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 today, as evidenced by his fifteenth solo effort general, 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 having a look 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 slightly knocked off my regular cycle. Sometimes, my cycles for my whole grownup life, give or take a couple of months right here and there, is months of writing a report, then a time period to report a report, then, {that a} bizarre time period the place I’ve turned in my homework, however no person will get to take a look at it. And that is the interval that you just and I are in at present – 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 manner, however with out touring, all the pieces form of froze in place.”
“I’m the sort of musician who actually appreciates performing and getting suggestions on new materials, and I form of misplaced that a part of my MO for what, a couple of 12 months and a half. I do not suppose I used to be capable of get out and do reveals till the autumn of ’21. So, spending a lifetime in that sort of repetitive cycle and having it damaged, I used to be slightly bit little bit misplaced with, ‘I ponder if these things’s any good?’ That final little little bit of suggestions was lacking. I used to be writing via ’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 primary 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 – ‘Respiratory Room’ was an early music, ‘When Your Coronary heart Is Damaged’ was a reasonably early music. However it wasn’t prime quality output all the best way round. Simply in a time like that, I’ve realized from expertise, when you rush it, it is most likely not going to be your greatest work. So, simply wait. Simply preserve working and it will all come into focus. And thru ’22 and thru ’23, I used to be out doing quite a lot of solo electrical work and attempting out new stuff.”
“Type of rebuilding that reference to the viewers and getting an excellent sense of how Blue Hearts hit them, how the brand new materials that I used to be enjoying was becoming subsequent to the catalog. And that was the sort of stuff that was lacking. So after I was getting that, then all the pieces begins to line up slightly bit higher. I do know that is an excellent lengthy reply to a quite simple query, however it was an extended 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 talk about 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 report firm, effectively, the brand new mother or father firm, BMG, had labored with Gus previously. I noticed a bunch of his work and actually related with it. And Gus and I talked for like an hour and stated, ‘Yeah, let’s attempt to make this video. Let’s do that, and do that, and possibly try this if we’ve slightly additional time.’ We shot all the pieces 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 quite a lot of 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 report. I had different songs in thoughts to be the opener, however that one turned out actually nice, and it felt like one of the simplest ways to introduce folks to the remainder of the album. To form of set a time and a spot and a location and a sentiment. It is similar to that, ‘We hope you’ll benefit from the present’ sort of factor.”
“When Your Coronary heart Is Damaged” I assumed is a standout monitor on the album, too.
“That is an excellent one. That is an on the spot traditional for me, proper? Mid-tempo, super-pop catchy guitars with super-depressing lyrics. [Laughs] That is form of my specialty, I assume. However ‘Right here We Go Loopy’ is attention-grabbing, as a result of it is quite a lot of like, small snapshots of what I have been as much as the previous few years, and issues that I am simply attempting to form of set this huge open area for folks. And simply exhibiting folks bodily places, specific objects that come to thoughts, recurring themes.”
“The title is, gosh, possibly I ought to put a slogan mark on ‘Right here We Go Loopy,’ in order that some chain restaurant would not steal it. [Laughs] However it’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 basic 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 particularly?
“If I have 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 form of a reimagining of what [bassist] Tony Maimone and the late [drummer] Anton Fier dropped at Workbook, and what all of the touring from Workbook obtained us to this heavier, louder model. And that was Black Sheets. And after that report ran its course and I parted methods with Virgin Data, the purpose in 1991 to me was to only begin writing what I hoped could be the perfect report I may probably write.”
“I used to be on the street, continuously doing solo acoustic reveals. I’d play for 3 weeks and check out new materials. I might go house for a pair weeks, write extra stuff. I might return out for one more three weeks. And this was all form of planting seeds for what was to come back. That is the understanding the fabric in entrance of the folks to gauge what’s good and what’s not. After which by the tip of ’91 it turned clear to me which report firms 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 behind a tire store in Downtown Athens, Georgia, with the intent of creating 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 report the album. And determined we should always give it a band identify, and we got here up with the identify Sugar. That is form of how that every one began.”
“The subsequent three years was a whirlwind. I knew Copper Blue and Beaster had been actually good data. 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, form of ‘reverse engineering’ why that report was profitable – it might take you to the Pixies, that will take you to Hüsker Dü. As like, only a small share of what made that report nice. I feel the roads had been already paved in a manner.”
“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 reveals in London in late July/early August of ’92, and one among them was at ULU – the College of London Pupil Union Constructing. And it was only a utterly unhinged, insane present. Elements of the PA falling into the group, nutty stage diving – simply insanity that I hadn’t seen in years. And I may form of really feel it – ‘That is taking off, and we have not even put the report out.’ In order that was fairly thrilling.”
