Live: Bob Mould with Cymbals Eat Guitars @ Williamsburg Waterfront 9.7.12

This show was curiously under the radar, despite it being in a pretty huge spot and sponsored by Lacoste. I showed up towards the end of the Cymbals Eat Guitars set and saw as much as I would have liked of their kinda sorta ok Brit flavored rock. Kudos to them for scoring the gig, but it was even more of a pleasure to roll into a not especially fully space and cut straight to the rock chase.

Bob has been simultaneously touring behind his new record Silver Age and commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the release of the first Sugar record Copper Blue. This set, and a few others featured Copper Blue in its entirety. A beautiful late Summer night combined with the new record being damn good and Bob having worked a fair amount of Husker Du tracks into the set in recent years, capped with Lacoste footing the bill, it made for one of the better shows this year.

The other two guys on the tour, that being Ironman Jon Wurster on drums and bassist Jason Narducy have comprised the Mould rhythm section for a while now, and it is pretty impossible to fault our Bob for choosing either. I'd say its his best band since the Maimone/Fier era by a long shot. The old and new material was/is great, and there was the added nerd bonus of Craig Finn coming out during the encore to shout his way through Something I Learned Today, a moment captured below and captioned in typical brilliant fashion by our dear Mr. Wurster, "And then this man came on stage and started yelling "I was into Bob Mould before any of you!"

All in all, a great night, especially given the price.
Get The Silver Age and/or the 3cd remaster of Copper Blue here from your friends at Merge.

R

See A Little Light by Bob Mould

The recent Husker Du tome that Andy Earles dropped was one of the more exciting propositions that JS-NYC has encountered in recent history, but suffered from primary singer/guitarist Bob Mould opting not to take part in the project. I'm going to revisit Husker Du in the wake of reading this, but anyone into Husker Du or any of the members/associates therein should drop everything and get themselves a copy of See A Little Light stat.

Now in the interest of keeping everything 100, readers should know that See A Little Light is a memoir, and while Husker Du was part of his history, it is but a small part of the Bob Mould experience. One should also know, if they are not already aware, that Bob is gay. As you might surmise, something as integral to one's self as sexuality plays a large part in the narrative. It's not coming from a Motley-esque The Dirt perspective, but it is certainly a large part of the proceedings. Mould is candid about all aspects of his life from childhood to present day in See A Little Light, exposing some of the reasons why his relationship with his ex-bandmembers is so chilly, his feelings on Jon Wurster, professional wrestling and a host of other things Bob and Mould. Bob can write (Michael Azerrad helps) and his story is a compelling one. See A Little Light gets high marks from JS-NYC. Get it here.

R

Husker Du book!

Henry alluded to this book in one of his recent Chunklet blasts and, much like the Mats book a couple years ago, it was a foregone conclusion that this guy was going to have it in his hot little hands with the quickness. I was passingly familiar with Earles from Chunklet and hoped that the title would be the most ponderous aspect of the whole affair. Entitled Husker Du: The Story Of The Noise Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock and bound like a school textbook, I was cautiously optimistic, but feared for the worst. Whether the author plays the sycophant or the iconoclast makes a huge difference in these situations. Earles does a good job of finding a happy medium between the two. He has ample opportunity to go either way: Bob declined to participate in the project, while Grant and Greg were active in the entire process. Evidently Mould has his own book coming out (a co-write with Our Band Could Be Your Life scribe Michael Azerrad). That should be an interesting read, especially in light of Earles' decision to keep as much of the band member's personal lives from the book as possible. That is an exceedingly admirable gesture, but the inner shit-stirrer in me would love to hear an Albert Goldman-esque treatment of the affairs. These are litigious times, however, and such thoughts do much to distract from the fact that Husker Du were (and are) an amazing band and a true force to be reckoned with. I have been a fan for a long time, but only after their demise and had failed to take into account that they had released such a huge amount of material in their relatively short tenure as a band. Husker regularly delivered entire sets of material with amazing tracks like Diane that would not appear for two (or more) releases, regardless of the strength of their current recordings. Earles offers great insight into the Husker history and creative process. It's obvious that Earles is a total fanboy, but he sports a level of discretion equal to his formidable writing skills. Plain and simple: If you are a Husker Du fan, this is a must-read. I honesty hope that down the line there will be a reprint of this with some Mould insight. The only other people better suited to address the subject would be 'fourth Husker' Terry Katzman or online Husker Dude Paul Hilcoff and in the absence of that, run don't walk your ass down to your local book purveyor and snap this up with the quickness. I'm halfway through my third time reading it and still enjoy it just as much as the first time I cracked cover. Get it here, along with some clips.

R

Bob Mould - The Life And Times

Bob Mould is one of those guys that rarely puts out a bad record. It's a long way from our Bob alternately grinding his teeth and screaming his face off in Husker Du. He's come out of the closet to the general public, made odd, yet not out and out bad, forays into more electronic fare and become half of the Gay DJ touring revue that is Blowback.

Last year's District Line was the first for Anti-. They grabbed Mould at a great time. The record was a rager, definitely one of the best releases of last year. Life And Times continues in that vein, adding electronic elements to the the soaring guitar hooks and gruff vocals we've come to expect from Mould. It's pretty great all around, combining the best of his more pastoral Workbook stuff with Sugar-y tinges and new-school electronica. You'll want this. Lucky for you, it comes out tomorrow. Pick up Life And Times here tomorrow from your friends at Anti.

Keep track of your favorite indie-rock bear at his webcave here.

R