Photo of Bob Mould by Ryan Bakerink
w/ David Barbe | 8:00pm, 09.30.25 | Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave.| All ages | $30 adv, $35 day of show, $50 balcony
Since we last caught up with him this time last year, Bob Mould—the singer-guitarist of legendary ‘80s punks Hüsker Dü and alt-rock power trio Sugar—has finally dropped Here We Go Crazy, his long-gestating new solo album. While Mould’s last album Blue Hearts was a heavily political affair (it was written and recorded during Trump’s first term, and released into the world just after the start of the COVID pandemic), Here We Go Crazy finds Mould shifting his focus back to more personal matters while still featuring his patented pummeling riffs and buzzsaw guitar attack.
The album is Mould’s 14th solo effort and his sixth with his now-longest serving backing band, bassist Jason Narducy and drummer Jon Wurster. Both Narducy and Wurster are in-demand players—Narducy is a member of the reunited Sunny Day Real Estate and has been touring the world with actor Michael Shannon and an all-star band performing R.E.M. covers, while Wurster is also a member of that R.E.M. project as well as the Mountain Goats and, until recently, Superchunk, among other projects and session gigs.
Due to their crisscrossing schedules, Mould’s current tour, much like his last stop here in St. Louis, will be performed solo electric. In a bit of exciting news, Mould will be joined on this leg of the tour with Sugar bassist David Barbe, who (near as I can tell) has never played a solo show in St. Louis before.
We caught up with Mould by phone to chat about the long path to releasing the new record, the challenges of touring with a massive back catalog of songs, and the “jaw-dropping” Hüsker Dü archival live release 1985: The Miracle Year, dropping from Numero Group this November.
The four-and-a-half year wait between Blue Hearts and Here We Go Crazy is, if I’m calculating right, the longest gap between albums of your career. Now, obviously the pandemic happened shortly after you completed Blue Hearts, but why else do you feel like this one took a while?
That’s the main reason. My life has always been a series of cycles that starts with writing, recording, then waiting, then putting out a record, then touring. So, y’know, when late March of 2020 showed up, there was clearly not going to be any touring for a while. I think I, and a lot of people, sort of had a tough time with what was happening in 2020. I kept myself busy with a lot of the production work on the Demon [Records] box set, the Distortion box set [a massive 24-CD set of all of Mould’s solo work plus multiple live albums—JG], so that took a lot of my creative energy for 2020. Then ’21 was like, “Ugh, c’mon, when can I go back to work?” And then ‘22, ‘23 was a lot of solo touring to get caught up on work. I started writing more during that period of time, and then this record, Here We Go Crazy, was recorded at the beginning of ’24. I think from day 1 in the studio to album release was another 13, 14 months. So man, yeah…it just dragged out! [laughs]
Was it done when you did those original sessions last year? Or were you still adding stuff along the way?
I think I signed off on mastering, like, in…May? By April of ’24 it was finished and at that point it was talking with different labels, trying to figure out where it would land, and eventually it was Granary Music [Mould’s own label] through BMG, label services and distribution and all that stuff. We got all that sorted out in late ’24 and then we got out the record as quickly as we could, and planned the March ’25 release.
Amazing how time can just keep sliding by while trying to cross the finish line, right?
Yeah. This record was…convoluted’s not the right word, it definitely took a while, [working] with a new label, and working with everybody else’s schedules as well, making it. This is the sixth album that I’ve made with Jason and Jon, and with each successive year, they get increasingly busier with other projects, whether it’s Mountain Goats or the Michael Shannon R.E.M. stuff. So yeah [chuckles] the calendars fill up in odd ways and they fill up quick, and it’s a lot of maneuvering going on. Just happy that it all worked out so far this year.
You mentioned Jason and Jon: they’re your longest-serving band. Why do you think it is that you’ve been able to achieve that longevity?
Because they’re great. [both laugh] We enjoy playing together. We have a really fully developed common musical language—I think we listened to a lot of the same music when we were growing up, independent of each other. And I guess it’s, god, 15, 16, 17 years we’ve been playing together now? It’s really natural and really easy for us. I think with each successive of the last six albums, I’m definitely writing with our sound in mind.
