that – which the three of us did collectively, and simply actually focus into that. I imply, I’ve obtained a deep catalog – solo, Sugar, Hüsker Dü. I feel the meat and potatoes of the tour would be the six information that we made. And I feel every part else will most likely…do not quote me on this! [Laughs] Simply kidding – I feel these different parts of my songbook, that’ll be the spice, not the meat of it.”
