Bob Mould

Bob Mould

Bob Mould (born Robert Arthur Mould, October 16, 1960, Malone, New York) is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s.

Born in Malone, New York, Mould lived in several places, including the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where he attended Macalester College. There, he formed Hüsker Dü in the late 1970s, with drummer/singer Grant Hart and bass guitarist Greg Norton.

Hüsker Dü first gained notice as a "speed-core" punk rock group, with a series of recordings on the independent label SST Records. One of the first 1980s underground bands to sign a contract with a major record label (Warner Brothers), Hüsker Dü found only moderate commercial success, but were later often cited as one of the key influences on 1990s alternative rock.

In the late 1980s, Hüsker Dü broke up acrimoniously amid members' drug abuse and personal problems. Mould and Grant Hart, the band's other songwriter and vocalist, still take occasional jabs at each other in the press, though the two revisited their Hüsker Dü back catalog together at a 2004 benefit concert for an ailing friend, the late Karl Mueller of Soul Asylum.

After Hüsker Dü broke up in 1988, Mould sequestered himself in a remote farmhouse, quit drinking and drugs, and wrote the songs that would make up his first solo album. Signing to the newly-formed Virgin Records America label, 1989's Workbook eschewed Mould's trademark wall-of-noise guitar for a stripped-down, atmospheric sound featuring acoustic guitars and cellos. 1991's jagged Black Sheets of Rain put Mould in more familiar territory, recalling Hüsker Dü's loudest, angriest moments.

In 1994, he recorded The Turning Of The Tide for Beat The Retreat, a tribute album to the English guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson.

Mould also started a record label, Singles Only Label, which released singles from up and coming bands such as Grant Lee Buffalo and R. Stevie Moore.

Mould then formed the group Sugar, a college/alternative radio favorite in the mid-1990s. Along with extensive touring, Sugar released two albums, an EP and a B-sides collection before breaking up.

Mould returned to solo recording, releasing a self-titled album in 1996 (which is often referred to as Hubcap because of the cover photo) and 1998's The Last Dog and Pony Show.

During a stint living in New York City in the late-1990s, Mould's tastes took a detour into dance music and electronica. Those influences were clear on his 2002 release Modulate, which featured a strong electronica influence to mixed critical reviews. To pursue this sound, Mould also began recording under the pseudonym LoudBomb (an anagram of his name). He has released one CD so far under this name.

Mould took a brief break from the music world to get involved with another passion of his, professional wrestling, when he joined WCW as a scriptwriter for a brief period. Creative differences with some of the other writers led to Mould leaving the company and returning to music. The liner notes for Modulate thank some of the wrestlers he associated with, most notably Kevin Nash and Kevin Sullivan.

In addition to his solo work, Mould is also a live DJ in collaboration with Washington DC-area dance music artist Richard Morel, under the collective banner Blowoff (frequently staged at the 930 Club in Washington, DC). A recording under that banner was released in September 2006. Mould has been asked to do remixes for a variety of dance and alternative rock artists. A recent remix of the Interpol song "Length Of Love" has led to more critical acclaim for the veteran artist.

For much of the 1990s, Mould toured playing solo acoustic renditions of his catalog (occasionally switching to electric guitar midway through his set). In 2005 his solo album Body of Song was cross-announced with his first band tour since 1998. Brendan Canty, best known as the drummer for Fugazi, and Mould's Blowoff collaborator, Morel, played drums and keyboards, respectively, for the 2005 tour.

District Line, was released February 5, 2008. Little over a year later on April 7, 2009, Mould will release his next album entitled Life and Times.

Mould recently announced that he is writing a memoir with Michael Azerrad, the author of Our Band Could Be Your Life and Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. The book will be released in autumn 2010.

Though his homosexuality was previously something of an open secret, Mould was outed in the early 1990s; he is now openly gay. Though it was often rumored during his Hüsker Dü days that he and bandmate Hart were an item (Hart is also gay, and both acknowledge taking partners on tour), both have flatly denied ever having been romantically involved.

In 2006, Mould contributed the song "If I Can't Change Your Mind" to the album Wed-Rock, an album to promote legalisation of same-sex marriage.

On September 29, 2005, Mould's song "Circles" was featured on The OC as Marissa Cooper was starting her first day at her public school in Season 3.

