We can’t go watch Shannon Hoon, Scott Weiland, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley or Kurt Cobain sing anymore. But Gavin Rossdale is on tour right now. Rossdale, of the British band Bush, is one of a handful of bigtime frontmen from the 1990s, the last decade to produce a ton of them, still alive and still singing for the same band that made them famous.
Bush’s songs – particularly from quadruple platinum ‘94 debut album “Sixteen Stone” -- have stood the test of time. In addition to the cool riffs, shout-along choruses and the charm in Rossdale’s howl, his translucent approach to writing lyrics is a big reason. Listeners can change the colors, shapes and meanings to songs like “Everything’s Zen,” “Swallowed,” “Little Things,” “Machinehead” and “Glycerine” as they move through life. It keeps Bush’s classic songs vibrant and new.
For example, “Comedown,” Bush’s 1994 alt-rock chart-topper, which musically oscillates between snake-charmer swerve and cathartic crunch. It’s one of the best singles of the ‘90s.
Asked if his “Comedown” lyrics are about not wanting to come-down from a love, from a drug high or something else, Rossdale says, “What’s incredible about music is the way it belongs to everyone. The ‘Comedown’ that I sing tonight, or I’ll sing next week, there’s no relation to the ‘Comedown’ when I wrote it, you know? If it was shackled to one idea then it wouldn’t be shareable. The only meaning that’s relevant is the person who’s listening to it. It’s nothing to do with me anymore. It’s yours.”
Rossdale checks in for our phone interview from a cabin in West Virginia. He speaks in a likeable-supervillain-worthy accent.
Cagey as he may be now about the “Comedown” lyrics – former flame Suze DiMarchi, of Australian rock band Baby Animals, was reportedly the inspiration -- Rossdale offers a glimpse at the song’s creation.
“When I was waiting to form Bush, I was looking for a guitar player,” recalls Rossdale, who previously sang in a U.K. pop band called Midnight. “And I thought it was a little pathetic that I had to wait to meet some guitar player so I could write a song. So, weirdly enough [’Comedown’] it’s the first time I wrote on guitar, first song I wrote entirely on my own.” Thirty years later, Bush closes their concerts with that very song.
Although Bush’s lineup, like many long-running acts, is different than the one it began with, Rossdale is still writing and releasing strong material.
Since rebooting the band around 2010, the London native has put out five new Bush albums. The latest is 2022′s “The Art of Survival.” Standout tracks include the jack-hammering “Identity,” vibey “Heavy Is The Ocean” and pro-choice anthem “More Than Machines.”
Of the latter song, Rossdale says, “The Supreme Court had come down on Roe versus Wade, these old men deciding what young girls should do with their bodies. It was like medieval. I couldn’t believe it. It’s all about the safety of the of the mother safety of the child, understanding every situation as it is. I’m not necessarily political but I’m always about human politics.”
When a female fan who’d had a health-complicated pregnancy and her husband recently told Rossdale about how much the song “More Than Machines” meant to them, it meant the world to Rossdale, he says.
The subject of mental health is reflected in “The Art of Survival” too, including the album title. “Real people are struggling insanely the whole time,” Rossdale says, “even as these billionaires get richer and richer.”
Cobain, Staley and Hoon had all died by the time Bush rose to prominence. But Rossdale did get to meet the great Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell while Cornell was still alive.
“Chris, I knew in a sort of respectful professional capacity,” Rossdale says. “I would see him plenty and always enjoyed him. It wasn’t the deepest of connections, but he was a beautiful man, beautiful spirit.”
Rossdale also knew the now departed Linkin Park and Stone Temple Pilots frontman Chester Bennington. “The last time I saw Chester was [Bennington] was singing ‘Hallelujah’ [the Leonard Cohen song popularized by Jeff Buckley’s version] at Chris’ funeral.”
About two months after Cornell’s 2017 suicide, Bennington took his own life. “It’s crazy and so tragic,” Rossdale says.
In addition to Rossdale on vocals and rhythm guitar, Bush’s current lineup features guitarist Chris Traynor, bassist Corey Britz and drummer Nick Hughes. Bush is currently on the road with Breaking Benjamin, a Pennsylvania post-grunge combo whose hits like “The Diary of Jayne” bare the influence of Bush’s dramatic rock. In the past, Rossdale has joined Breaking Benjamin for a hot cover of “Would?” the whisper-to-scream Alice in Chains gem. A list of tour dates can be found at bushofficial.com.
We’re used to seeing Rossdale onstage and in music videos with a guitar in his hand. But he writes on other instruments too. Many Bush songs start on bass because Rossdale uses the bass notes to create the vocal melody.
