Bob Mould.

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ftershow relaxation time for Bob mould’s band at the london Brooklyn Bowl. while bassist Jason narducy meets friends and drummer Jon wurster researches the cultural delicacies awaiting him in southampton, the main man has something to show moJo. “let me give you my card.” accepting the proffered rectangular piece of plastic, it takes several seconds to realise what we’re looking at: a medical marijuana identification card from the state of California, complete with green leaf background and a smiling picture of mr robert a. mould. “for insomnia,” he chuckles. Bob mould: genial, 55-year-old state-sanctioned stoner? how does this tally with that vastly more familiar mould: the tortured soul at the forefront of hüsker Dü, the trio formed in 1979 with drummer Grant hart and bassist Greg norton in minneapolis-saint Paul? legendar y for an incandescent run of records between 1983 and 1987 – as well as their acrimonious split in 1988 – hüsker Dü’s fusion of ’60s pop harmony with ’80s discord burnt a path from the underground to the doors of the mainstream, through which nir vana would soon bulldoze. Behind mould’s furrowed brow, however, lived a man of many parts: a student of urban

Astudies, as equally authoritative on the works of william s. Burroughs or Kiss; the alternative rock pioneer who in the late ’90s hung up his guitar and immersed himself in dance music, though not before spending seven months as a scriptwriter for professional wrestling bouts. having successfully discouraged public discussion of his sexuality for years, mould was clumsily outed by a spin article in 1994, but it wasn’t until the 2011 publication of his autobiography see a little light that the depths of his confusion were revealed, along with the exultant flowering of his gay self. the book also quashed any possibility of a hüsker Dü reunion. Yet last year an official hüsker Dü web site launched, offering t-shirts designed by hart, and norton declared the three ex-combatants were now working with a minneapolis attorney to make sense of their legally entangled catalogue. today, as he sits down with moJo on the eve of his latest solo release, Patch The Sky, the third successive blast of quintessential melodic slash and churn since 2012 with his current band, mould confirms that a hüsker Dü inventor y is ongoing, “cataloguing all possible assets that could be used for anything.” his own preferred endgame for the process would be “a one-time gigantic compendium of things.” But achieving consensus on that and other issues would require a resolution to the conflicting energies that made the band so “Bob Mould’s songs will break your heart – but the melody and the earnestness of his delivery will give you the faith that it was meant to be broken. When I ran away from home all I had were a few changes of clothes, a guitar and Workbook and Zen Arcade on cassette. He’s my Bob Dylan.”