BOB MOULD : Sugar Is Sweeter for Indie Hero

For much of the ‘80s, Bob Mould and his Minneapolis-based trio Husker Du helped pave the way for the “alternative rock” that in 1992 sells millions of records.

But now that the alternative charts are populated mainly by acts signed to major record labels, Mould is once again living the old independent ideal, after a frustrating few years with the major Virgin Records and Establishment management.

He’s with the small Rykodisc label, he manages himself out of his Brooklyn home--and he’s also on top of that alternative chart with “Copper Blue,” the debut album from his new trio, Sugar.

“After Husker Du,” Mould says, “and after trying to rely on other people to help me out, it was now this: There’s only one person that’s gonna help Bob--he’d better do it for himself or he’s gonna get lost. . . .

“I decided that I would run my own ship, go back to an indie label where I can deal with the label day to day, and find a couple of old friends to play with. . . . I think it’s a reaction to trying to deal with the music industry on its music industry terms. I’m not very good at that.”

What Mould is good at is writing songs with catchy pop structures and playing them with blazing, punk-rock force. The combination yields the sweetly sad mood that’s become Mould’s signature sound, and his new collaborators, bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis, help him realize it more potently than he has since his Husker Du heyday (Sugar plays San Diego State’s Montezuma Hall on Nov. 9, the Anaconda in Santa Barbara on Nov. 11 and the Hollywood Palladium on Nov. 13).

“With this record,” Mould says of “Copper Blue,” “the beautiful songs I left beautiful, and the ones that were meant to go out further left went out a little bit further. Beautiful things are beautiful and ugly things should be really ugly. Something in between is just plain normal.”

* Sugar plays San Diego State’s Montezuma Hall on Nov. 9, the Anaconda in Santa Barbara on Nov. 11 and the Hollywood Palladium on Nov. 13.