Mould's song "Dog on Fire" is the theme song for The Daily Show. They Might Be Giants perform the current version. The song "See a Little Light" has been used more than once in various television applications: It was used in the closing scene of the original un-aired test pilot episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, it became one of the principal theme songs for the HBO series The Mind of the Married Man and was also used in a television commercial for TIAA-CREF (August 2007). Mould also composed the theme for the TLC program, In a Fix.

Mould and director Cameron Crowe were rumored to be close friends. The character Bob Sugar (played by Jay Mohr) in Crowe's 1996 film Jerry Maguire possibly was named for both Mould and his former band, Sugar.

Mould appeared on an episode of Independent Film Channel's The Henry Rollins Show on June 15, 2007.

In 2000, Mould performed "He Didn't" (written by Stephin Merritt) on The 6ths' album Hyacinths and Thistles.

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Macalester College

Macalester College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 as a Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian college. Its first class entered September 15, 1885. The college is located on a 53 acre (21.4 ha) campus in a historic residential neighborhood and includes seven academic buildings, ten residences, a library, and a technology center. Notable alumni include Kofi Annan, Walter Mondale, DeWitt Wallace, Alexander Wendt, Ari Emanuel, Peter Berg, Tim O'Brien, Bob Mould and Charles Baxter. Macalester enrolls approximately 1,850 undergraduate students. The school is known for its large international enrollment and has one of the highest percentages of foreign students in the United States.

Macalester had its beginnings in the mid-to-late 1800s due to the efforts of the Rev. Dr. Edward Duffield Neill, who had founded two schools in Saint Paul and nearby Minneapolis which were named after M.W. Baldwin, a locomotive builder and friend of Neill's. With the intention of turning his Saint Paul Baldwin School into a college, Neill turned to Charles Macalester, a businessman from Philadelphia, for sponsorship. Macalester donated a building near Saint Anthony Falls, and the college was chartered in 1874. The college moved to its present location in 1885 after building an endowment and seeking the help of the Presbyterian Church. The College first admitted women in 1893, and despite being affiliated with a religious institution, remained open to students of other faiths.

Macalester was largely carried through financial hardship and brought to prominence by Dr. James Wallace, father of DeWitt Wallace. Wallace was acting president of the college from 1894 to 1900, president from 1900 to 1906, and professor until just before his death in 1939. After World War II, the college developed a reputation for internationalism under the presidency of Charles Turck (later the namesake of Turck Hall), who recruited overseas and created a more diverse student body. Macalester's positive reputation grew during the 1960s, when it consistently drew many National Merit Scholars, enough to come in at the country's top ten; during this time the college also benefitted heavily from DeWitt Wallace's success with Reader's Digest. Macalester continued to develop into the '90s, building its endowment and adding new facilities and equipment.

Macalester's reputation has grown within the last 20 years with the addition of newer facilities, such as the DeWitt Wallace Library, among the largest among liberal arts colleges in the United States. The college has also extensively developed its ties to the Twin Cities, with an extensive focus on community service and involvement. Recent years have brought much new development as well as controversy. Many buildings have been extensively renovated and a new athletic facility (The Leonard Center) opened in the fall of 2008. In addition, Macalester has recently created the Institute for Global Citizenship. The Institute and other administrative decisions, however, such as the college's highly charged decision to cease need-blind admissions to the college, have led to some level of student protest and anger on campus.

Macalester's stated mission is to be a preeminent liberal arts college with high standards for scholarship, and with special emphasis on internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society.

In the past 10 years, Macalester students have earned honors including Rhodes Scholarships, British Marshall Scholarships, Fulbright Scholarships, Foreign Government Grants, National Science Foundation Fellowships, Truman Scholarships, Watson Fellowships, Mellon Fellowships and Goldwater Scholarships.

Macalester is the primary donor for and sponsor of MITY, the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth, which was founded in 1967 and has its main facilities in the Lampert Building, which sits across from Macalester's North Quad on Snelling Avenue. MITY provides three different Gifted Education programs during the summer months. Macalester also participates in Project Pericles.

As a member of CLIC (Cooperating Libraries in Consortium), the Macalester library provides students with academic resources outside of the College's library. Through the consortium, students have access to books, articles, and other media available from liberal arts colleges in the Twin Cities. Students also have access to the University of Minnesota libraries, and can obtain copies of papers and articles therefrom on campus. However, there is no guarantee as to when a student might actually gain access to these materials.