“We ran arduous and quick. In ’94, the recording of File Below Straightforward Listening, I used to be operating so quick that I did not have a totally superb report written. However, we went with what we had. After which by the tip 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, realizing that that venture was finished. I saved writing music. Recorded an album – a few of it at house, a few of it in a small studio in Austin – and that turned the eponymous album that quite a lot of us name Hubcap.”
“I didn’t intend to tour on that report. The ask from Pete Townshend to open a pair reveals of his in New York within the spring of ’96 obtained me fascinated by getting out and dealing once more, and went out and did quite a lot of 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 group greater than I ever had. So I used to be enriching my life in that route, and thought, ‘Perhaps this is able to be an excellent time to cease being solely the rock man who’s on the street in a van for his complete life.'”
“And in order that that notion of stepping away from rock touring with that report, 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 via spring of 2000 – that form of ran parallel to my homosexual life in New York, my curiosity in digital music. A number of issues had been shifting. To go write professional wrestling [music] and begin writing digital music, that ultimately led me to DJing for a lot of the aughts. I knew I wished to vary, I did not know what kind it might precisely take, however it all got here collectively fairly effectively. Naturally, I feel.”
The Sugar music “Your Favourite Factor” is a ’90s alt-rock traditional. What do you recall about writing that music?
“Actual tremendous riff, tremendous catchy. I do not suppose that one took lengthy to jot down. That may have been like, a half hour music. Which, quite a lot of the nice ones are. However I simply thought it was a very cool signature riff. It is form of in that traditional ‘Sugar tempo’ – y’know, the 120s to 130s. Simply these form of arduous 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 stated 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 several other others from the 80s undoubtedly helped set the stage for various rock’s massive breakthrough within the early ’90s. Do you see that on the time?
“I feel I noticed it when Sugar obtained actually massive. I used to be like, ‘Oh yeah, we did this.’ [Laughs] On the danger 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 possibly had occurred previously, then I feel that was form 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 report. 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 keep 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 appropriate manner. Butch Vig was someone that I labored with again in ’84. Butch is superb. And it was an ideal match for what the songs on Nevermind had been. And all the pieces went precisely because it ought to. [Laughs] Y’know, Butch does that, they blow up, after which it is form 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, normally – 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 reveals earlier than it – a present again within the ’80s, The Chopping 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 keep in mind going to see Stone Temple Pilots in 2000 or one thing with a good friend. And after like, the thirteenth music, I checked out my good friend like, ‘These are all Stone Temple Pilots songs?’ I had heard all of those songs without end, however I did not know who they had been.
“And that very same episode, Hüsker Dü was on, as effectively. There was form of a trampoline or basis being set already earlier than 120 Minutes. However yeah, 120 Minutes was the place that every one of us wished to be. It was the place the place everybody came upon about new music. It was the best way to get there. No query about it.”
“There have been quite a lot of radio stations that had been round. School stations, after which stations like WLIR in New York. So, that was all a part of constructing the firmament, as effectively. It was an extended 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 via ’91/’92, all of that was crucial infrastructure, as effectively. It is simply humorous – you recognize this and I do know this – however there’s form of a ‘mainstream historical past,’ like, ‘There was all this hair steel, after which Nevermind got here, and it modified.’ There was lots of people who did quite a lot of work to get to that time.”
Who’re a few of your favourite ’90s alt-rock artists?
“Not many. [Laughs] I imply, I’ve quite a lot of respect for Pearl Jam and Nirvana. I keep in mind going to see Stone Temple Pilots in 2000 or one thing with a good friend. And after like, the thirteenth music, I checked out my good friend like, ‘These are all Stone Temple Pilots songs?’ I had heard all of those songs without end, however I did not know who they had been.”
“In the course of 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 to visit and toured with Sugar. However the greatest one to me was My Bloody Valentine. I preserve ready for someone to prime Loveless. There have been data since then which have gotten near that stage…however that was like a beacon of sunshine of what will be finished with this way. So, that will be the one which I’d at all times go to.”
“Swervedriver being up there on the prime, as effectively. The best way that Adam [Franklin] and Jimmy [Hartridge] method songwriting and placing stuff collectively and the sounds of their data was actually good, as effectively. It was simply the guitar interaction, Adam’s voice, the songwriting was actually advanced…however it stayed actually catchy. And I knew about these guys from like, ’88, after they had been known as Shake Attraction – as a result of they despatched me the demos that turned Son of Mustang Ford. I am going manner 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 possibly three weeks in the past. It is nonetheless obtained all the earmarks. So, it is nice.”
What can followers anticipate from the upcoming tour?
“The touring for ‘Right here We Go Loopy’ within the US, it is precisely what you’d anticipate. It is me, and me and the rhythm part which were on the final six data. It is simply going to be a pleasant celebration of this report. I’d recommend that will probably be a celebration of all six data that we recorded collectively. I might prefer 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 data that we made. And I feel all the pieces 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.”