BUSH's GAVIN ROSSDALE: 'All The Heavy Music I Loved Always Had Melody'

In a new interview with The Break Down With Nath & Johnny, BUSH frontman Gavin Rossdale spoke about his songwriting evolution toward a heavier sound on the band's last three albums, including BUSH's latest release, 2025's "I Beat Loneliness". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "I made a miserable broken record called 'Black And White Rainbows' [in 2017], which has a lot of songs I do love. And [I was going] through a difficult time. And then I was thinking, 'If I make more music, I just wanna make it heavy,' because I decided from [2020's] 'The Kingdom' to only really do detuned stuff. So I've just been trying to figure out how to make super-heavy music that's as deep as any of the heavy bands, and then find my way to sing on it and make it my own in that sense. And that's always my ambition, is to marry those things. 'Cause I love heavy music, but I like atmosphere and I like melody. And all the bands I love — the heaviest bands, from the DEFTONES to SYSTEM OF A DOWN — the really heavy stuff or the really screamy, shouty stuff, but when they can find the melody in there, that's what I love. All the heavy music I loved always had melody. I'm a sucker for melody. I think that's sort of the secret sauce to make people connect to you and keep you close to people. Melody's like the ear candy [that is] working in your brain. It's just a wild experience because you make things that go in people's brain. It's just so intense. So I gotta come with a melody."

Asked if it has become progressively easier or if it's a constant challenge to come up with material that is worthy of being released under the BUSH banner, Gavin said: "A bit of both. I'm critical of everything. And then I know when to let go and when to feel that I've written a song. I've been working on some new songs now, and just the process for me is quite difficult until I have a breakthrough, until I get the right line, the right word, the right chord.

"I kind see of music as taking a sort of a blanket," he explained. "The mystery of the song is written in there and you have to pull it out. And when you pull out the wrong pieces, you just pull out the wrong pieces. And so it's all about extracting the songs in there. The solution's there. It's mathematical. So even for melodies, the solution's in there. And it's just such a brilliant challenge to just try and not be crap.

"I had a song the other day I was working on, and I was, like, 'Well, it's just sort of a song.' It's not sort of imbued with some kind of magnetism," Gavin added. "So that's all it is. And that's why I feel any genre — it doesn't really matter to me the genre, it's just, like, is that person connecting to me? And I'm loving SLEEP TOKEN. SLEEP TOKEN are blowing my brains now; they're so good. And I also think that BAD OMENS, they're doing great stuff. I love Poppy. I really enjoy her. The music is just thrilling. It's just so crazy."

BUSH embarked on a U.S. tour earlier this month with support from MAMMOTH and JAMES AND THE COLD GUN.

BUSH's tenth studio album, "I Beat Loneliness" came out in July 2025 via earMUSIC. The LP was produced by Rossdale and Erik Ron (PANIC! AT THE DISCO, SET IT OFF, BAD OMEN).

2024 marked the 30th anniversary of the release of BUSH's six-times-platinum debut album, "Sixteen Stone".

BUSH released "Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023" in November 2023 via Round Hill Records. The set included a new song called "Nowhere To Go But Everywhere", which was written by Gavin and produced by Rossdale and Corey Britz.

BUSH's current lineup consists of Rossdale, Chris Traynor (guitar),Corey Britz (bass) and Nik Hughes (drums).

BUSH broke up in 2002 but reformed in 2010, and has since released six albums: "The Sea of Memories" (2011),"Man On The Run" (2014),"Black And White Rainbows" (2017),"The Kingdom" (2020),"The Art Of Survival" (2022) and "I Beat Loneliness" (2025).

"Black And White Rainbows" was crafted after Rossdale went through a divorce with pop star/reality TV judge Gwen Stefani in 2015.

Photo credit: Chapman Baehler (courtesy of Cosa Nostra PR and earMUSIC)