International students represent 90 different countries and comprise 14% of the student body. In 2005, 4% of students were dual citizens or permanent residents of foreign countries. U.S. students, 20% of whom are of color, come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The main campus newspaper is The Mac Weekly, a student-run operation. It has a circulation of up to 1,600 and was established in 1914. Almost all the newspaper staff works on a volunteer basis. The paper publishes twelve or thirteen volumes, ranging from 16 to 24 pages, each semester. A satirical section, The Mock Weekly, is added to the last issue of each semester. The paper has published a magazine three times, in April 2006, March 2007 and November 2007.

There are over 100 student clubs and organizations on campus, including college radio station WMCN, the Macalester Peace and Justice Committee, the Experimental College, Student Labor Action Coalition, African Music Ensemble, Macalester Gaming Society, Macalester Mock Trial, Mac Dems, Mac Greens, Bad Comedy, Fresh Concepts, The Trads and other a cappella groups, Cheeba, MacBike, Macalester Conservation and Renewable Energy Society (MacCARES), Macalester International Organization (MIO), MacPlayers, NARAL Pro-Choice Macalester, Queer Union, Macalester Young Artists for Revolutionary Needlework (MacYARN), Mac Gaming Society, and Mac Rugby which is a vicious rival of The Blue Monkey Super-Dope Crew (Ultimate Frisbee).

Macalester College is a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). The college's team nickname is the Scots. The football team, after many years of poor performance in the MIAC, has competed independently since 2002. The college actually dissolved the football program in 1906, pronouncing, according to the Mac Weekly: "Thoroughly aroused to the evils, real or imaginary, of this game, the public is clamoring for the entire abolition or reform on this 'relic of barbarism.'" After reinstated the Macalester football team found itself in a record 50-game NCAA losing streak that lasted six years during the mid-1970s, attracting national media attention. The losing streak ended on September 5, 1980, with a 17-14 win over Mt. Senario College.

Soccer has always been a popular sport. Both men and women's teams remain competitive, appearing in multiple NCAA playoffs since 1995. The women's team won the NCAA championship in 1998.

The Cross Country Ski Team became a club team in 2004, when skiing was eliminated as an MIAC sanctioned sport. It was the first team to be dismantled since hockey was cut (and turned club) in the 1970s. A women's hockey team formed in 2000 and continues to play at the club level.

Macalester Athletics compete in a new athletic facility, the Leonard Center, which opened in August 2008. The $45 million dollar facility is the largest NCAA Division III athletic facility in the country. The Leonard Center also includes a health and wellness center for the college community. Materials from the former facility were disposed of in environmentally friendly ways, and some materials were incorporated into the new structure.

As at many small liberal arts colleges, students at Macalester are required to live on campus for their first two years.

Recently, Macalester has made news by offering limited gender open housing options for juniors and seniors. George Draper Dayton Hall, the Grand-Cambridge Apartments, Kirk Hall, and the six cottages are all gender open. Gender-open housing options still do not provide the opportunity for students of opposite sexes to share a room without a door between. Hence, gender-open housing is only available in suites and cottage type living situations and has not been integrated into the main residence hall buildings. However, this does mean that students of different biological sex still cannot share a room together, without a locking door between them. There is no current concrete administrative plan in place for moving to a gender-open by room living situation. Student-led groups are working to increase these options and make gender-open bathrooms available, particularly for incoming first-year students. As of 2007 no first-year residence halls offer any gender-neutral bathroom options.

Food services on campus are provided by Bon Appétit, a national company. The cafeteria, located in the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center, is named "Café Mac." There are three meal plans for students who live on campus (except those in theme houses or co-ops). The standard option (and the mandatory one for new students) is 19 all-you-can-eat meals per week. For the same price, 10 or 14 meal plans are available that offer additional flexible "dining dollars" for a la cart meals. Cafe Mac offers vegan options at all stations. For those students who live off-campus, there is a 75 meals per semester plan available for Café Mac.

Some of the notable alumni and faculty of Macalester college include architect Cass Gilbert, political figures Kofi Annan and Walter Mondale, businessman and philanthropist DeWitt Wallace, writers Tim O'Brien and Wang Ping, musicians Bob Mould and Will Sheff, sculptor Anthony Caponi, talent agent Ari Emanuel, and actors Peter Berg and Carl Lumbly. Among the past and present faculty have been people such as Hubert Humphrey and Jack Weatherford.

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Brendan Canty

Brendan Canty (born March 9, 1966 in Teaneck, New Jersey) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band Fugazi.

Canty and friend Guy Picciotto (vocals, guitars) were bandmates in several Washington D.C. area bands in the early and mid-1980s, including Rites of Spring, One Last Wish, Insurrection, and Happy Go Licky. He also played drums with the short-lived Deadline, featured on the Flex Your Head compilation.

