Bob Mould on revisiting 'Copper Blue' and releasing 'Silver Age'

Bob Mould's first band, Husker Du, was ahead of its time.

Its combination of loud, distorted punk rock and pop melodies laid the groundwork for bands such as Nirvana and Dinosaur Jr., although Husker Du never approached their level of success.

Mould's second band, Sugar, came along at exactly the right time. Appearing shortly after Nirvana made alternative rock mainstream, Sugar's debut album, "Copper Blue," became the most successful of Mould's career.

This year, Mould is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the recently reissued "Copper Blue" by performing the album in its entirety, along with tracks from his new one, "Silver Age," which he says was inspired by Sugar's sound.

amNewYork spoke with Mould.

What made you want to revisit "Copper Blue"? It's a really important record in my body of work. It's one people really enjoy and one that always stayed sort of current sounding.

Do you relate to the Sugar songs differently now? Yeah. It's more like just a big party right now. In 1992, when Sugar fired up and we started touring and the record came out, I had something to prove. I thought my previous album, "Black Sheets of Rain," was better than the amount of promotion and attention it got. In 2012, I'm a lot more relaxed.

How did Sugar and "Copper Blue" inspire your new album "Silver Age"? That was one of the things that inspired it. When I realized the 20th anniversary was coming up, I thought maybe I should focus a little on writing in that style again - concise, simpler, punky pop stuff. It's so natural for me, but there have been times in my life when I've steered clear of it. ... Another key factor was playing on the new Foo Fighters record and touring with them. When I'm playing rock with Dave [Grohl] and those guys, it's like, "This is what I do. I'm really good at this."

If you go: Bob Mould is at Williamsburg Park Friday at 5:30 p.m., Kent Ave. and N. 12th Street, Williamsburg, FREE.