Photo by SHELLY MOSSMAN
These are glory days for Bob Mould, valedictorian of the indie rock class of 1984; glowering godfather of alt-rock circa 1992; dark lord of the molten dirge circa 1998; shirtless dancing bear spinning the wheels of steel for the Blow-Off, his hugely successful gay-friendly DJ parties, circa 2002; celebrated warts-n-all memoirist circa 2011; and acknowledged American Master of punk-as-fuck-three-chords-and-the-truth tunesmithery circa now. If it looks like things are finally breaking his way, that was never guaranteed. It could have just as easily gone the other way. In October he turns 54. In rock n’ roll years, that’s 108. At this age you’ve either become a living legend or you’re just old and in the way. You’ve either become a classic or just another neglected wreck rusting in the back yard of the music biz. Perhaps mid-to-late aughts, when Mould released and toured a string of middling albums, a case could have been made that he was trending towards the latter. But in the wake of a high-profile autobiography, See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody and a like-titled tribute concert, “See a Little Light: A Celebration of the Music and Legacy of Bob Mould,” curated by Dave Grohl and featuring the likes of Britt Daniel from Spoon, Craig Finn and Tad Kubler from the Hold Steady, and No Age performing his songs at Disney Hall in Los Angeles, not to mention a pair of instant-classic late-career albums for Merge (2012’s Silver Age and the new and great Beauty & Ruin), Bob Mould has raised the curtain on third act that may well trump everything that came before. These days Mould is backed by Split Single’s Jason Narducy on bass and Superchunk’s Jon Wurster on drums, arguably his finest band to date — Sugar and Husker Du included. He’s currently on a tour in support of Beauty & Ruin that stops at the TLA tomorrow night. We have a coupla pairs of tix to give away to some lucky Phawker reader. To qualify, all you have to do is follow us on Twitter, and then email us at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us you have done so or already follow us, with the magic words ZEN ARCADIA in the subject line, along with your full name and a mobile number for confirmation. Good luck and godspeed!
UPDATE: We have chosen our winners, if you have not heard from us by now, sad to say you are not among them. However, we have TWO consolation prizes. First is this new video for “The War” from the new Beauty & Ruin, directed by Dave Markey (1991: The Year Punk Broke ), posted below. Bob and director Dave Markey will chat with fans on September 9 at 3:30pm EST during a Reddit AMA session. Also, Live Nation will be livestreaming tonight’s Bob Mould show at the TLA HERE starting at 10 PM.
EXCERPT: Zen Arcadia
Bob Mould – The War from Merge Records on Vimeo.