Canty joined Fugazi in 1987, and Picciotto joined not long afterwards.

Many of Fugazi's songs since Steady Diet of Nothing are based on guitar riffs introduced to rehearsals by Canty. An adept multi-instrumentalist, Canty also writes songs on piano (he plays a skeletal version of "Bed for the Scraping" on the Instrument DVD), as well as bass lines for some songs. He is also noted for using a ship's bell as part of his Fugazi drum set in recent years.

In between Fugazi tours, Canty frequently composes soundtrack music, primarily for Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel documentaries. He also contributes to or helps produce other Washington D.C.-area recordings. During Fugazi's post-2002 hiatus, Canty took part in a side project, Garland Of Hours, with vocalist/cellist/keyboardist Amy Domingues and drummer/percussionist Jerry Busher, both of whom have contributed to Fugazi recordings and performances. Their first self-titled album was released on the Arrest Records label founded by Busher and Canty's younger brother James, formerly of Nation of Ulysses.

In 2004, Canty and director Christoph Green co-founded the DVD label Trixie to release an ongoing series of music-related films entitled Burn to Shine. The series involves independent alternative music bands from a particular region showing up to perform one song live, without overdubs or corrections, in a house that is about to be demolished. The first volume was filmed in Canty's home region of Washington, D.C., and features performances from Bob Mould, Weird War, Q and Not U, Ted Leo, French Toast, The Medications, fellow Fugazi member Ian MacKaye's side project The Evens, and Garland Of Hours. A second volume, filmed in the Chicago area, was released in 2005, and a third filmed in Portland, Oregon came out August 20 of 2006. Three more volumes are currently in production featuring other cities.

Using the same crew and filming style as on the Burn to Shine series, Canty and Green made a concert film of a Bob Mould show, entitled "Circle of Friends." Canty not only produced this film but also plays drums during the show, which took place at Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club. Canty and Green also made Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest, a 2006 Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) tour film, and are at work on other film projects.

In late 2004 and early 2005, Canty contributed drum tracks to Bob Mould's 2005 solo album, Body Of Song. Canty was also the drummer for many dates on the winter 2005/2006 tour in support of the album. Canty returns as the drummer for Bob Mould's District Line, to be released February 2008.

Canty's score for the Sundance Channel documentary series The Hill premiered on August 23, 2006.

He produced Ted Leo and the Pharmacists's Living With the Living and The Tyranny of Distance albums. He also produced Benjy Ferree, The Thermals's The Body, The Blood, The Machine, and French Toast records, as well as mixing the self-titled debut album for The Aquarium.

Brendan Canty is the brother of James Canty, and writer Kevin Canty. Brendan Canty lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and four children.

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Soul Asylum

Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.

The band formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in 1984. The band recorded three albums with Twin/Tone Records and two with A&M Records to little commercial success. However, in 1992, they released the double-platinum album Grave Dancers Union, featuring their Grammy Award-winning single "Runaway Train". The band played the Bill Clinton inauguration early the next year. They also scored a platinum record with the album Let Your Dim Light Shine three years later, but it was the last hit album of the band's career. Mueller was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, causing the band to organize a benefit concert on his behalf. Mueller died a year later. As of 2007, the band continues to perform live shows.

The group was an outgrowth of a previous band, Loud Fast Rules, formed in 1981 by drummer Dave Pirner, guitarist and backing vocalist Dan Murphy, and bassist Karl Mueller. Pirner was quickly moved to lead vocalist and guitarist and Pat Morley took his place. Soul Asylum began performing around the Minneapolis-St. Paul area (including First Avenue). They quickly developed a core following, and became known for their powerful, dynamic stage shows.

Their 1984 debut album, Say What You Will... Everything Can Happen was originally released on LP and cassette by local record label Twin/Tone as a 9 song EP. This is since out-of-print, but was re-released on CD as Say What You Will, Clarence...Karl Sold the Truck, which includes five additional tracks that were cut from the original album. Between the release of Say What You Will and their second album, Grant Young joined the group, taking over the drums from Morley. In 1986, Soul Asylum released three albums, Made To Be Broken followed by the cassette only release of Time's Incinerator and While You Were Out. Despite critical acclaim locally and internationally, they remained unknown to the larger US audience.

