GAVIN ROSSDALE DRIVES BUSH FORWARD WITH HEAVIER, MELODIC NEW MUSIC
Even in summer 2024, as Bush toured to promote the band’s 21-track best-of album, “Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023,” Gavin Rossdale, Bush’s founding member, primary songwriter, singer and guitarist, was already looking ahead to what 2025 would bring — namely a new Bush studio album.
In fact, Rossdale wasn’t initially that enthused about putting out a greatest hits album. He didn’t want to give the impression that Bush was putting a cap on a career that had seen the band sell some 24 million albums and amass 26 hit singles or that the band would just be coasting into the future.
“Our manager suggested that it was time to celebrate the milestone of 30 years, celebrate 26 hit records and just celebrate with everyone,” said Rossdale who brings the band to Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort on Dec. 20 in Mount Pleasant. “And I was not, it seemed weird to me because I’m always obsessed about the next record (and moving forward).”
Finally, a year later, last summer’s future arrived with the July 18 release of Bush’s 10th studio album, “I Beat Loneliness,” and the start of a tour cycle to promote this latest addition to Bush’s formidable catalog.
Formed in London in 1992, the group hit big with its 1994 debut CD, “Sixteen Stone,” which sold about six million copies. Showcasing a grungy but melodic, guitar-forward sound, “Sixteen Stone” spawned the No. 1 alternative rock singles “Comedown” and “Glycerine” and the top-five singles “Everything Zen” and “Little Things.”
The band followed that blockbuster bow in 1996 with “Razorblade Suitcase,” which reached number one on the “Billboard” magazine album chart while going triple platinum. That sophomore effort gave Bush another chart-topping hit in “Swallowed,” as well as two more top five singles in “Machinehead” and “Greedy Fly.”
The success continued with 1999’s “The Science of Things,” another million-selling release that included the hits “The Chemicals Between Us” and “Letting the Cables Sleep.” But the group’s fourth album, “Golden State,” was a commercial disappointment, and the group fell apart after lead guitarist Nigel Puslford and bassist Dave Parsons decided to leave the band.
Rossdale pushed forward. He formed the group Institute in 2004, releasing an album, “Distort Yourself,” in 2005, before going solo and releasing the album “WANDERlust,” in 2008. But neither album connected on anything close to the level Bush had achieved, and Rossdale has admitted that throughout this time, he wanted to reform Bush.
In 2010, he decided to do just that. Drummer Robin Goodridge re-upped, but Pulsford, who had tired of the extensive touring schedule of Bush and wanted to spend more time with his family, declined, as did Parsons. Eventually, Rossdale moved on with the reunion, bringing in guitarist Chris Traynor (who was part of Institute and played on “WANDERlust”) and bassist Corey Britz (who also played on Rossdale’s solo album).
Bush re-emerged in 2011 with the album “The Sea of Memories,” which featured the band’s most recent No. 1 single, “The Sound of Winter.” The band has released four more albums since then, evolving their music in a still-melodic, but heavier, more metal-infused direction, especially on the previous two albums, 2020’s “The Kingdom” and 2022’s “The Art of Survival.” And while the four most recent albums haven’t been blockbuster hits, they have produced another eight top 20 mainstream rock singles, and Bush’s touring business has remained strong.
“There was a time where, I hadn’t really stopped working, but I maybe wasn’t working effectively and we weren’t where we wanted to be. And then we started plotting a steady course on ‘The Kingdom’ record, then ‘The Art of Survival’ and now the greatest hits and the next record (‘I Beat Loneliness’)” Rossdale said. “So it’s just been…stay consistent, stay focused and let’s see where we get to. Now we’re finally, well not finally, but we’re back to headlining arena tours, which is quite, you know, it’s a big accolade when it’s not as easy (for rock bands) to be heard these days.”
For the “I Beat Loneliness,” Rossdale, Traynor, Britz and Nik Hughes (who replaced departing Goodridge in 2019) re-teamed with Erik Ron, who produced “The Art of Survival” and a pair of songs on “The Kingdom.”
“He’s fantastic and he really put things in perspective,” Rossdale said, noting that Ron excels at helping the four musicians find consensus and keep moving forward in the studio. “I think we work well, and everyone has such a huge opinion, it’s like just getting all of us to agree and being in agreement (is tricky). And that comes from just always prioritizing song and letting the song sing, so to speak. It’s a beautiful situation because everyone does different things, you know, all the time. Everyone plays guitar all over it and plays bass all over it. I put down keyboards on it. We don’t care who does what.
“It’s just so funny. If you leave the room, there’s every chance someone’s going to play your part better,” he added. “You come back and it’s like ‘I didn’t play it that well.’”
The new album continues down a similar stylistic path as “The Art of Survival,” according to Rossdale.
“Some of it is metal, but I don’t sing metal,” he said. “I don’t sing the same so it makes for a really interesting hybrid, where I’m singing, you know, you could easily put a metal singer who’s screaming (on a song). It would make perfect sense. But I’m not interested in that. I’ve always loved melody. I’ve always loved heavy. So I’ve just been finding a way to just link them even more.”
Rossdale still finds that process of writing songs and finding something fresh to be exciting, and honing his craft is pretty much a daily adventure for him. He figures he’ll keep writing songs and making albums with Bush as long as he’s progressing creatively.
“I’m always trying to push myself to really find something that makes sense,” he said. “It’s almost as if the more records you make. the less records you should make. Like I’ve always said, there are too many songs in the world and never enough great ones. So if I can challenge myself to write at a standard like I personally perceive as equal or improved upon what went before, then I continue.”
For now, though, it’s time to play concerts and celebrate the songs that have made Bush one of the most popular rock bands of the past three decades. And fans that see Bush live can expect a set list that leans toward the hit songs as well as some selections from “I Beat Loneliness.”
“It’s going to be a mixture of things,” Rossdale said. “So it’s a lot of variation, a lot of vibe and a couple of surprises, all of that stuff.”
2025-12-08T22:58:22Z