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 Francisco
I 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.
Games
This 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.
Coffee
Since I’m a dry alcoholic, much of my daily existence revolves around coffee — one of the few things I have left. When I get to a town, there’s always a couple of hours between soundcheck and show, so I’ll look on Yelp: “Oh, this one has some reclaimed wood — maybe that’s a third-wave coffee shop!”
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
This is a Japanese company that has their own app that contains the history of their company, which goes back more than 50 years. I enjoy their historical stuff, especially from the early ’90s, when Japanese wrestling was state of the art, and setting the stage for what in-ring American wrestling would look like.
Anne Lamott
I was raised Catholic, and I was able to connect with her on that level, because she’s very spiritual. She writes a lot about parenthood and children and addictions — the choices we make, and the places we end up.
Berghain
It’s the best techno club in the world, with hourslong lines to get in. It’s a real spectacle watching people get turned away. There will be tourists wearing tons of cologne and, like, Mickey Mouse shorts. They try to plead their case, and the door people are like, “You must leave the property now. Goodbye.”
‘Only Murders in the Building’
I love New York City so much, and “Only Murders” is probably my favorite TV show. My husband and I went to New York in April. We were going to go to this weird, like, bear-jockstrap party on Christopher Street, but Fred Armisen said, “You should come over to ‘S.N.L.’!” It was so packed on the floor, and my husband’s like, “Who’s this guy that keeps backing into me?” And it was Martin Short!
Cannabis
I’m not a wake-and-bake kind of guy. I tend to have a little fun at the end of the night, to get the edge off and get ready for bed. I’ll do it all — you know, leaf, vape, edibles.
The Castro Theater in San Francisco
I remember seeing [the 2008 film] “Milk” at the Castro Theater, and it had a pretty profound effect on me. I’d had a pretty full gay life already, but seeing it there, I realized that the Castro — and the neighborhood around it — was such a big part of American history.
Weighted Blankets
My husband is a sleep-kicker, so I ordered two of these 15-pound weighted blankets — I think they’re filled with glass beads. And after one night of those blankets, there was no more kicking. But now, when I travel, I get into bed, and I’m like, “Oh no — it’s just a regular hotel sheet and blanket! What happened?”