The group signed with A&M Records in 1988. Shortly after releasing their first record with A&M, one final album from Twin/Tone was released, and speculation remains that this album may have ruined their chances of success with A&M. The album was Clam Dip & Other Delights (1989), a parody of A&M Records co-founder Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream & Other Delights. According to legend, Alpert was less than delighted. The titles of the A&M albums may show the group's frustration. Hang Time was released in 1988, followed by And the Horse They Rode in On in 1990 (Produced by X-pensive Winos drummer Steve Jordan). Due to poor sales and Dave's hearing problems, the group considered disbanding.

After playing a series of acoustic shows in the early 1990s they were picked up by Columbia Records. In 1992 they released Grave Dancers Union, which became their most popular album. On January 20, 1993, the group performed at the first inauguration of United States President Bill Clinton. The next year, Soul Asylum received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song for "Runaway Train." The music video for "Runaway Train" featured photographs and names of missing children in a public service video style. At the end of the video, Pirner appears and says "If you've seen one of these kids, or you are one of them, please call this number" before a missing children telephone helpline number appeared. For use outside the USA, the video was edited to include photos and names of missing children from the area the video would be used. The video was instrumental in reuniting several children with their families.

Dave Pirner has become good friends with director Kevin Smith, a longtime Soul Asylum fan. Soul Asylum have contributed music to three Kevin Smith films, Clerks, Clerks II, and 1997's Chasing Amy (in which Pirner provided the score). Smith directed the music video for the song "Can't Even Tell," which was featured on the Clerks soundtrack.

In May 2004, bassist Karl Mueller was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent treatment. In October 2004, a benefit concert was held for him in Minneapolis at The Quest nightclub, and featured many popular local groups and musicians, including Soul Asylum, the Gear Daddies, Paul Westerberg, and former Hüsker Dü bandmates Bob Mould and Grant Hart, who reunited for their first performance together in sixteen years. The benefit raised over $50,000. At the time, Mueller's cancer was in remission, and he played with his bandmates during the show. Mueller recorded his last Soul Asylum album that year, 2006's The Silver Lining. However, the cancer later returned, and he died at his home on June 17, 2005. Soul Asylum released The Silver Lining on July 11, 2006, their first album of new material in eight years since Candy from a Stranger. The new album has been referred to as considerably more "old school" than Candy from a Stranger.

In late 2005, ex-Replacements bassist (and current Guns N' Roses bassist) Tommy Stinson and former Prince drummer Michael Bland joined Soul Asylum in tribute to the late Karl Mueller. They completed their American tour in support of The Silver Lining in late 2006. In November and December 2006 they opened for Cheap Trick on their American tour. On March 10th, 2007, Soul Asylum joined Cyndi Lauper, Mint Condition, and Lifehouse to hold a concert to benefit Wain McFarlane, the leader of the legendary reggae band Ipso Facto, to help pay for the expenses of a kidney transplant.

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Fugazi

Fugazi is an American punk band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1987. The band's continual members were guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty. Fugazi are noted for their DIY ethical stance and manner of business practice. Fugazi has been on hiatus since 2002.

After some uncertainty from Canty about what he wanted to do with his future, the trio regrouped and booked their first show at the Wilson Center in early September 1987. The group still needed a name, so MacKaye chose the word "fugazi" from Mark Baker's Nam, a compilation of stories of Vietnam War veterans, where it used as a backronym for 'Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In'. The word fugazi is Italian slang for "fake." The band began inviting Picciotto to practices. Inspired by use of a foil in hip hop, Picciotto sang backup vocals. After his band Happy Go Licky broke up, he became more involved with Fugazi. MacKaye eventually asked Picciotto to become a full member, which he accepted.

Fugazi embarked on its first tour in January 1988. In June 1988 the band recorded its debut EP Fugazi with producer Ted Nicely, and shortly afterwards embarked on an arduous tour of Europe. At the tour's conclusion in December, the band recorded songs for its intended debut album. However, the band was spent from touring and decided that the resulting sessions were unsatisfactory. The tracklist was cut down to an EP and released as Margin Walker the following year. Upon the band's return from Europe, Picciotto, unsatisfied with merely singing, began playing guitar.

The band's first album, Repeater, was released in January 1990. The band spent most of the year touring behind Repeater and routinely sold out 1,000-capacity shows. By summer 1991 the album had sold more than 100,000 copies, a large number for a label that relied on word-of-mouth promotion. While major labels began to court Fugazi, the band decided that Dischord was distributing their records well enough and refused the offers.

