By Brad Cohan

Dave King, drummer for The Gang Font feat. Interloper and Bad Plus, is convinced that after a YouTube viewing of Hüsker Dü’s legendary appearance on Joan Rivers’ “Late Show” in 1987, sexual tension existed between the comedian and bassist Greg Norton. “Something was there,” says King. “Joan was into it. He’s the only punk musician in history to have a handlebar mustache!”

Not long after, the Hüskers, the Minnesota trio whose sonic camouflage of sublime, melodious pop meets hardcore tenacity shaped American post punk, imploded in a whirlwind of strife and drugs. “When we were growing up, Hüsker Dü was the shit,” recalls King, a Minneapolis native.

Holding down the low end—behind the emotive tumult of songwriting tandem Grant Hart and Bob Mould—was the finely coiffed Norton. Low-slung four-string to his knees, Norton’s mellifluous groove was the constant heartbeat of their incendiary punk and infectious pop.

It’s been two decades since their demise so years ago Norton, off the music radar, traded his bass for a chef’s hat. He’s since graduated to restaurant entrepreneur. “You’re in your early thirties, a mortgage, car payments, it’s hard to dive back into it,” Norton says of band life. “At that point, I needed to pick up a career path. I learned to cook and went into the kitchen. My years traveling around with Hüsker—going to Europe—primed my palate.”

Meeting King at a Bad Plus gig in 2003 sparked Norton’s reentry and TGF’s formation. “I saw Dave listed Hüsker as an influence and that was cool,” he says. “They have this tremendous piano power trio, and I wanted to introduce myself.” However, Norton had nothing to plug into to jam. “We said we should try playing,” King says. “But he didn’t have an amp. He had to buy an amp!”

Contrasting Hüsker’s aesthetic, TGF’s (rounded out by guitarist Erik Fratzke and keyboardist Craig Taborn) instrumental debut eschews simplistic rhythms for an intricate, experimental fusion of self-proclaimed “PunkProgFreeFunkMathMetal”—usually within the same song. King cites an eclectic spectrum drawing from Henry Threadgill, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Yes and Captain Beefheart. “We play like improvisers play,” he explains.

According to King, Norton is the man. “What Greg plays makes the record,” he gushes. “The idea was because he’s never played avant-garde music or weird time signatures was to approach him like an Ornette Coleman-type where he’d do his own thing. Greg’s parts have an odd, rhythmic and harmonic value that’s beautiful.” Norton’s roots would ultimately emerge—even as he nears 50. “Greg’s an old-school punk dude,” says King. “It wasn’t long before he was jumping around and kicking stuff.”

The question is whether Hüsker will join the spate of reunions that have included Dinosaur Jr and the Pixies. Norton seems game, but the perpetual feuding between Mould and Hart poses a problem. “The only time we’ve talked about Hüsker,” King says, “is when I have a feeling they will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Then they’d have to play together!”

April 21, The Silent Barn, 915 Wyckoff Ave. (at Hancock St.), Qns/B’klyn, no phone; 8, $8. (April 22 at The Knitting Factory).