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Greg Norton is the quiet Du, the practical one, the bassist. His playing isn't real speedy, more of the rock solid foundation style of fretting, yet being flexible enough to accommodate his pals' flights of fancy. He's a non-drinker, and does most of the group's driving. He claims the other two scare him in matters automotive. Bob Mould is the huskiest Du, the visionary, the singer and guitarist. He too is basically laid back, but is known to freak for Atlantic City gambling trips and soft-porn film festivals. He likes to talk, will do so anytime, anywhere. You do not ask this man for his autograph lightly. Grant Hart is the zaniest Du, the practical joker, the drummer. He loves Keith Moon, has been known to walk around apres-gig parties wearing a trenchcoat and nothing else. He's a ferocious and impressively improvisational drummer.
LOVE: "I'll say it's at least 80 per cent of what we write about. It just doesn't take the form of 'baby, I love you.' But I'd say it's the basis of most of the material. Bed Of Nails, for instance, is a love song. Sure, it's full of pain, but love isn't always chocolates and nights at the theatre." SEX: "I can't see us writing a literal sex song. I mean, what would that sound like? Would it be a |
love song or a swan song? Although in this day and age, and with all the sexual fear in the air, it'd be some kind of challenge to write a fresh sex song." DEATH: "Some of the songs deal with the inevitability of death, that none of us are immortal. That's such a universal given that to dwell on it.... But there you have it, death creeps into your mind and the next thing you know, there's a death song on your tape. As a youngster I had trouble dealing with it. Over time, I've learned how to deal with it, recently in very immediate ways." ANGER: "I used to carry around lots of unfocused anger. If you internalize your anger, it's gonna come out one way or another. My early anger was so vicious and outward directed, when it broke out. Now the anger is stuff that I feel about myself. I'm not peeved at the world anymore." CONFUSION: "Confusion is something you have to have in your life. Without confusion, you have no questions; therefore you have no need to seek answers. As a person you change so often in ways you don't realize. If you're at all engaged in your world, every day you pick your way through a tangle of dreams, that's healthy confusion." DREAMS: "Ever get nightmares where you come awake, then go back to sleep, and you're back in the middle of your dreams? I have nigtmqares where I'm mass murdering. I never use |
guns or weapons. Sometimes I'm in a car just running people over or else I'm
pushing them off cliffs or tall buildings. Inevitably, I'll wake up freaked
out, then go back to sleep and get caught in it again."
"Reaction. We're a reactionary band," deadpans Grant. "We couldn't hear anything on the radio we liked, so we had to make our own music. We may as well insult our own intelligence as have it insulted for us. 'Course, once you get started in this music thing, you can't stop." "We present an honest viewpoint, not necessarily a comforting one. The morals of our songs are whatever the listener wants to get out of them. The songs are deliberately non-committal because there are lots of right questions but few right answers," adds Bob. "We never intended to be a hardcore band, that was just the music that interested us when we were starting out. It's our roots, but we didn't have any hesitations about following our ideas whichever way they led," emphasizes Greg. "I don't think I'm being brash by saying that Zen Arcade (LP) set a lot of people free. We never made a direct attempt to be hardcore because we were among those busy inventing it. Then we turned to opening doorways leading away from a musical style that was dictated by firm rules. Once
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