For the band's second album Steady Diet of Nothing (1991), the band once again asked Ted Nicely to produce. Nicely had become a chef and had to reluctantly turn down the job, so the bandmembers decided to produce the record themselves. Fugazi recorded its third album In on the Kill Taker (1993) with Steve Albini in Chicago; however, the results were deemed unsatisfactory and the band rerecorded the album with Ted Nicely. With the breakthrough of alternative rock in the early 1990s, In on the Kill Taker became the group's first record to enter the Billboard album charts.

By Red Medicine (1995), Fugazi were on the road less frequently, due in large part to other professional and personal commitments. Their music had evolved far from their hardcore roots, with strong art rock leanings. The Argument (2001), featured the first extensive contributions from outside musicians, most notably longtime roadie and sound engineer Jerry Busher, who added percussion or a second drum set to most of the album's songs.

Fugazi is currently on what the band describes as a "hiatus", partly brought on by Canty wanting to spend more time with his family.

In the meantime, the members are undertaking side projects, with MacKaye forming the duo The Evens with drummer and singer Amy Farina (formerly of the Warmers). In 2004, MacKaye produced the DC EP for Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, which also featured Jerry Busher.

Canty has been doing a variety of soundtrack scores and playing bass in the trio Garland Of Hours alongside frequent Fugazi guest contributors Jerry Busher and Amy Domingues, and has played bass live with Mary Timony. Canty also appears on Bob Mould's 2005 album Body of Song and on Mould's 2008 album District Line, and has toured with Mould, appearing in the live DVD Circle of Friends. He is currently working in the Burn to Shine DVD series which is being released by Trixie DVD.

Lally has appeared on fellow DC post-punkers Decahedron's debut album Disconnection_Imminent, as well as on a one shot project with John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Josh Klinghoffer of The Bicycle Thief known as Ataxia. He also released his first solo album There to Here and is also performing shows under his name, solo and along with producer Don Zientara. His second solo album, Nothing Is Underrated, was released in November 2007.

Guy Picciotto currently works as a record producer most notably with Blonde Redhead and The Blood Brothers, and he has performed alongside members of The Ex at the Jazz festival in Wels, Austria. Picciotto also co-produced and contributed guitar on Vic Chesnutt's most recent album, North Star Deserter, for Constellation Records.

Fugazi's music was an intentional departure from that of the hardcore punk bands the members had played in previously. Fugazi incorporated funk and reggae beats, irregular stop-start song structures, and heavy riffs inspired by bands such as Led Zeppelin and Queen, bands that the punk community largely disdained. Picciotto became the group's second guitarist when he realized MacKaye's typically chunky, low-end riffs and Lally's dub-influenced basslines allowed him to focus on high-pitched parts. In both vocal and guitar roles, Picciotto assumed the role of a foil to MacKaye; employing a Rickenbacker guitar for its scratchy single-coil sound in order to "cut through MacKaye's chunky chording like a laser beam." Picciotto's assumption of guitar duties allowed all four members of the band to jam together and write songs that way, when previously they had played songs largely as how MacKaye arranged them. When writing songs, the band often rearranges them with different structures and different singers.

Generally, MacKaye's lyrics and singing are more direct and anthemic (MacKaye admits that he loves audience sing-alongs and writes songs with shoutable slogans), while Picciotto usually favors a more abstract, oblique approach. Lally has contributed vocals to a few songs as well, in which he sings in a more relaxed, quiet style as opposed to MacKaye and Picciotto, whose lyrics and vocals often feature strong emotional intensity.

On their first tours, Fugazi worked out their DIY aesthetic by trial and error. Their decisions were partly motivated by pragmatic considerations that were essentially a punk rock version of simple living: for example, selling merchandise on tour would require a full-time merchandise salesperson who would require lodging, food, and other costs, so Fugazi decided to simplify their touring by not selling merchandise. They were also motivated by moral or ethical considerations: for example, Fugazi's members regarded pricey admission for rock concerts as tantamount to price gouging a performer's most loyal fans. Their inexpensive target goal of $5 admission was spawned during a conversation on an early tour when the band's members were debating the lowest profitable admission price. At some venues, particularly on the east and west coasts of the U.S., Fugazi was unable to get ticket prices below about $10. However, they never saw the $5 rule as inviolable, instead aiming to charge a price that was both affordable and profitable. Unlike some similar, small-scale independent rock contemporaries, Fugazi's performances and tours were nearly always profitable, due to their low business overhead costs, and MacKaye's keen sense of audience response in given regions.