And I don’t know…we’re a pretty great band. We rehearse for a day and then we do a tour. We did The Tonight Show and we practically ran “When Your Heart Is Broken”—I think we played it twice when we recorded it, and I think we played it three times for blocking.
It’s pretty effortless. It’s everything one could hope for with a band. No drama. It’s just scheduling [that’s the hard part, because] we’re all busy.
Going back to the new record: Blue Hearts was kind of laser-focused on political concerns, and there’s a bit of that on the new record, but there’s a lot more personal and relationship-based songs. Was that a conscious decision to move in a different direction, or just where you were when you started to ramp back up, post-pandemic?
Honestly, less politics? I mean, 2019 was pretty dire, right? I needed to take all that anger and put it somewhere. And with Blue Hearts, it was a conscious effort to take a look back at the early ‘80s and hold it up against where we were in the late twenty-teens, and trying to show people the parallels. And to try to make up for anything I didn’t say in the ‘80s that I should have, politically. [laughs]
But Here We Go Crazy, more personal, more introspective…it was sort of a quieter life, obviously, through ’20 and through ’21. I mean, there’s moments of political commentary in the title track. You could read politics into other songs if you want. But it’s way more of a record that’s more based in personal experience as opposed to political protest.
One of the songs I really wanted to highlight was “Your Side,” which to me is one of the sweetest and most vulnerable songs that I think you’ve ever written. What can you tell us about the writing and recording of that one?
Thanks for that, a hundred percent agree. I think I was just sitting on the couch, just playing guitar, and just sitting with my husband. I came up with these riffs, and then I started a quick music seminar on Minneapolis chord progressions from the 1980s. [both laugh] That’s sort of how the chorus showed up. It’s such a rock anthem. The setup for the chorus is really beautiful, just sort of the stories about getting older and settling in. It’s a pretty touching song.
It’s funny, when I mentioned Minneapolis chord progressions, I mean…in the summer of 1981, when Hüsker Dü was traveling around and we had both AM and FM radio in the van, a song with that kind of chorus would not have been out of place in the summer of 1981. That could have been “The Breakup Song,” that could have been “Jessie’s Girl,” that could have been whatever Blue Oyster Cult made after “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” it’s [chuckles] you know what I’m sayin’. It’s “Do Ya,” it’s “Surrender.” It’s not an original idea. But it is pretty personal, and it’s a pretty poignant set of words. It’s a cool song, cool closer to the record.
Because you have such a massive catalog, you obviously can’t play everything, but it seems like every album, there’s a few songs that seem to linger in the setlists as you move on to the next album. Sitting where we are, can you tell which songs from Here We Go Crazy you’ll be playing for a while yet?
With the band on tour, we did “Here We Go Crazy,” we did “Neanderthal,” we did “Hard to Get,” we did “When Your Heart is Broken,” we did “Fur Mink Augurs,” we did “You Need to Shine”…we did those consistently, every night. So, I mean, all of those are definitely in play for St. Louis, coming up, on the solo show. “Neanderthal” is a little tough to play without a band, because it’s so frantic, but…eh, I’d give it a try solo and see what happens. “Breathing Room,” I love playing solo. I think I’ve done “Your Side” a few times live. All of them could be at play, actually, now that I think about it. “Neanderthal” would be the hardest one. “Fur Mink Augurs,” no. That one doesn’t work solo. It’s so much about the drums, and the weird words…yeah. That one’s best played by the band.
The original press materials when this tour was announced had you saying, “I’m looking forward to adding deeper cuts from my career songbook.” Can you give us a preview of what those might be or at least, not to quote Taylor Swift since she’s in the news so much [note: her engagement to Travis Kelce was announced two days before this interview was conducted], but what “Era” of Bob Mould they might be from?
