GAVIN ROSSDALE Says INSTITUTE Debut Will Be 'Heavier' And 'Stronger' Than BUSH

INSTITUTE, the new band fronted by former BUSH frontman Gavin Rossdale, will release their self-titled debut album in the early fall. The first single, "Bulletproof Skin", is expected at radio later this summer.

Rossdale's first post-BUSH project was produced by HELMET mastermind Page Hamilton and features former HELMET/ORANGE 9MM guitarist Chris Traynor; bassist Cache "Utah Slim" Tolman, formerly of CIV, RIVAL SCHOOLS and ICEBURN; and drummer Charlie Walker (CHAMBERLAIN, SPLIT LIP).

Speaking to MTV.com, Rossdale said of the upcoming CD, "I didn't want to do a softer record than BUSH, because I thought that would be maybe more expected. I thought what would be cooler would be to do something a little bit heavier, a little stronger. I wanted to make a more forceful record.

"What I wanted to do with this record was make it very spacious and very muscular," Rossdale added. "Sometimes there's as much music in the space as there is in the sound. So a stripped-down kind of record was the intention. With Page producing it, I couldn't help but have that aesthetic being in my head — of that kind of hardcore genre, of the HELMET thing. It was right in there. This, for me, is such a natural process, creating these large rocks songs. It's kind of second nature."

INSTITUTE will soon shoot a video with "XXX" director Rob Cohen, whom Rossdale met when he contributed a solo track, "Adrenaline", to that film's soundtrack a few years back. Also, "Bulletproof Skin" appears on the soundtrack to Cohen's forthcoming Jessica Biel flick, "Stealth", about a fighter jet piloted by a computer that develops a mind of its own, threatening all of human existence.