August 8, 2024 • 10 mins
Bob Mould is coming to Lyttleton, Wellington and Auckland in November, he called up from the other side of the world to talk about the 80s with Husker Du, the 90s with Sugar, the many solo albums and collaborations he's had over the years - one which saw him on stage in front of a hundred thousand people.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Welcome to Radio Hodarchis Off the Record podcast with Greg Treatment.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Let's have a chat with Bob mold.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey, how's it going, Greg?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Yeah, really well.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
We're looking forward to having you back in New Zealand
in November.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I think I've only been to Auckland once in nineteen
ninety one. I think it was at the Gluepot. Pretty
excited to be coming back in November. It would be
really fun.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
You'll be doing your solo material. And the eighties, of
course there was Husker Do, then there was Sugar in
the nineties. There's been so many collaborations over the years.
I was fascinated to see that you were involved with
the Food Fighters for a little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah. Yeah, got to be friends with Dave Grohl. He
called up and asked if I would help out on
a song on the Wasting Light album that came out
in twenty eleven, and we just started hanging out and
hanging out more, and then he won there. I ended
up going out and doing some DJ stuff and jumping
up with the Foods on some of the shows in
(00:58):
America and some stuff in Europe too, And yeah, Dave's
wonderful guy, and you know, helped out with the tribute
show to My Songbook at Disney Hall in Los Angeles
at the end of twenty eleven. And yeah, super fun,
super honored. He that he thinks of me for anything.
It's a great guy.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah. And what was it like performing with them?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Well, I mean they have an awfully big crowd most nights. Yeah.
I think there was one festival over in Belgium where
I jumped up and it was one hundred thousand people
and wow. I have done a couple festivals where it's
that size, but not with that kind of focus where
everybody's there to look at one thing. So that was
(01:39):
that was sort of cool.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And another thing that caught my attention was that you
composed the theme for the Daily Show.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, that was back in nineteen ninety six. The piece
was called dog on Fire, and my studio engineer at
the time named that. They gave it to a friend
of mine, Liz Winstead, who was one of the co
creators at Daily Show. Back then we go way back
old Minneapolis days, and I remember this was just like
(02:06):
I'm doing the show Comedy Central. We need a theme song.
You got anything? And that was one of two songs
from the Hubcap album sessions that didn't make the album
and gave it to the show and off we go.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Have you been on the show? Have you had discussions
with John Stewart?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I know John were acquaintances. I've never been on the show.
I'm working to change that as we speak. You know,
people know him from television. But back in the eighties
there was a pretty notorious punk rock club in Trenton,
New Jersey, and the name of the club was City
Gardens and John was a bartender there and Hohoskerdo used
(02:47):
to play there. So we go way back.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, his show obviously very political. You must have some
pretty robust discussions when you get together.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah. We just we talked politics for work.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, true and wow, there's a lot
of that going on at the moment. One of the
songs I wanted to ask you about that you've come
up with in the decades that you've been creating music
was see a Little Light.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, what a great song. So my first band, Husker
Dou started in nineteen seventy nine and we wrapped up
the beginning of eighty eight, and I spent a year
on a farm in northern Minnesota writing what became my
first solo record, Workbook that came out in nineteen eighty nine.
See a Little Light was sort of the central song
to the record. It was just very you know, some wistful,
(03:39):
but just sort of a positive kind of song, sort
of a major key chorus, sort of jangly. I think
I tuned the guitar like a dulcimer for that song,
so it has this, you know, sort of bright harmonic
resonance that was pretty cool. And you know, it was
such a favorite of people and favored of mine that
(04:01):
I have repurposed the words see a Little Light not
only from the song but to my autobiography. And then
also it was the name of the tribute show a
Disney Hall in LA that I mentioned earlier that you know,
Dave Grohl was a central, you know, a central character
in that show. So yeah, it's a it's a it's
(04:24):
almost a slogan mark. At this point, I guess we.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Let's take it out. Bob mold is with us from
the States, coming to New Zealand for three shows in November.
Talk more about those shortly when we were returned. But first,
the tune.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
From Bob see a Little Light on radio. Hidak I
heard writing a Hidachy.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
That's Bob Mold see a Little Light from his debut
solo album, Workbook, released in the late eighties. Bob, you've
been making music for several decades now, is the process
still the same?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Well, I've written so much in my life, you know.
I guess the one hang up I have is that
I can be very critical of my work as I'm
creating it, which is sort of against the rules of songwriting.
You know, to me, people ask how do you do this?
How does one do this? There's like a lot of
different stages to writing songs, but the main thing is
(05:39):
when you start to get an idea, you start to
write some words, do not edit yourself. Editing is a
separate process. Later on the idea is just it's sort
of like the rain. You know, when it starts to
rain and you need water, you grab a bucket and
you start running around. You catch as much rain as
you can, and once you've done that, then you figure
(06:00):
out what you're gonna do with the water. You don't
think about that when you're catching it. So that would
be my pro tip for aspiring songwriters or anybody that
does creative storytelling. Don't edit when you're making it. Just
make it. You can edit later. So I guess anything
like a term paper for school or any of that
kind of stuff. Just so. But yeah, you know, I'm
(06:24):
my own worst critic because I've written so much. It's
like sometimes I get hung up, like, oh am I
doing that again? Or you just did that two years
ago or so. You know, the older I get, the
least time I have to do this, the less I
worry about it, you know. Just I don't get hung
up on that stuff as much as I used to.
Maybe I don't know, ten fifteen years ago. Now, I
(06:45):
just I just write for the joy of it. It's
just fun to make music, you know.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Right, which was how it was when you started out right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I mean, you know, I started writing songs when I
was eight years old, while I self taught. My grandmother
used to take care of me a lot as a
young child, and one of her jobs was she helped
a woman who had been struck by lightning, you know,
to bathe and you know, to do things for her.
And in the house where the woman lived, where my
(07:14):
grandmother went. I would go with my grandmother and there
was a big piano and an AM radio and I
put the AM radio on top of the piano and
then I listened to pop music and just figure it out,
you know, by ear. So that's how I started writing music.
I wrote real simple songs when I was young, you know, nine,
ten years old. I still have all the notes and
(07:35):
everything for them. They're they're pretty cool. Yeah with Who's
kerdo God, I was eighteen years old when we started
that band, you know, fresh into University of Saint Paul, Minnesota,
and yeah, three of us got together and we all
loved music, and we definitely wanted to wanted a different
world for ourselves and our friends, other punk bands, and
(07:58):
you just sort of wanted to change the system.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Well, he had a huge effect on some people. I'm
wondering what the setlists, what the show is going to
be like when you come to Wellington, to Lyttleton and
Auckland in November.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Well, the show is solo electric and that is me
standing in a microphone with an electric guitar, just standing
and delivering small amp, small pedal board contents of the show.
I mean, for the uninitiated, I think the first five
minutes or so is going to be pretty disorienting because
you may not be able to fully figure out where
(08:35):
the one is, you know, because there's no drums, bass, guitar,
and it's pretty distorted. And usually after about five minutes
people settle in and they can hear the invisible band
that I hear in my head and they start to
fill in the rhythms and you know, and then then
it gets really fun. So just heads up on that
song choices. I mean, it's pretty much everything good, amount
(08:58):
of Hoosker, you know, amount of solo stuff, some sugar stuff,
a lot of the last decade, you know, the five
records you know, from self Age through Blue Hearts, and
a handful of new things that will probably appear on
the next album I put out whenever that is hopefully
next year. So yeah, it'll be you know, all the
(09:20):
way through the career and you know a lot of
familiar songs, a handful of deep cuts, some some new stuff.
So should be good.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Wow, Yeah, sounds great. Well, we can't wait to see
you in November. There's Wellington twenty second in November, Littleton
the night before that, and on the twenty third the
Power Station in Auckland. Tickets are on sale now through
under the radar, Bob Mold, thanks your time on Hodaki.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
And thank you so much. Greg. Have a great day, everybody.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Radio hod aches off the Record podcast. Why not subscribe
so they download automatically and don't forget to rate us
five stars. Thanks mate. Find out more about this podcast
and the people who make it at hodache dot co
dot nz.
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Welcome to Radio Hodarchis Off the Record podcast with Greg Treatment.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Let's have a chat with Bob mold.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey, how's it going, Greg?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Yeah, really well.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
We're looking forward to having you back in New Zealand
in November.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I think I've only been to Auckland once in nineteen
ninety one. I think it was at the Gluepot. Pretty
excited to be coming back in November. It would be
really fun.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
You'll be doing your solo material. And the eighties, of
course there was Husker Do, then there was Sugar in
the nineties. There's been so many collaborations over the years.
I was fascinated to see that you were involved with
the Food Fighters for a little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah. Yeah, got to be friends with Dave Grohl. He
called up and asked if I would help out on
a song on the Wasting Light album that came out
in twenty eleven, and we just started hanging out and
hanging out more, and then he won there. I ended
up going out and doing some DJ stuff and jumping
up with the Foods on some of the shows in
(00:58):
America and some stuff in Europe too, And yeah, Dave's
wonderful guy, and you know, helped out with the tribute
show to My Songbook at Disney Hall in Los Angeles
at the end of twenty eleven. And yeah, super fun,
super honored. He that he thinks of me for anything.
It's a great guy.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah. And what was it like performing with them?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Well, I mean they have an awfully big crowd most nights. Yeah.
I think there was one festival over in Belgium where
I jumped up and it was one hundred thousand people
and wow. I have done a couple festivals where it's
that size, but not with that kind of focus where
everybody's there to look at one thing. So that was
(01:39):
that was sort of cool.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And another thing that caught my attention was that you
composed the theme for the Daily Show.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, that was back in nineteen ninety six. The piece
was called dog on Fire, and my studio engineer at
the time named that. They gave it to a friend
of mine, Liz Winstead, who was one of the co
creators at Daily Show. Back then we go way back
old Minneapolis days, and I remember this was just like
(02:06):
I'm doing the show Comedy Central. We need a theme song.
You got anything? And that was one of two songs
from the Hubcap album sessions that didn't make the album
and gave it to the show and off we go.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Have you been on the show? Have you had discussions
with John Stewart?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I know John were acquaintances. I've never been on the show.
I'm working to change that as we speak. You know,
people know him from television. But back in the eighties
there was a pretty notorious punk rock club in Trenton,
New Jersey, and the name of the club was City
Gardens and John was a bartender there and Hohoskerdo used
(02:47):
to play there. So we go way back.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, his show obviously very political. You must have some
pretty robust discussions when you get together.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah. We just we talked politics for work.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, true and wow, there's a lot
of that going on at the moment. One of the
songs I wanted to ask you about that you've come
up with in the decades that you've been creating music
was see a Little Light.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, what a great song. So my first band, Husker
Dou started in nineteen seventy nine and we wrapped up
the beginning of eighty eight, and I spent a year
on a farm in northern Minnesota writing what became my
first solo record, Workbook that came out in nineteen eighty nine.
See a Little Light was sort of the central song
to the record. It was just very you know, some wistful,
(03:39):
but just sort of a positive kind of song, sort
of a major key chorus, sort of jangly. I think
I tuned the guitar like a dulcimer for that song,
so it has this, you know, sort of bright harmonic
resonance that was pretty cool. And you know, it was
such a favorite of people and favored of mine that
(04:01):
I have repurposed the words see a Little Light not
only from the song but to my autobiography. And then
also it was the name of the tribute show a
Disney Hall in LA that I mentioned earlier that you know,
Dave Grohl was a central, you know, a central character
in that show. So yeah, it's a it's a it's
(04:24):
almost a slogan mark. At this point, I guess we.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Let's take it out. Bob mold is with us from
the States, coming to New Zealand for three shows in November.
Talk more about those shortly when we were returned. But first,
the tune.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
From Bob see a Little Light on radio. Hidak I
heard writing a Hidachy.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
That's Bob Mold see a Little Light from his debut
solo album, Workbook, released in the late eighties. Bob, you've
been making music for several decades now, is the process
still the same?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Well, I've written so much in my life, you know.
I guess the one hang up I have is that
I can be very critical of my work as I'm
creating it, which is sort of against the rules of songwriting.
You know, to me, people ask how do you do this?
How does one do this? There's like a lot of
different stages to writing songs, but the main thing is
(05:39):
when you start to get an idea, you start to
write some words, do not edit yourself. Editing is a
separate process. Later on the idea is just it's sort
of like the rain. You know, when it starts to
rain and you need water, you grab a bucket and
you start running around. You catch as much rain as
you can, and once you've done that, then you figure
(06:00):
out what you're gonna do with the water. You don't
think about that when you're catching it. So that would
be my pro tip for aspiring songwriters or anybody that
does creative storytelling. Don't edit when you're making it. Just
make it. You can edit later. So I guess anything
like a term paper for school or any of that
kind of stuff. Just so. But yeah, you know, I'm
(06:24):
my own worst critic because I've written so much. It's
like sometimes I get hung up, like, oh am I
doing that again? Or you just did that two years
ago or so. You know, the older I get, the
least time I have to do this, the less I
worry about it, you know. Just I don't get hung
up on that stuff as much as I used to.
Maybe I don't know, ten fifteen years ago. Now, I
(06:45):
just I just write for the joy of it. It's
just fun to make music, you know.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Right, which was how it was when you started out right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I mean, you know, I started writing songs when I
was eight years old, while I self taught. My grandmother
used to take care of me a lot as a
young child, and one of her jobs was she helped
a woman who had been struck by lightning, you know,
to bathe and you know, to do things for her.
And in the house where the woman lived, where my
(07:14):
grandmother went. I would go with my grandmother and there
was a big piano and an AM radio and I
put the AM radio on top of the piano and
then I listened to pop music and just figure it out,
you know, by ear. So that's how I started writing music.
I wrote real simple songs when I was young, you know, nine,
ten years old. I still have all the notes and
(07:35):
everything for them. They're they're pretty cool. Yeah with Who's
kerdo God, I was eighteen years old when we started
that band, you know, fresh into University of Saint Paul, Minnesota,
and yeah, three of us got together and we all
loved music, and we definitely wanted to wanted a different
world for ourselves and our friends, other punk bands, and
(07:58):
you just sort of wanted to change the system.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Well, he had a huge effect on some people. I'm
wondering what the setlists, what the show is going to
be like when you come to Wellington, to Lyttleton and
Auckland in November.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Well, the show is solo electric and that is me
standing in a microphone with an electric guitar, just standing
and delivering small amp, small pedal board contents of the show.
I mean, for the uninitiated, I think the first five
minutes or so is going to be pretty disorienting because
you may not be able to fully figure out where
(08:35):
the one is, you know, because there's no drums, bass, guitar,
and it's pretty distorted. And usually after about five minutes
people settle in and they can hear the invisible band
that I hear in my head and they start to
fill in the rhythms and you know, and then then
it gets really fun. So just heads up on that
song choices. I mean, it's pretty much everything good, amount
(08:58):
of Hoosker, you know, amount of solo stuff, some sugar stuff,
a lot of the last decade, you know, the five
records you know, from self Age through Blue Hearts, and
a handful of new things that will probably appear on
the next album I put out whenever that is hopefully
next year. So yeah, it'll be you know, all the
(09:20):
way through the career and you know a lot of
familiar songs, a handful of deep cuts, some some new stuff.
So should be good.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Wow, Yeah, sounds great. Well, we can't wait to see
you in November. There's Wellington twenty second in November, Littleton
the night before that, and on the twenty third the
Power Station in Auckland. Tickets are on sale now through
under the radar, Bob Mold, thanks your time on Hodaki.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
And thank you so much. Greg. Have a great day, everybody.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Radio hod aches off the Record podcast. Why not subscribe
so they download automatically and don't forget to rate us
five stars. Thanks mate. Find out more about this podcast
and the people who make it at hodache dot co
dot nz.
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