Bob blasts back

Life is rarely fair. When the Pixies played Toronto last November, they sold out the cavernous Arrow Hall. When Bob Mould (the Pixies’ biggest influence) played Toronto on Sunday Oct. 2nd, he had to settle for a near-capacity crowd at the much smaller Mod Club.

Local openers Uncut played what bassist Derek Tokar called, “our worst show ever! And you can print that!” The band sounds like a cross between… And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead and Sonic Youth. The four-piece haven’t learned to relax and be themselves on stage yet. Their show reduced to a series of stylized gestures: ‘this is the part where I look bored’ changed to ‘this is the part where I scream’ and ‘this is the part where we rock out’. It came off as artificial, especially when compared to the headliner.

The Bob Mould Band didn’t hit the stage; they bodyslammed it. Mould’s blue Fender Stratocaster was the undisputed star. It roared into the opening riff from ‘The Act We Act’ and never let up from there. It’s almost out of control: splinters of melody shearing through feral sheets of noise, tearing holes in the songs. All that noise wouldn’t matter, however, if the songs themselves weren’t so catchy. Mould’s Beatles-on-crank songwriting remains as fresh and vital as ever.

Bassist Jason Narducy, drummer Brendan Canty (formerly of Fugazi), and keyboardist Richard Morel matched Mould’s pace, keeping the energy high. The band barely finished one song before beginning the next. It was only when Mould started the ballad ‘Hardly Getting Over It’ (off 1986’s Candy Apple Gray) that the assault slackened.

Mould has ditched his ‘most miserable man in rock’ persona; he looked happy to be there. He’s been working out: he’s in better shape at age 45 than he ever was at 25. At one point, a woman screamed, “Bob, I wish you weren’t gay!”

The vast majority of the crowd looked like refugees from Alternative Nation, circa 1991. They politely listened to tracks from Mould’s new CD Body of Song, but it was Hüsker Dü classics, like ‘Could You Be the One’ or ‘I Apologize’, that received the biggest pop.

The band looked like they were having a blast, and the energy was infectious. During ‘Hoover Dam’ (one of five songs from 1992’s Copper Blue in the set) an audience member sprayed bassist Narducy with beer. Mould retaliated with a well-aimed mouthful of water.

Like the Pixies, Bob Mould has come to terms with his past, and his elder statesman status. Now he just wants to show the current crop of bands how it’s done. Who would have thought four guys in their forties could kick so much ass?

Photograph by Sarah Ternoway