He played most of the atmospheric keyboards on “The Art of Survival” album. That LP’s excellent closer “1000 Years” is one of several cuts benefitting from deft texture. Rossdale recently cut a new version of “1000 Years” with powerhouse Evanescence singer Amy Lee. “It’s truly incredible what she does on that track,” Rossdale says. “So I’m excited for people to hear that. It’s so beautiful.”
“The Art of Survival” wouldn’t be a Bush record without killer, canyon-sized guitar riffs. From go, Rossdale’s always been clever with heavy. He says, “It’s weird because the metal I love … I love Gojira, Sepultura, System of a Down, Deftones, Ghost, Mastodon. But I can’t help but liking the more melodic side to it. Like [the Mastodon album] ‘Show Yourself’ I prefer to something when it has no melody or vocal melodies. So [with Bush] I’ve got this hybrid of going heavy on the bottom and then light on top. It’s really trying to find that sweet spot where the melody soars and the riff’s driving. [The recent Bush song] ‘All Things Must Change’ has that.”
Bush’s vintage lineup was comprised of Rossdale, drummer Robin Goodridge, bassist Dave Parson and guitarist Nigel Pulsford. Slide guitar wasn’t showing up in a ton of mid ’90s alt-rock hits. But Pulsford’s clever use of the technique – as heard on songs like “Everything’s Zen” and “Body” -- helped Bush finds its own slice of loud-quiet-loud, that proto-grunge-dynamic Pixies minted in the late ‘80s and many bands, mostly notably Nirvana, later rode to the cash register.
“Most rock bands use the blues,” Rossdale says. “I’ve always prided ourselves on really avoiding the blues, and not being that style of rock and roll. The irony is the slide which is a super bluesy nod. Nigel just made it work in a very progressive way that didn’t sound too bluesy. But that was Nigel and his input from the beginning of the band.”
As Bush pushed on, their sound got more experimental, first with “Deconstructed,” which found electronic-music producers like Goldie remixing Bush bangers into druggy-dance-club-droids. “The Chemicals Between Us,” a single off “The Science of Things,” the band’s third LP and last to sell a million copies or more, found a middle ground between guitars and technology. Bush played a triumphant set at the infamous Woodstock ‘99 festival. They out one more album with their classic lineup and then splintered around 2002.
While Bush was in suspend animation, Rossdale’s solo track “Adrenaline” was used in a “Terminator” film and as a WWE pro wrestling theme. He did an album called “Distort Yourself” with a project called Institute that rocked hard but would’ve been better received released under Rossdale’s name.
The early 2000s was a time many supergroups were forming, like Velvet Revolver and Audioslave. At one point, guitar legend Carlos Santana asked Rossdale about starting a new band but that project never came to fruition.
“But he then went off and got married and forget about out supergroup which is sad,” Rossdale says. “But I’m always ready, Carlos.”
Around 2002, the smoldering Rossdale married too -- to another famous and pretty singer, Gwen Stefani of the ska-pop band No Doubt. They had three kids together and later divorced.
Foxy rocker dudes like Rossdale have gotten more than a few breaks in the music business. But getting their just due as songwriters isn’t usually one of them. If young Mick Jagger had looked like Bob Dylan instead of sexy AF, Jagger would now be just as revered as a lyricist as Dylan, because the songwriting’s just as good. Instead, Jagger is just heralded as probably the greatest frontman ever.
I ask Rossdale if he thinks he’s underrated as a songwriter because of his looks. There’s that legendary David Lee Roth quote: “The reason the critics all like Elvis Costello better than me is because they all look like Elvis Costello.”
Rossdale has a good chuckle at Roth’s quote and then answers, “Um, I don’t know. I thank you, because you’ve recognized and respond to the lyrics. I meet people every day of my life who respond and call those lyrics the soundtracks to their lives, you know? So I have to be careful to not be disingenuous and I can’t ignore the reality of those people -- versus the rock critic who looks like Elvis Costello and is probably not criticizing that much anymore because they don’t have a job.”
He continues, “I think everybody feels underrated. Because that’s just a natural human condition to think that you haven’t quite put yourself forward as you know you can. Or that you haven’t done your best. And so for me, it [lack of critical praise] just was a byproduct of being really successful. It’s been quite difficult in some ways or challenging, but in other ways it kind of kept me humble. Not being accepted in that critical community has always kept me hungry and mean -- with a f---ing big right hook, you know what I mean? So therefore not being loved by Rolling Stone is alright. I’ve made it through.”
Bush and Breaking Benjamin’s tour comes to Huntsville, Alabama’s Von Braun Center tonight, May 5. Pennsylvania rock band Another Day Dawns, known for their song “Taste of Heaven” is the opener and the show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $25 plus applicable fees via ticketmaster.com and the VBC Box Office, address 700 Monroe St.
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