British rock group Bush returned to release their first album in nine years last month, and frontman Gavin Rossdale, a.k.a Mr. Gwen Stefani, says it felt inevitable.
Back in the day, the band sold 10 million copies of its first four albums, yet went their separate ways in 2002 after a decade together and nine top ten singles in the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
The 45-year-old Rossdale has done plenty of solo work during his Bush interim, and has also become a family man with Stefani (they have two young sons). Yet he says the release of album “The Sea of Memories” last month made him realize that Bush was his future:
“I felt the other stuff was cool. They were brilliant, but it was more default than by design. That whole time I was doing those other things I was thinking, ‘Man, why is it not Bush? This is so crazy.’ […] Now I’m so pleased because I’ve got my voice back. To be in Bush and to be in the band you’re basically born to be in, it’s like a suit of armor. It’s very exciting.”
Once he decided to reform Bush, Rossdale reached out to original drummer Robin Goodridge and guitarist Chris Traynor, who replaced co-founder Nigel Pulsford in 2002. Bassist Corey Britz was included in place of Dave Parsons.
Pulsford reportedly refused the chance to rejoin the band, with Rossdale admitting Pulsford “doesn’t want to travel anymore; he’s doing his own thing.”
For the new album, Bush left major label Interscope (“Every single person who worked with us at Interscope (Records) had been fired. It was a sinking ship, the worst way to bring out a new record on the planet” says Rossdale) and instead released the record on Zuma Rock Records. And Rossdale says it’s an album for longtime Bush fans:
“This time I thought what I should do is embrace the people who I know like me and really enjoy Bush. That’s what I focused on. I made my audience my muse.”
