Cover Bob Mould in a Weighted Blanket, and Turn on Vintage Wrestling
The veteran rocker, who’s releasing his 15th album, discusses the thrills of an exclusive techno club and loving “Only Murders in the Building.”Last fall, after an especially blistering concert overseas, the veteran rocker Bob Mould walked offstage and realized he couldn’t breathe. “I’d thrown myself so hard into the physicality of the show that I hyperventilated for about 15 minutes,” the musician, 64, said. “It was just one of those shows where I was like, ‘Did I leave a quart of blood up there tonight?’”Such energy-expending performances are typical for Mould, who’s been a regular on the road since venues reopened after pandemic shutdowns (“I was making up for lost time,” he said). His live gigs informed many of the songs on “Here We Go Crazy,” Mould’s 15th studio album. Due March 7, it finds the onetime Hüsker Dü and Sugar frontman piling on the sort of speedy riffs, dead-center hooks and scream-of-consciousness lyrics that have defined much of Mould’s nearly 50-year career. Many of the tracks were fine-tuned from the stage, with Mould keeping a close eye on the crowd whenever he was test-driving a new tune.“Sometimes you see people’s head bobbing, and they’re poking each other, like, ‘This is a good one,’” Mould said in a phone interview.” And sometimes there’s just a little golf clap, and I’m like, ‘OK. Got it.’”In a phone call from Palm Springs, Calif., where Mould lives part-time — he also resides in San Francisco — the musician discussed the rituals and getaways that get his blood pumping, both at home and on tour. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Morning Walks at Ocean Beach, San FranciscoI have really bad tinnitus from work — I mean, I will never have silence again. So one of my favorite things in life is to get up before the sun comes up, and just walk for two hours. It’s one of the few places where I can get my head right, because all I can hear is the sound of the ocean.GamesThis is so pandering, but no matter where I am, before I look at the news or start returning calls, I get on The New York Times Games app. Spelling Bee is addictive — if I don’t get Genius on it every day, I get really upset. And when I’m home with the husband, we play a lot of Catan, which is quite fun.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More