MusicRadar

Bob Mould on stage in San Francisco, 2009, with his favorite sky-blue Strat Plus. © Tim Mosenfelder/Corbis

"I love Copper Blue," says Bob Mould of Sugar's 1992 alternative-rock classic. "I loved recording it, playing it, and I love knowing that other people love it, too. Going out and playing it should be a lot of fun."

Celebrating the disc's 20th anniversary, the singer-guitarist and songwriter (whose place in rock history is assured from co-founding and fronting the legendary alt-punk group Husker Du), will perform Copper Blue in its entirety on 24 February with his band, drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy, at the Noise Pop Festival (also celebrating 20 years) in San Francisco. Other acts include The Flaming Lips, Built To Spill and Archers Of Loaf, among others.

MusicRadar sat down with Mould recently to reminisce about the writing and recording of Copper Blue, the guitars and gear that he was used on the album (pay attention, punk rockers: the man knows his equipment) and how many hours and days he's going to spend preparing for the Noise Pop gig.

Going back to something you did two decades ago, is it a bizarre feeling – like looking at an old yearbook?

"Not really. The nearly three years I spent revisiting my life when I wrote my book [2011's Shine A Little Light; Little, Brown pub.], that was hard. Compared to that, going back and extracting one album out of my body of work, and an album that I really like, that's not a problem at all. After you write a book and dredge up all the stuff in your life, doing something like this is something of a relief." [laughs]

Last year, you remastered Copper Blue. In doing so, what struck you about its original sound?

"Just how long it took us to get the mixes right. We were trying to fit a lot of information into a stereo mix. So when I put the tapes back up and listened to them sort of flat again, I thought, Wow, mastering has come a long way! We can do a lot more to this now. [laughs] The tools are a lot deeper. I could widen the stereo feel and bring the bass out down the center. It was a good-sounding record then, and I think we made it better now."

What kind of musician you were back in 1991-'92, when you recorded the album?

"I was in transition. You kind of always are, really, but in my case, at the beginning of 1991, I had left Minneapolis and moved to New York City. My first solo record, Workbook, had come out in 1989, and it was very well received. My second one, Black Sheets Of Rain, came out in the fall of '90, and it was a darker record, a little bit heavier.

"I was ready to change things. The spring of '91 found me back to square one in many ways, business-wise and record company-wise. Prior to this, I had spent a lot of time in Europe, toured all over, and I was writing a lot. I played new songs live before I recorded them, so I could see what was working for people. It was a very interactive period."

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