So far this year, it’s been almost all band touring, and the framework for the band touring was the six albums that Jon, Jason, and I have made together. So, I mean…I don’t know. I sort of look at [2008’s] District Line sometimes and think that there’s really cool songs on there that I haven’t played in a while. I mean, I always love “Who Needs to Dream,” “Again and Again” is fun to dig up once in a while. [sighs] I don’t know, I haven’t been playing “Circles” in forever. Other than “Stand Guard,” [1990’s] Black Sheets [of Rain]has been pretty dormant. [1989’s] Workbook, I’ve barely been touching that…with ”Sinners [and Their Repentances]” I think I’ve been playing? “See a Little Light”? There’s a lot of stuff that I like playing that [I haven’t played in a while]. I can’t remember the last time I played “Hanging Tree,” I can’t remember the last time I played ”Stop You’re Crying”…”Brasilia [Crossed with Trenton]”…or “Wishing Well,” or “Poison Years”…
It’s sort of stupid, when you ask me that now, I’m like, “Oh yeah, there’s, like, about three hours of good stuff that I haven’t played in a decade.” [laughs]
And here I am, waiting for you to say “Moving Trucks”! [laughs]
“Moving Trucks” is very controversial.
Why’s that?
So me, Jason, and Jon…Jason always says “Moving Trucks! We love that song!” And I’m like, “I know, I love it, but every time I put it in the setlist, it gets, like, the golf clap.” Like, what’s that about?
I find that surprising!
I have no fucking idea. I’m stumped. Because you say it and I’m like, “Yeah, of course. It’s a natural.” Then I play it and people are like [light claps] “Oh, that was nice.” And I’m like “What?!”
[laughs] A bit of my own background: the first thing I heard of yours was [Sugar’s 1992 debut] Copper Blue, but I was, like, 13 when that came out. So when I really checked in and became a big fan was with [1998’s] Last Dog and Pony Show and I saw you on that tour. So “Moving Trucks” to me is, like, the peak of the thing that got me into being a fan, so I’m surprised that it gets golf claps. That’s crazy.
I guess I better have “Moving Trucks” ready for St. Louis. [chuckles]
Yes!
Give me five minutes and I’ll have it ready, me personally. And the band knows it and we love it, but like I said, I would play it and I’d get a lot of blah at the end of the song and be like “what?”
I like that song, it’s a good one. And I need more Capo3 songs, anyway, [like to go with] “Egøverride.” I like “Moving Trucks,” though. I hear ya.
Good deal! As long as we’re taking a trip down memory lane, you mentioned songs from Body of Song, which is turning 20 this year. What are your thoughts on that one, looking back?
It’s funny, after Last Dog and Pony [Show], I fully thought that I was walking away for a bit. I went to WCW and did the wrestling bit, got into electronica, did Modulate and Loudbomb, started the Blowoff parties…and then inside of all that time, I wrote “Circles” and other songs [that were meant for] that third record for when Modulate and Loudbomb came out [in 2002].
I look back at it after 20 years and I’m still like, “Yeah, that’s me, trying to figure out how to continue working with the electronic stuff, but also bringing more guitars back than Modulate had.” It’s a baby step kind of record. But “Circles” is such a great tune, “Shine Your Light” I love, “Beating Heart the Prize,” “Always Tomorrow.” There’s a lot of fun songs on there.
The Aughts, that was an interesting decade for me, from wrestling to electronica to DJ, to the records…I like Body of Song, I love District Line. I think the songwriting on [2009’s] Life and Times is super cool. Maybe that record was a little out of step with where music in general was [at the time]? I don’t know. I like all those records. But the Aughts era has definitely been underserved lately. Ehhhh, I should go back and listen to those records.
Speaking of looking back, Numero Group just announced the release of a new Hüsker Dü live box set. How involved have you been with that? Have you heard the shows that they’ll be releasing?
January 30th, 1985, First Avenue, Hüsker Dü, 2 shows—early show, late show. Both shows were recorded on 24-track. What is being released, 2 of the 4 LPs will be that entire late show from January 30th, 1985. Those were our hometown record release shows for New Day Rising. And that’s why we wanted to document them with a mobile truck recording.