The group (MacKaye in particular) also made a point of discouraging violent, unwanted slam dancing and fistfights, which they saw as relics of the late 1970s/early 1980s hardcore punk era. Azerrad quotes Mackaye, "See, have one form of communication: violence ... So to disorient them, you don't give them violence. I'd say, 'Excuse me, sir...'- I mean, it freaks them out -'Excuse me, sir, would you please cut that crap out?'" (emphasis in original) Azerrad writes, " admonitions seemed preachy to some. And by and large, people would obey - it wasn't cool to disrespect Ian MacKaye." Occasionally, Fugazi would escort an unrepentant slam-dancer from the concert, and give them an envelope containing a $5 refund (they kept a stock of such envelopes in their tour van for these occasions).

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Body of Song

Body of Song is the sixth solo album from punk/indie/alternative rock veteran Bob Mould (ex-Hüsker Dü/Sugar). It is his first studio album under his own name since 2002's controversial Modulate.

Originally meant to be a semi-acoustic record as part of an informal trilogy that included Modulate and the electronic dance album Long Playing Grooves (recorded under the pseudonym Loudbomb), the project was initially recorded in Athens, GA with former Sugar bassist David Barbe playing bass and engineering, and Mould's 1998 tour band drummer Matt Hammon, at Barbe's Chase Park Transduction studio. After recording the initial version of the album, Mould decided to put the project aside temporarily.

After settling into a new home in Washington, DC and furthering his interest in club music by forming the monthly Blowoff event with friend and dance music artist Richard Morel, Mould began writing new guitar-based material in 2004, often trying out new songs on audiences when giving solo vocal-and-guitar performances in clubs all over the United States. After reviving four of the recordings from the 2002 album sessions, Mould began writing and recording material in his home studio setup in his DC home, then went into DC's venerated Inner Ear Studio in March 2005 with Fugazi drummer/Garland Of Hours multi-instrumentalist Brendan Canty and Inner Ear's owner/engineer Don Zientara (who worked on most of the Dischord Records catalog, including Fugazi and Minor Threat) and cut several new songs. Canty's occasional Fugazi collaborator and Garland Of Hours bandmate Amy Domingues was tapped to contribute cello to two songs on the album.

Body of Song contained much of the electronic influence of its predecessor Modulate, but Mould's trademark guitar work, which had been buried in the former album's mix, was brought back to the forefront. Mould's club music explorations also influenced two of Body of Song's tracks, "(Shine Your) Light Love Hope" and "I Am Vision, I Am Sound", and featured Mould treating his voice with a vocoder-style digital effect (similar to what had been used on Cher's voice on her song "Believe").

Mould released Body of Song through a label other than directly through his own Granary Music imprint for the first time since leaving Rykodisc after the release of The Last Dog and Pony Show, signing a deal with Chapel Hill, NC-based independent label Yep Roc Records to distribute the album.

Body of Song began garnering much positive press attention in the weeks leading up to the release. An advance digital single release on iTunes of the song "Paralyzed" became an immediate hit, and a specially packaged limited edition version sold out most of its pressing through direct advance orders (shipped to customers two weeks prior to the street date) from Yep Roc's web site (the remaining stock was saved for brick-and-mortar retail sale).

In conjunction with the release of the album, Mould formed his first live touring band since 1998, with Canty on drums, Morel on keyboards and vocals, and Jason Narducy (Rockets Over Sweden, ex-Verbow) on bass, ending a "semi-retirement" from full-band performance.

All songs written by Bob Mould and (c)(p)2005 Granary Music (BMI).

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Grant Hart

Grantzberg Vernon Hart (born March 18, 1961) is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-songwriter for the influential alternative rock and hardcore punk band Hüsker Dü. After the band's breakup in 1987, Hart formed the alternative rock trio Nova Mob, where he moved to vocals and guitar. Hart's solo career became his main focus after the dissolution of Nova Mob in 1997.

As the co-songwriter of Hüsker Dü, Hart's songs (such as "The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill" and "Turn On The News") received praise from critics and contemporaries. Hart's vocal style, in contrast to that of Hüsker Dü-bandmate Bob Mould, was a more measured and melodical delivery. His choice of lyrical themes, which included teenage alienation in "Standing By The Sea" and the depicition of a murder in "Diane," helped to expand the subject matter of hardcore punk.

