Bob Mould fronted seminal US punk band Hüsker Dü before forming Sugar, whose 1992 classic Copper Blue was voted album of the year by NME. His latest solo album, Silver Age, was released last year to strong reviews. Mould plays Leeds Cockpit, 17 May, and Manchester Academy 3, 20 May.
On this tour you play a mix of Hüsker Dü, Sugar and solo material. How do the different elements of you catalogue fit together?
It’s pretty much the loud-fast show this year. All of that stuff fits together really well. Sometimes I go off and tour and I’ve got a new record that people aren’t sure about. But with this show people are just beside themselves, or so it seems.
Prior to Silver Age you published your memoirs, See A Little Light, and embarked on a 20th anniversary tour of Copper Blue. Did those experiences feed into the record?
There were a lot of things that helped make the record what it was. I knew that there would be a spotlight on Copper Blue and I thought it would be nice to have a record that was similar in spirit. I think after three years of working on the autobiography, it was nice to just write a very dumb, simple record.
Your memoirs are candidly honest. What feedback have you had?
People say that I’m so mean-spirited in this one part, but I was actually like that at times. I tried to show people what I was thinking as things were happening, as opposed to looking back and trying to put a pretty face on it.
What do you rank among your proudest achievements?
Hüsker Dü was a bit of a juggernaut. I don’t think we realised what we were doing until about five years in but people always talk about the band and how important it was to a lot of American music and we’re really grateful for that. A proud moment for me was about a year and a half ago when there was a tribute show of my songbook in Los Angeles. And at the risk of sounding like I’m pimping the new album, I’m real happy with Silver Age. It’s a pretty tight record.
RICHARD SMIRKE
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