However a few of singer/guitarist Bob Mould‘s finest 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 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 believe, like a lot of the world, I acquired just a little knocked off my regular cycle. Usually, my cycles for my whole grownup life, give or take just a few months right here and there, is months of writing a document, then a time frame to document a document, then, {that a} bizarre time frame the place I’ve turned in my homework, however no one will get to take a look at it. And that is the interval that you just and I are in at the moment – 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 method, however with out touring, all the pieces kind of froze in place.”
“I’m the form of musician who actually appreciates performing and getting suggestions on new materials, and I kind of misplaced that a part of my MO for what, a couple of yr 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 form of repetitive cycle and having it damaged, I used to be just a little bit little bit misplaced with, ‘I ponder if these items’s any good?’ That final little little bit of suggestions was lacking. I used to be writing by way 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 believe that is a part of the drag in time.”
“I imply, I believe 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 prime quality output all the best way round. Simply in a time like that, I’ve discovered from expertise, if you happen to rush it, it is in all probability not going to be your finest work. So, simply wait. Simply hold working and it will all come into focus. And thru ’22 and thru ’23, I used to be out doing plenty of solo electrical work and making an attempt out new stuff.”
“Type of rebuilding that reference to the viewers and getting a very good 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 form of stuff that was lacking. So once I was getting that, then all the pieces begins to line up just a little bit higher. I do know that is an excellent 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, nicely, the brand new mother or father firm, BMG, had labored with Gus up to now. I noticed a bunch of his work and actually related 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 now have just a little further time.’ We shot all the pieces within the totally different desert areas in Southern California. And I believe Gus did an incredible job. It is a very cool video. I had plenty of enjoyable working with him.”
“The music itself, nicely, 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 individuals to the remainder of the album. To kind 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’ form of factor.”
“When Your Coronary heart Is Damaged” I believed is a standout monitor on the album, too.
“That is a very good one. That is an on the spot basic for me, proper? Mid-tempo, super-pop catchy guitars with super-depressing lyrics. [Laughs] That is kind of my specialty, I assume. However ‘Right here We Go Loopy’ is attention-grabbing, as a result of it is plenty of 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 kind of set this huge open house for individuals. And simply displaying individuals bodily areas, 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 could 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 particularly?
“If I take a look at ’89/’90 – Workbook and Black Sheets of Rain –Workbook was positively an announcement of intent. ‘I’m not simply the man from Hüsker Dü.’ Black Sheets to me was kind 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 acquired us to this heavier, louder model. And that was Black Sheets. And after that document ran its course and I parted methods with Virgin Information, the purpose in 1991 to me was to simply begin writing what I hoped could be the perfect document I might presumably write.”
“I used to be on the highway, consistently 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 an additional three weeks. And this was all kind of planting seeds for what was to return. That is the figuring out the fabric in entrance of the individuals to gauge what’s good and what’s not. After which by the top of ’91 it turned clear to me which document 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 constructing the third Bob Mould solo album. And we acquired 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 must always give it a band title, and we got here up with the title Sugar. That is kind of how that every one began.”
“The subsequent three years was a whirlwind. I knew Copper Blue and Beaster have 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 believe, kind of ‘reverse engineering’ why that document was profitable – it could 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 believe the roads have been already paved in a method.”
“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 in every of them was at ULU – the College of London Scholar Union Constructing. And it was only a fully unhinged, insane present. Components of the PA falling into the group, nutty stage diving – simply insanity that I hadn’t seen in years. And I might kind of really feel it – ‘That is taking off, and we have not even put the document out.’ In order that was fairly thrilling.”
“We ran arduous and quick. In ’94, the recording of File Underneath Simple Listening, I used to be operating so quick that I did not have a totally wonderful document written. However, we went with what we had. After which by the top of ’94, the band was wrapping up. And I believe our final present was in Sendai, Japan in January of ’95. After which I retreated quietly, realizing that that undertaking was performed. 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 plenty of us name Hubcap.”
