BUSH's GAVIN ROSSDALE: 'The Most Important Thing For Me Is To Really Have That Authenticity'

In a new interview with Paul Cashmere of Noise11, BUSH frontman Gavin Rossdale spoke about the personal nature of the lyrics on the band's latest album, "I Beat Loneliness", and having to perform some of those songs live night after night. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The most important thing for me is to really have that authenticity and to be very connected with what you say and what you think and what you feel. And part of being in a band or being in a band that matters to people is accepting that you have clown-like qualities and you are there to entertain and to elevate people. And so I feel that those words are the best way to connect to people, whether they accept me or not. I've never written about flashy cars or a house or a meal or those kinds of things. For me it's the human journey, the human experience, how we deal with the inevitable challenges that we all come across, how we play hurt, how we play injured, how we recover, how we recover when we're right, how we recover when we're wrong, those human frailties.

"People are obsessed with mental health, much more so than they ever used to be," he continued. "And that's a good thing because I just see so much pressure on everyone, and so I kind of assumed this role, in a job where I write music, that gives an empathetic ear, gives inspiration, gives strength, hope to people, to some people. That's it. This is sort of quite zen. That's what gives my life meaning, to do music with meaning and provide comfort. 'Cause I meet people all the time who've been affected by the songs and by the records. I'm English — you're not allowed to take yourself too seriously — but I do take that effect seriously. So for me, it just gives me confidence to just dive into what I think is the most confessional stuff, 'cause it's just much more interesting to say 'I need help' in a song than it is to say 'I got a great car.'"

Rossdale added: "Now, of course, different strokes for different folks… For instance, I tried the song form, the Dylan-esque thing where you tell stories. I tried that when I first began writing, and I was just horrible at that. I just was terrible. And that never would've transferred to anyone caring. So it was only when I kind of went inside myself and thought about things introspectively that I sort of found some kryptonite. I found kryptonite, and then just worked off it ever since."

BUSH will embark on a U.S. tour this spring. Support on the trek, which will launch on April 7 in Pittsburgh, will come 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).

In an August 2025 interview with the JJO Discover New Music Podcast, Gavin stated about the "I Beat Loneliness" album title: "Yeah, it's just a really powerful phrase that was probably one of the first things I thought of when I began writing for the record, and it just seemed to sum up what was important.

"Everyone has been talking so much about mental health, which is a much more healthy, open dialogue," he continued. "I've been trying to talk about it for years and in some ways that's been synonymous with the band. And what is meant to people is the kind of lyrics they can connect to, whatever the songs are. So I always find this thread between people that I meet with, with what we do with the band. And so it really gave me confidence to go write a record where I could try and just be as incisive and honest as I could be when I would write. And everything was as base as possible, like 'I beat loneliness' or 'we're all the same on the inside' or 'everyone is broken', 'I'm here to save your life', '60 ways to forget people' — all these things were different daily mantras and things that I was going through and different confessions. It's very confessional. And let's see how that pans out. But people are connecting to it."

Rossdale previously spoke about the lyrical inspiration for "I Beat Loneliness" in a separate interview with Baltimore's 98 Rock radio station.  He said at the time: "Well, I think it's like a snapshot of my life. I'm at a point in my life where I can look far enough back and remember when I first made records. I had no horizon, you know what I mean? And I didn't know what was happening, and the road was just infinite and open. And then, obviously, as you mature, you get older and you see what the lay of the land is and your time around, you gotta go, 'Okay, I can see the horizon.' So it kind of presents a different thing about making sure there's a reason to write. I call it making sure you improve the silence. And so I just went inside and found some things, just sort of experimented with myself musically and lyrically and just went inside and tried to be as clear as possible. Anytime I thought about an idea, I questioned myself if I was being clear enough about it. And I try to get right down to the kind of the really basic cell structure of people."

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)