Grant Hart was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the youngest child of a credit union employee and a shop teacher. Hart described his family as a "typical American dysfunctional family Not very abusive, though. Nothing really to complain about." When Hart was 10, his older brother was killed by a drunk driver. Hart inherited his brother's drum set and records; he soon began playing in a number of makeshift bands as a teenager. At the time, Hart had little interest in contemporary rock music. Instead, he preferred to listen to film soundtracks and bought cheap compilations of hit songs from the 1950s and 1960s.

Hart met Bob Mould while working at a record store. Mould, then a college freshman, would buy marijuana from Hart. At first Hart dismissed Mould as "an upstarter pretending to be a Manhattanite," but the two soon became friends.

Hart formed Hüsker Dü in 1979 with Bob Mould and his friend Greg Norton. The band's early material had them lumped in with the hardcore movement of the early 1980s. The bandmembers received help from their parents in their early days. In Hart's case, his mother let him use the copier machine at the credit union where she worked to make show flyers, and the band added $2,000 to an existing loan at the credit union to release the band's first single, "Statues," on their own label Reflex Records in 1981. Success existed on a small scale for the band; by 1982 Hart was unemployed and relied on support from friends and family.

Hüsker Dü's music became more accomplished and melodic over time. By late 1982, Hart's drumming "rushed the music along more precisely than ever" and he and Mould, who traded vocal duties, were singing more tunefully. While Mould was the band's primary songwriter, Hart began writing more songs. Hart wrote two songs for 1983's Metal Circus EP, the "perversely sing-along" "Diane" and the "impassioned speed-pop gem" "It's Not Funny Anymore." Hüsker Dü's more melodic take on hardcore struck a chord with college students, and various tracks from Metal Circus, particularly Hart's "Diane," were put into rotation by dozens of campus radio stations across the US. Hart was tagged by observers as the "hippie" of the group due to his long hair and his propensity to drum with bare feet; biographer Michael Azerrad additionally noted that "the wide-eyed sincerity of his songs was far more San Francisco '67 than New York '77," which contrasted with Mould's "incisively bitter" songs.

In 1986 Hüsker Dü became the first key band from the American indie scene to sign with a major label, inking a deal with Warner Bros. Records. However, tensions within the band worsened after signing with Warner Bros. Hart became addicted to heroin following the band's tour behind their major label debut Candy Apple Grey in 1986, with Hart also being incorrectly diagnosed as HIV-positive in the middle of that year. Mould and Hart were feuding openly about Hart's drug use and creative conflicts, with Hart accusing Mould of ensuring he could not have more than 45 percent of the songs each of the band's albums.

Though it was often rumored during his Hüsker Dü days that he and bandmate Mould were an item (both are openly gay, and both acknowledge taking partners on tour), both have flatly denied ever having been romantically involved.

Six months after Hüsker Dü's breakup, Hart discovered that his diagnosis as being HIV-positive was incorrect. In 1989 he released the solo EP, 2541, on Hüsker Dü's former label SST. Interestingly, the number of the title is taken from the address of his former band's office and rehearsal house, where the members had at one time lived. Marshall Crenshaw would later cover the title song, as would the Go-Betweens' Robert Forster. After the release of the EP, Hart went further into sobriety.

In late 1989, he formed a new band, Nova Mob, with Michael Crego on drums, Tom Merkl on bass, and Hart himself taking guitar duties. The band released their first single, "All of My Senses," in 1990, with the EP Admiral of the Sea following a year later. The lineup later changed with Marc Retish and then Steve Sutherland on drums, and Chris Hesler on lead guitar. The band routinely toured Europe to warm reception. Nova Mob released two full-length recordings, one EP and a handful of singles. They disbanded after the last record and a final tour.

Hart returned to recording as a solo artist with the release of Ecce Homo, in 1996, and Good News for Modern Man, offered in late 1999. In 2005 Hart and Mould reunited at the benefit concert for Karl Mueller, the bassist for fellow Minneapolis stalwarts, Soul Asylum, who was then fighting what would turn out to be a losing battle with cancer. According to his website, Hart is currently recording in Montreal, with a release expected in 2007. He told Britain's Q in September 2006, "I'm working on some stuff with the Godspeed You! Black Emperor people. They've given more of themselves in a few weeks than Bob did in nine years with Hüsker Dü." In 2008, he was one of the guest singers on Lotuk, the third album of Arsenal, a Belgian band combining roots and dance music.

As of summer 2008, the brand new track Schoolsbuses are for children can be lfound on the Grant Hart Myspace site. Schoolbuses are for children was recorded with Godspeed You! Black Emperor in Montreal.

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