BUSH Frontman: Record Labels 'Have Made Far Too Much Money Off Musicians'

Cori Rosen of Atlantic City Weekly recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Gavin Rossdale of the reformed British alternative rock band BUSH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Atlantic City Weekly: You have had a nine-year hiatus; what has changed the most within the band?

Rossdale: I was personally not on hiatus. I should have been, but I never was. I was just coming in and out of whatever. I never stopped being in the studio, making records, or touring. But for BUSH, what's changed? An enormous amount. The whole business is different. I think this is an exciting time. I don't have a problem with how the business has changed. Clearly, I want it to be the idea that people start to remember that musicians do need to eat. I think overall it is a dispensing of the major [record] labels. And for too long they've had a very punitive system, with all labels. They've made far too much money off musicians.

Atlantic City Weekly: I really enjoyed your music throughout your solo career. Was performing on your own as fulfilling as performing with BUSH? What did you miss about being in a band?

Rossdale: Well, the thing is, no matter how good the shows were, no matter how good the reaction was to my career, the question was always: "When are you getting back with the band?" I for one was always trying to get the band back together. And, I thought by doing the INSTITUTE record, we would all have time to just be away from the scene and come back as renewed figures. And it took longer than I expected [to be back with the band]. I was really ready to make a record and maybe go on tour. I was always ready to [get back with BUSH and] make records.

Atlantic City Weekly: Since Nigel [Pulsford, guitar] did not end up coming back, what motivated you to work on a new BUSH record and get back out live with the band?

Rossdale: Well, it came about weirdly, as I was writing the songs considering I did not want to come out with them solo, because I thought the songs deserved a wider audience; that's the irony of it. It's the songs that turned me back around. It's much the same way that Robert Smith from THE CURE sometimes has his lineup change, but as long as he is always part of THE CURE ... With this change, I have Robin [Goodridge] who really helped me with the sound between his drumming and my experience with singing it really sounds like BUSH. It's really cool. Chris [Traynor, guitar] played with us in BUSH for the last six months and has been with me ever since. So, I don't really like change that much. Therefore, it is about the same people who are around me, the whole crew and everyone I have worked with forever. There have been some changes, but weirdly enough, my work more or less stayed the same.

Atlantic City Weekly: Even though the people you are working with and most of BUSH has stayed the same, what do you think is different about this new album than your past work?

Rossdale: I think I've pushed it a little bit and I got better in the studio. I got more articulate with it and I found a way to express myself clearer. And also, my drive and desires are as strong as ever. If you commit yourself to one craft in your life as your job, then you should keep getting better, so that is what is exciting. It is a marriage between what is new and interesting and yet not forsaking the BUSH sound that people are familiar with. It is very important to me that this record stands on its own merit, that people can just pick this whole thing up and fall in love the band just based on this album.

Read the entire interview from Atlantic City Weekly.

"The Sound Of Winter" performance: