Arts :: Music
A Moulded Man by Scott Kearnan
Arts EditorThursday Mar 6, 2008 Alt-rock icon Bob Mould has carved a perfect niche
For Bob Mould, singer, songwriter and guitarist with former bands Husker Du and Sugar, rebellion is part of the post-punk playbook. But coming out as a gay man? Even Mould, who headlines The Paradise next week, took a long time to confront that act of social subversion.
"It’s not all one big after-school special," says Mould, who was outed by Spin Magazine in 1994. "It’s never as smooth as an after school special. I had reasons for protecting that part of my life, mostly revolving around my family."
Mould also points to a less tolerant cultural climate during the days when he struggled to understand the nature of his sexuality. "My formative years were in the Reagan era, which was not a pretty time... being marginalized by the government is not a healthy way to go. Coming to terms with [being gay] was tumultuous."
Now 47 years old, Mould is comfortable in his own skin. Years of introspection have paid off with a healthy mindset and a new solo album: District Line, which sees Mould in lyrically confessional territory. The instrumentation is heavy on the guitar - punctuated by occasional, simple electronic embellishments - and the attitude is rooted firmly in singer/songwriter territory. The title is a nod to Washington D.C.; Mould has lived in the Capitol for six years now.
D.C. was another arena where it took time for Mould to find the right niche. "When I first moved here, I tried to meet people," he says. "But D.C. is a town that’s very concerned with status. The first question you get is, ’So... what do you do [for work]?’ When I told people I was a musician, they would walk away. I wasn’t a lobbyist or a lawyer, so I couldn’t do anything for them."
Feeling a sense of community in the gay scene took Mould a while too.
"I was very single-minded about my work and didn’t spend much time in the gay community," says Mould of his ’80s and ’90s stints with Husker Du and Sugar. "I spent my time in a van with other musicians, or in rock clubs that weren’t necessarily anti-gay, but had a different set of code and custom involved."
While he maintains that coming out is an individual’s personal choice, Mould also says that being outed sparked an overdue exploration of the gay community. "I spent time exploring myself as a gay man," recalls Mould of the aftermath. "I lived in New York City and took advantage of the things that had to offer."
That included Mould’s introduction to the world of electronic music, which he parlayed into his 2002 solo release Modulate. While District Line stays much closer to his usual rock sound, Mould has continued to indulge his newfound appreciation of the electronic genre as a DJ with his monthly D.C. event "Blowoff." The parties rally Mould with other "likeminded" gay partiers.
"We’re a little older, a little more centered," says Mould of the "Blowoff" crowd, which tends towards clubbers in their 40s and up. "It’s a fun, sexy, loyal crowd."
While Mould has become confident with his place in the gay community, his D.C. home, and his musical progression, don’t expect him to pigeonhole himself as one of the hammiest music industry clichés: The Openly Gay Artist.
"There are queer artists who feel very strongly about their presentation, and go to great lengths to include very overt indicators of their sexuality," says Mould. But he says he would rather make efforts to relate to more listeners. "Emotions are emotions... and all of the emotions on the current record are very universal in nature" says Mould. "Why would I want to exclude the [heterosexual] majority of the world?"
While Mould points to some artists as expertly treading a fine line between gay presentation and universal appreciation, particularly ’90s female rockers like k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge, he says they are not necessarily the commercially viable rule.
"It’s great if that’s your particular form of self expression," he says of other out artists who lead the loud, proud Pride parade. "But they must also understand that it has a limited audience. However, that’s cool. That’s what art is about. You can paint with fine detail, or paint with broad strokes."
And while Mould is intent on the latter, he says to take heart: his days of admitted "self-hate" are long behind him.
"I look back on all of it with a chuckle," he says of his early struggles with sexuality. "Today, I appreciate the [gay] community and my place in it. I look better, I feel better... I look back on everything with few regrets... but a lot of chuckling about how silly it all was."
District Line is available now on ANTI-Records. The Bob Mould Band plays at 8 p.m. on March 12 at The Paradise, 957 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. Tickets. $20, 18+. Info: www.thedise.com or www.bobmould.com.
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