“I didn’t intend to tour on that document. The ask from Pete Townshend to open a pair reveals of his in New York within the spring of ’96 acquired me enthusiastic about getting out and dealing once more, and went out and did plenty of solo touring. After which ’98 was The Final Canine and Pony Present, and by the point I acquired 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 route, and thought, ‘Possibly this may be a very good time to cease being solely the rock man who’s on the highway in a van for his complete 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 believe that is it in a nutshell. There’s the professional wrestling stuff within the fall of ’99 by way of spring of 2000 – that kind of ran parallel to my homosexual life in New York, my curiosity in digital music. Plenty of issues have 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 alter, I did not know what kind it could precisely take, nevertheless it all got here collectively fairly nicely. Naturally, I believe.”
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 suppose that one took lengthy to jot down. Which may have been like, a half hour music. Which, plenty of the nice ones are. However I simply thought it was a very cool signature riff. It is kind of in that basic ‘Sugar tempo’ – y’know, the 120s to 130s. Simply these kind 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 have been constructed is attention-grabbing. Good music, although.”
Earlier than you mentioned one thing that I completely agree with: “The roads have 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 positively helped set the stage for various rock’s huge breakthrough within the early ’90s. Do you see that on the time?
“I believe I noticed it when Sugar acquired actually huge. 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 acquired into Nevermind, proper? However yeah, I believe I knew, by the point Sugar was blowing up that if I had any doubts about what perhaps had occurred up to now, then I believe that was kind of like, ‘Oh yeah. That is proper.‘”
What have been your impressions of listening to Nevermind for the primary time?
“Nicely, I had the demos as a result of I used to be in rivalry 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 acquired 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 correct method. Butch Vig was any individual that I labored with again in ’84. Butch is wonderful. And it was an ideal match for what the songs on Nevermind have been. And all the pieces went precisely because it ought to. [Laughs] Y’know, Butch does that, they blow up, after which it is kind of like, ‘Oh, now I’ve acquired this E-ZPass for the toll highway I’ll have had a hand in constructing.'” [Laughs]
How necessary was MTV and 120 Minutes for alt-rock artists within the ’90s?
“MTV, on the whole – and Matt Pinfield and 120 Minutes, particularly – did a lot to raise all of us that have been making that form of guitar-driven music within the early ’90s. It was so necessary. There have been different reveals earlier than it – a present again within the ’80s, The Slicing Edge. I keep in mind that as a result of there was one episode, it was the primary time the Smiths have been on TV in America, I believe. There was one thing with Morrissey speaking.
I bear 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 perpetually, however I did not know who they have been.
“And that very same episode, Hüsker Dü was on, as nicely. There was kind 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 plenty 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 nicely. 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 way of ’91/’92, all of that was essential infrastructure, as nicely. It is simply humorous – you already know this and I do know this – however there’s kind 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 plenty 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 plenty of respect for Pearl Jam and Nirvana. I bear 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 perpetually, however I did not know who they have 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 visiting and toured with Sugar. However the greatest one to me was My Bloody Valentine. I hold ready for any individual to prime Loveless. There have been information since then which have gotten near that stage…however that was like a beacon of sunshine of what could be performed with this manner. So, that may be the one which I’d at all times go to.”
“Swervedriver being up there on the prime, as nicely. The best way that Adam [Franklin] and Jimmy [Hartridge] strategy songwriting and placing stuff collectively and the sounds of their information was actually good, as nicely. It was simply the guitar interaction, Adam’s voice, the songwriting was actually advanced…nevertheless it stayed actually catchy. And I knew about these guys from like, ’88, once they have been referred to as Shake Enchantment – as a result of they despatched me the demos that turned Son of Mustang Ford. I am going method again with them, and I am an enormous fan. I at all times sing their praises. And so they acquired 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 acquired 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 were on the final six information. It is simply going to be a pleasant celebration of this document. I’d counsel that it will likely be a celebration of all six information 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 acquired a deep catalog – solo, Sugar, Hüsker Dü. I believe the meat and potatoes of the tour would be the six information that we made. And I believe all the pieces else will in all probability…do not quote me on this! [Laughs] Simply kidding – I believe these different elements of my songbook, that’ll be the spice, not the meat of it.”
