The beer gut is gone, and so is the sebaceous pile of hair. In fact, anyone who knew Bob Mould as the disheveled lead singer of Minneapolis punk band Hüsker Dü in the 1980s would just recognize him now looking lean, sporting a scholarly beard and speaking in complete sentences. "Isn't it funny how that happens?" he says, calling from his recently home in Washington, D.C. "Do you think it might have had anything to do with the alcohol and drugs and being on the road?"
But it's not just Mould's current acquisition of designer polo shirts that has thrown people off. Since his powerhouse trio imploded in 1988, the 48 year old songwriter has built up one of the most interesting resumes in rock 'n' roll, highlighted by experimental techno albums, writing scripts for World Championship Wrestling and keeping a tell all blog.
Sure, he's also played to form along the way as the former frontman for roaring three piece Sugar and now as a revered solo artist, but for the past six years or so, Mould's most unexpected endeavor has kept him the busiest a gay dance party called Blowoff.
Started as an experiment with dance music producer Richard Morel when he moved to D.C., Mould's speculation quickly grew into a popular monthly party for hundreds of shirtless, sweaty men at the 9:30 Club. The duo subsequently decided to take it on the road, expanding into cities like New York, Chicago and Atlanta. On Saturday, Blowoff celebrates its first anniversary in San Francisco at Slim's.
"I started listening to a lot of electronic music out of boredom with guitar rock," Mould says. He roped Morel, who has worked with
Depeche Mode and the Killers, into the deal because he convinced him it would be a good way to meet new people. "I didn't actually leave the house much," Morel says. Luckily, Mould delivered on his promise: "We met a lot of people."
The party boasts an eclectic playlist, with the tag team DJs spinning everything from indie rock and electro pop to straight up house and, well, maybe even a little Kelly Clarkson. "You never know what you're going to get," Morel says.
"I used to be a college radio DJ," Mould says. "I've always played the things I needed people to hear."
In 2006, the duo collaborated on an album called "Blowoff" that they would play live at the parties. Now most of the performance is left up to Morel's partner, Nick Lopata, who creates visuals on a laptop in time with the music using looped scenes from films, television shows and archival footage from the Library of Congress.
"The gay community used to be actually on the cutting edge of dance music until 10 years ago, and then something fell off," Mould says. "It's been our goal to get people back on plate."
He hasn't completely turned his back on the rock world. Mould released a guitar based solo album, "Life and Times," earlier this year and has shows lined up with noise merchants No Age and Dinosaur Jr. He's also playing the Treasure Island Music Festival next month.
So how do the two distinct worlds fit together?
"They really are the same thing, and I had no idea until the last couple of years," Mould says. "A lot of people that used to come to Hüsker and Sugar shows now come to Blowoff. I always suspected the hardcore scene had more homos than I thought. They were always in the crowd, and they were outnumbered. I have no idea how it ended up going full circle, but for that I'm really grateful." {lgsbox}
