The return of Bush and Gavin Rossdale

When word spread that Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale was doing a photo shoot on the rooftop of the new Hotel Wilshire on the Miracle Mile, with its swanky penthouse vibe, excitement ensued. From an innocent tweet, females immediately volunteered their assistance aplenty, while some males tweeted their rock approval and others their bitter jealousy.

During the band’s recent standout performance at the Sunset Strip Music Festival, female fans shrieked their allegiance, whereas guys either attempted to look aloof or slammed into one another in full endorsement.

Rossdale, who will turn 46 in October, possesses silver-screen leading-man good looks, but acts as if he’s completely unaware of his heartthrob status. Married since 2002 to glamorous No Doubt lead singer, Gwen Stefani, the couple are the parents of two boys, Kingston, a five-year-old charmer who has been the focus of several TMZ posts and TV segments, and three-year-old Zuma. Yet Rossdale seems more concerned with delivering a knockout performance, even jumping into the middle of a rabid crowd to strengthen a connection with his audience that began with 1994’s debut, Sixteen Stone, than worry about being a matinee idol. In person, he’s quite down-to-earth and soft spoken.

As vocalist for Bush, Rossdale and company have sold more than 16 million records in the U.S. and Canada alone, and have compiled an impressive string of 14 consecutive Top 40 hit singles on the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts, including 10 that hit the Top 5. Four of those became No. 1 hits: “Comedown,” “Glycerine,” “Swallowed” and “The Chemicals Between Us.

”With Bush’s latest release, The Sea of Memories, the band’s first new album in 10 years, Bush worked with producer Bob Rock (Aerosmith, Metallica). Self-releasing the record on the band’s own Zuma Rock Records imprint, Rossdale, who has recorded solo in the past, was adamant about the return of Bush.“

Solo records can either be because you can’t express yourself in the band and you want to show the real ‘me,’ which is a terrifying cliché, or because, by default, people want to take time off. It was a bit like that for me. I thought my [solo] record was going to be a Bush record, and then Nigel [Pulsford, Bush’s original guitarist] decided he didn’t want to tour and I was left with a bunch of songs and a record company that was waiting to put out some product, so I put out a solo record, which I enjoyed.

”“I had aspirations of Peter Gabriel and Robbie Robertson. They came from, obviously, successful bands and carved out their own world,” Rossdale continues. “I tried that and I feel like I got some good results sonically, but commercially, trying to change the thrust of the expectations of me, some people just wanted Bush. If I did a movie, all the grips would ask when I was going back to the studio. If I was at the gas station, people would ask, ‘Where’s the next Bush record, buddy?’  It felt like the whole solo world that I was in that whole time was like being in a fist fight with one arm tied behind my back. It was really difficult to maneuver, despite the success we had. So I began to write songs and the better the songs got, the clearer it became that it should just be Bush.”

While songs on The Seas of Memories hold true to the driving Bush sound, Ross- dale admits he had no intention to live in the past. 

“When making music, you have a choice to repeat what you’ve done or move on,” Rossdale explains. “It would’ve been safe to just rework Sixteen Stone over and over, but what kind of life would that be? When you’re driving down the road, you’re focused on what’s in front of you; you don’t really think to keep checking in your rearview mirror. I like the idea of art changing, developing, and morphing.”

While the new release is drenched in Bush’s trademark intensity and fueled by Rossdale’s emotive, bittersweet vocals, it is also infused with an urgency that pushes the album into new, compelling directions. The record’s first single, “The Sound of Winter,” became an instant radio hit.

“People are connecting to it,” Rossdale states. “There’s something about impending doom and people have that. Buddhists talk about life is suffering and so we have these perfect moments and just when something is going great, something happens, a word or glance, and things change.”

An extremely successful band, Bush was never the critics’ darlings. In the ’90s they were often cast as Nirvana wannabes. Yet Rossdale isn’t bitter; in fact he’s a fan of many of the “grunge” groups his band was often compared to.

“When I first saw Nirvana, they made me understand that I did have a place in rock music,” Rossdale recalls. “I didn’t feel any affinity with the big-hair rock bands of the time; there was no culture that I could relate to. When I saw Nirvana it had all the elements of all the punk stuff that I grew up on. And the passion and the energy was the only way I thought you should play music. It was inspirational, like when I first heard The Pixies.”

Influenced by charismatic performers such as Jane’s Addiction front man Perry Farrell, Rossdale is in his element onstage. His introspective nature succumbs to a bold bravado that commands your attention. Yet he admits that after his first performance, he had his doubts.

“The first show I ever played was in South London, and I did this show at this pub and I thought, this is a terrible idea,” Rossdale recalls. “It was horrible and I hated it. Then, when I was in Bush, being on stage felt like the place you could most be yourself. Now, especially for me, it feels the most complete I’ve felt, ever. Being in Bush, it feels complete.”

With a rich history, Rossdale is looking for- ward to the future with Bush. The title, The Sea of Memories, has nothing to do with nostalgia. On the track “Stand Up,” Ross- dale sings: “This is the time of our lives… We’re invincible. We’re unstoppable.”

“We are all the sum of everything that has happened to us,” Rossdale says. “I like the idea that everyone exists on a little dingy on a sea of memories, and every reaction that they have to whatever you may say to them or what they come across, is conditioned by where they’ve been or where they come from and who they grew up with. I just love that idea.”

With a recent appearance on USA Net- work’s über-cool spy show “Burn Notice” as Armand, a former lover of the fiery Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), fans can expect more of Rossdale next season, which should create quite the sexy triangle with the show’s lead character, Michael Westin (Jeffrey Donovan). Over the years, Rossdale has acted in TV series and films, including “Criminal Minds,” How to Rob a Bank, The Game of Their Lives, Constantine, and Zoolander.

Although the chiseled singer/actor admits, “I love to act and I find it very inspiring,” his focus right now is entirely on Bush.

“We’re just having fun doing the whole Bush thing again. It’s like a juggernaut. I have to get out of the way of it. It’s dangerous, there’s so much going on, it’s brilliant.”  ▼ 

Bush will headline The Grove in Anaheim on September 28th with support from Chevelle and Filter. For more info, visit www.bush official.com.