A Good Idea
Bob Mould - alt-rock godfather - returns to guitar-based rock
BY Jay Ditzer

Bob Mould's résumé is diverse yet follows its own internal logic. A founding father of what used to be called "alternative rock," Mould was an integral member of not one but two seminal bands (Hüsker Dü and Sugar), as well as a solo artist, a record producer and occasional soundtrack composer - he wrote the theme for "The Daily Show," for example. When he thought he'd done as much with guitar-based rock as he could do, Mould reinvented himself as an electronica artist, both under his given name and the anagram LoudBomb. This summer, he made a well-received return to form with Body of Song, an album that manages to incorporate all the disparate threads of his musical history into a unified whole. He also found time to moonlight as half of the dynamic DJ duo Blowoff in and around the Washington, D.C., area. And I forgot to mention the time he spent as a creative consultant for World Championship Wrestling, which went belly up not long after Mould left. Coincidence? They wish.
But rock 'n' roll has always been Mould's calling card, and it's only fitting that he revisit it. After all, more than a few lesser bands have sold millions of albums using the template that Bob and his bandmates honed in Hüsker Dü and refined with Sugar. Mould mounted a full-band tour late last summer. Paradoxical, considering that his previous rock record was called The Last Dog & Pony Show - pun entirely intended. Back in '98, Mould said he was breaking up with the electric guitar, but here we are in 2005 and they're back together. What gives?

"In '98, when I wanted to put the whole thing to rest, that was clearly in earnest. I was 37 going on 38 at the time, and I had spent my entire adult life playing music in rock clubs," Mould says. "And as a gay man who was living in New York City who didn't feel at all connected with the gay lifestyle or with my community because of the time I put into my work, I think I wanted to make a big change in my life, and one way to do that was to start enjoying life for what it could be beyond touring with a band in rock clubs. One way to throw myself into that was to throw myself completely into the other setting. So at the time, I had had enough.
"Fast forward to six, seven years later, I'm making a record that bears some similarities to my previous work and is informed with the new things I'd been working with in the interim. I'd moved to D.C. and I've got a handful of good musicians around me who helped with the record and were into going out and playing live and working with a record company that wanted me to go out and tour and looking at the prospect of doing 25 dates. All of that added up and I was like, 'Sure, why not?'"
After finishing those 25 dates, Mould's band, which included Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and Mould's Blowoff buddy Rich Morel, scattered to the four winds, but Mould booked some solo dates: Just a man and his Stratocaster.

"I'm feeling the electric right now," he confirms. "That's what I've been enjoying playing over the last couple of months. I did a solo electric appearance at an outdoor festival in St. Paul this summer and it was really fun. I can do a lot more with the six-string electric than I can with the 12-string, technically ... If I go electric, it tends to open the catalog up a bit wider. It knocks a few songs out of the running, but it adds a lot more stuff."

Mould's solo tour finds him at Headliners on Friday, and he is gracious when asked about our fair city.

"Louisville's got a great scene. There's always been a lot of great stuff there, from way back in the Squirrel Bait days up through now. Brendan Canty's been talking to a lot of people from Louisville lately ... Louisville is one of the good towns right now. Portland is another real strong town. It's that combination of having good schools and affordable housing where people can work on their art instead of having to work a day job to pay for their art."