Sugar, the band Bob Mould formed with bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcom Travis in 1991 after the dissolution of the massively influential Hüsker Dü, is reuniting next year for their first shows since January 1995. A propulsive, 138-second new single, “House of Dead Memories,” is out now in tandem with a music video featuring vintage VHS clips of Sugar on tour in the early 1990s.
The trio will return to the stage May 2-3 at New York’s Webster Hall and May 23-24 at London’s Kentish Town Forum. In conjunction, The Singles Collection, a new four-LP boxed set commemorating Sugar’s beloved 1992 debut, Copper Blue, is due Nov. 28 through BMG. It includes the first vinyl release of the previously CD-only “Helpless.”
Despite its short lifespan during the height of grunge, Sugar provided Mould, now 64, a crucial bridge back into playing in a rock band after he’d spent the initial post-Hüsker Dü years recording and performing solo. The group is best-known for the Copper Blue single “If I Can’t Change Your Mind,” and went on to release the ferocious 1993 EP Beaster and the 1994 full-length File Under: Easy Listening before disbanding amicably.
“Sugar was a phenomena. No one could have predicted the results,” says Mould. “We held onto the wheel and did our best to enjoy the wild ride. Sugar was part of a pivotal era in popular music, and a special time in my life.”
After Sugar, Barbe, now 62, became an in-demand producer and engineer for artists such as Drive-By Truckers, the Glands and Deerhunter, and also began teaching at the University of Georgia, where he’s now the director of the school’s Music Business Certificate Program. Travis, now 72, has since drummed in a number of projects, including Kustomized, and worked in the administration department at Brown University.
Mould previously attempted to reform the group in 2011, with an eye on performing Copper Blue in its entirety to commemorate its 20th anniversary the following summer. The musicians actually rehearsed for several days in Barbe’s Athens, Ga., home base, but were ultimately unable to merge their schedules in a way that allowed for a tour at that time. Instead, Mould performed Copper Blue in full on a summer 2012 trek with his longtime solo band of drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy.
“When Bob asked me to play in his band, I was making five or six bucks an hour driving a delivery truck and I’d just had a second baby. I’d been hoping that this whole production thing was going to take off for me,” Barbe tells SPIN of Sugar’s earliest days. “But fast forward 20 years and I had worked on hundreds of records and was extremely busy. My youngest kid was graduating from high school that summer and we were getting him ready to go off to college. I just couldn’t make the logistics work for a Sugar reunion.”
“I was bummed out we didn’t find some way to do it because it would have really been fun, but I also know that Bob had his vision of what he wanted to do and I respect that,” he continues. “I’ve now been at UGA for a pretty long time and have a considerable degree of flexibility. I’d mentioned this to him since, just like, hey, if you ever want to do it again, don’t not ask, because things have changed for me.”
The new Sugar single, “House of Dead Memories,” was recorded in June at John Vanderslice’s Tiny Telephone studio in Oakland, Ca. “The return of Sugar is a moment that I’ve been dreaming about for a very long time,” says Travis. “What we managed to accomplish in the short span of time we were in existence still boggles my mind. There was so much packed into that period — the travel, the shows, the recordings and getting to meet so many people who loved and supported us. To get back to working together again with Bob and David is such a gift and I’m looking forward to what the future has in store for us.”
Adds Barbe, “it will all get real when I feel Bob’s amp shaking my pants legs again.”
Mould just wrapped a solo electric North American tour, during which Barbe opened on several dates. A European run in the same format kicks off Nov. 8 in Barcelona and concludes Dec. 2 in Helsinki.
