Q.You had said that Body Of Song wasn’t intentionally written as a full-band venture but was District Line written with the full band in mind?
A.Yeah, I was more aware of what kind of band was in place. I lay out all the stuff and then bring Brendan in. I let him hear the tracks as they exist and he puts his imprint on it. That’s sort of how the stuff really comes together. I don’t think I was sitting down writing and thinking about how Jason plays bass and how Rich plays keys, because when we play this stuff, I just want them to play whatever they feel comfortable with. I don’t expect them to emulate the parts, per se.
Q.How new or old are some of the songs on District Line?
A.Well, “Walls In Time” is a Workbook-era song that did not get recorded for that record. Everything else is from July 2005 to the beginning of 2007.
Q.Tell me about connecting with Anti-.
A.I tried talking to labels that I thought had an audience that was similar to my audience, and Anti- is one of three or four labels that I could think of. Out of all the labels, they had the mechanics to do the release the way that I had envisioned it. It was the best fit of the batch. I just started up with them and everything’s been good so far.
Q.Your song “The Silence Between Us” seems like a return to the some of these former ideas, like the thumping basslines of Sugar’s “A Good Idea,” in that you seem to have that kicking in here, too. Were you thinking that you wanted to write a more traditional Bob Mould song?
A.Man, they just happen.
Q.Am I reading too far into it here?
A.It’s an awfully diverse record. Between “The Silence Between Us” or “Stupid Now,” that real four-to-the-floor stuff, yeah, that’s one of ‘em. And “The Silence Between Us” didn’t take a long time to write. It’s going to be the single. There’s a lot of stuff going on, and there are songs on the record that touch back, arrangement-wise and feel, to other songs. “Miniature Parade” reminds me of “Hoover Dam” or “Fort Knox King Solomon.” I like styles that I like to revisit. “Again and Again” is very much a style that I’m comfortable with, four chords that don’t really change and allows me to tell an elaborate story.
A.I noticed that the promotional line for this album states “plenty of guitars.” Was that geared towards the longtime Bob Mould fan who wasn’t sure what kind of album this would be?
Q.Yeah. I have no problem with that. I think in this day and age I have to make things very clear. People’s attention spans are short and it’s like, OK, here’s what’s going on — it’s guitars, it’s pop songs, it’s emotional, it’s Bob. (laughs)