The tapes went somewhere, then they went somewhere else, and then they ended up at Electrical Audio in Chicago. Taylor [Hales], the studio manager, did an analog to digital transfer—you know, the thing where you put the tapes in the oven and get ‘em warm, and then you put ‘em up and you get one shot. The transfers were perfect. I have been told there was an idea for Steve Albini to mix them, but clearly that did not happen, Steve passed away. I spent four days in January in Oakland with Beau Sorenson, the engineer that’s worked with me since [2012’s] Silver Age, and we mixed that show, which was pretty incredible, and then cleaned up a bunch of ’85 board tapes which were in varying states of not sounding at all like each other from show to show, and we spent a couple of days trying to average out those shows and pick the best performances; Greg Norton [Hüsker Dü bassist] had a lot to do with picking the performances. They’re jaw-dropping. I don’t say that about my own stuff usually, but…the band was really good then. [laughs]
Can’t wait to hear it!
That was, all the heat off Zen Arcade, having New Day Rising in the pocket, and we’d already written Flip Your Wig and were just waiting to record it, so…fun year that was.
And by the time Flip Your Wig came out, you were already doing Candy Apple Grey songs, right?
We were always playing an album ahead. Sometimes we would get close to two albums ahead. It might have happened maybe by April of ’85, we were two albums ahead, I think we were already test-driving stuff that went to Candy Apple Grey. Those were crazy times.
One of the other things I’m excited about, your opener for the St. Louis show is David Barbe. What’s it been like touring with him again?
We did some shows together two years ago, maybe last year as well? I don’t know if you’ve kept up with what he’s been doing with a lot of his time and energy: he created this whole music/engineering/recording/music business department at the University of Georgia and he’s been doing that for decades, and it’s just an incredible program. But whenever I get an opportunity to get together with David, get him out of UGA and get him to play a little bit of music, [I do it]. It’s good to hang with David.
[In his solo sets,] he plays guitar and he’s got loops and a couple amps and plays his songs. It’s very different from what I do with my solo set. It’s a cool night of music! David’s set is a little more laid back and a little loopier, and mine is pretty much just me doin’ my thing. It should be a fun show!
Cool! Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. I really enjoy David’s solo stuff as well.
Yeah! He’s a good songwriter. Really, really cool stuff.
Last question: what music is exciting you these days?
I was just down in L.A. for a couple of days doing some stuff, I did a Grammy Museum thing and I ran into Ian [Shelton], the singer from Militarie Gun. They’re really cool, and they’ve got some new stuff coming out [God Save the Gun, out October 17 on Loma Vista/Concord], that’s pretty cool. They’ve got that new song, “B A D I D E A,” that thing is off the hook. Militarie Gun is good, I like them. The new Hotline TNT is pretty cool. Um, what else…is there a new Taylor Swift album? I haven’t heard that yet! [laughs]
Not yet! She just announced it but it’s not out yet.
She does good stuff, I’m just starting to get funny. [both laugh] I enjoyed the most recent Fontaines D.C. album…there’s really good songwriting on that. Those would be my three that I’ve been jamming on most lately.
I did find the craziest song I had never heard from the 1960s, and I’ve been pumping it nonstop for a month. Do you know this podcast [A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs]? It’s very professorial in a way. He did…what was the episode? It was the Mamas and the Papas, maybe “California Dreamin’”? Anyway, long story short, Scott McKenzie, who did “San Francisco,” “[If you’re going to San Franscisco/ Be sure to wear some] flowers in your hair.” There’s a song on his solo album called “No, No, No, No, No.” The guys on the podcast mentioned the song and then I went and listened to it and I was like “How did I never hear this as a small child?” It’s, like, amazing.
Oh wow.
Check it out, when we get done. It’s like, “Oh my god.” It’s of that exact moment, ’66, ’67. When you hear it, you’re going to hear a lot of other people, like they heard it and went “Ah! I bet I could make music like that.” Very, very cool pop song.
Bob Mould performs live at Off Broadway on Tuesday, September 30. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit offbroadwaystl.com.
Bob Mould on tour, solo electric:
09.28 – Charleston, WV – Mountain Stage+
09.30 – St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway^
10.01 – Kansas City, MO – recordBar^
10.03 – Bloomington, IL – Castle Theatre^
10.04 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk^
10.07 – Milwaukee, WI – Shank Hall^
10.08 – Stoughton, WI – Stoughton Opera House^
10.10 – Minneapolis, MN – Icehouse^
10.11 – St. Paul, MN – Turf Club^
+with The Baseball Project and Loose Cattle
^with David Barbe
