30 years in, Gavin Rossdale assesses the legacy of Bush, the rock band headed here soon

Energized by a brand-new greatest hits album, Bush returns to the road this month, hitting up Hershey, Syracuse, Buffalo, Providence and Stage AE in Pittsburgh as part of an 18-city jaunt.

In a lively and candid Q&A last week, singer/lyricist Gavin Rossdale spoke about his initial reluctance but ultimate enthusiasm for "Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023" and his hard-rocking band's enduring legacy.

"I believe I managed to find ways to say things that are individually put, but universally felt," Rossdale said about his songwriting. "That's the kind of thing that kept me around this amount of time."

The Nov. 7 interview's leadoff question dealt with Bush's new track, "Nowhere to Go But Everywhere," and its macabre music video depicting the flesh falling from Rossdale's bloodied face as he performs alongside startled bandmates Chris Traynor (guitar), Corey Britz (bass) and Nik Hughes (drums) after a non-sanctioned plastic surgery procedure gone awry.

Rossdale: "An interesting kind of statement, isn't it? That was the director's idea. I thought about doing a video celebrating friendships, but he turned it into a bloodbath. Though I liked the idea of going to get the plastic surgery; trying to go younger, and that getting botched up. Nowadays, you can't say anything anymore. Words are banned. You can't describe anybody in physical terms unless it's like 'courageous, beautiful woman,' so making a statement in a video about people going to that extreme versions of trying to stay young... that was Jessie, the director. It was a hot potato topic for me. I'm just trying to keep going and stay strong and using everything. If you don't use it, you lose it. I'm all about staying strong.

Q: You've certainly stayed strong, and that's evident in this new greatest hits album spanning 30 years. When the album comes out Friday how will you celebrate. Do you post something? Do you pop some corks?

Rossdale: Yeah, help me. What should I do? What's the appropriate way for that? I don't know. It's going to be great. I never wanted to do a Greatest Hits release because I'm so obsessed with going forward. I always saw it more as a swan song, like a sayonara, so I was a little bit nervous of it. It wasn't where I wanted to put my energy. But now doing it after 30 years of work, it's like drawing a line between the two halves of my creative life. Well, I'm not quite sure I have 30 years left of this, though Mick Jagger does (laughs).

Q: What kind of headspace did this put you in, because you're reliving songs like 'Swallowed' and 'Greedy Fly' written during a darker period of your life? Does it make you feel more philosophical or like more of a survivor?

I've always been a survivor because I know where I've come from. But I think that's true with anyone. Very few come from that exalted background of great privilege and safety. So, I think everyone is a survivor. That's why the records are getting better. You know how it is, with the horizon in full bloom you go, 'Damn, if you're going to make a record, you might as well make it a great one.' I can't just phone it in. I'm on a wild tear just to be great, while also totally accepting you can't maintain the massiveness. I'm not referring to being a fabulous stadium act tour. We have our world; we have our audience and it's a beautiful place to be and we're incredibly lucky and I work towards that, and I give it all my energy."

Q: The greatest hits album goes all the way through last year's album and songs like "More Than Machines." Does that song get a reaction live when you sing "Girls, you're in control, not the government"?

Yes, it's beautiful. It's such a great moment and it feels very powerful. It's funny because we finished the album and I handed it in, and the record company did the typical 'You got anything else? You got any more?' And I was a bit disappointed in myself because we've got these troubled times − the whole advancing of AI and where's that going, the climate's going to dust, and now what's happening? I still can't get my head around it. That people are voting as to what someone should do with their own body. Any of those Supreme Court judges, if they had in any way, throughout their lives, been at the beck and call of any government guidelines on their internal medicine, they'd be like, 'What?' And now you're taking that away. It really upset me and was part of a laundry list of what I thought was not appropriate.

Q: Visually, what will this tour look like? Any special lighting or video effects?

We like to put on a great show and really connect with the audience. Definitely some lights and cool things. But basically, it's about attitudes. We're a very enthusiastic band. There's no sense of us phoning anything in or just showing up for work. I'm lucky. You need the whole unit to feel like that, not only the band, the whole crew. We've had the same people a long time, and it's a fantastic team spirit. It's a good time for everyone and that's because we have great shows. If you have crappy shows that don't do good, then people wouldn't want to work with you. It just makes it more fun. It all feeds itself; the same thing that feeds the audience, the same thing that feeds the people you work with, the bus drivers and truck drivers. It's a whole tribe. Or a circus. The circus comes to town, and we take care of business.

Q: For "The Chemicals Between Us" I'm imaging some cool lighting effect for the funky drum parts.

We've got a very good lighting guy who definitely hits his marks so we should be − da-dum − right on key for that one.

Q: "Glycerine" (often performed solo in concert by Rossdale) has orchestral elements... are you ever able to replicate those in concert?

Not so much. Never been really able to do that. It would be wonderful to do that. But I think that would be more a situation of doing one show with like the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for one night. That would be freaking amazing. Unfortunately on this run, they were busy.

Q: Since we're talking greatest hits, how about 'Everything Zen" with that bold, repeated line "There's no sex in your violence." As the first Bush single, was there any initial concerns or pushback from your label?

Nobody's ever given me resistance except after 9/11, I had a lyric that said, "At my best when I'm terrorist inside" and I was like, 'oh no,' so I had to change the lyric. Before then we hadn't ignorantly overused and overheard the word "terrorist" in an everyday sense. I was using it as like an extreme version of "maverick" but it was a really tasteless word once the barbarity of the 9/11 attacks became evident. Also, in England we have signs along the road that say "Speed Kills" and I had a single titled that, which turned into "The People That We Love". We changed that out of respect for 9/11 and those awful days. But otherwise, no, I've pretty much been left alone. As for "there's no sex in your violence"... it's funny, I'm making comments about toxic masculinity since 1994. Phew! One day I'll be seen as a visionary, though the truth is I'll have to be dead (laughs).

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Q: "Comedown" is a great five-and-a-half-minute jam. What do you like most about the grooves and sonics to that song?

That song was the first one I wrote on my own and took to the guitar player in Bush, the first time around. I loved its dubby bass lines; all my bass lines are sort of wannabe dub. Being from London, I love that stuff.

Q: In "Machinehead" you sing the line "deaf, dumb and 30". How do you reflect back on that 28 years later?

Wow, that's a lyric that's not holding (up). Every time I sing that now, I'm like 'Oh-kay..." (laughs). I wish I was 30 now. There you go, that's the rewrite. I'll call it "I Wish I Was 30."

Q: Journalists often labeled Bush as post-grunge or alternative. No band likes to be labeled, but is there a term you're most OK with, or what do you think when you're called post-grunge?

I think it's too complex, the music. There was a moment where some songs, and the guitar, had more of that sound. But it's always been more complex than that. Like "Comedown" is not grunge. It's not. The phrase doesn't even have meaning anymore. Tad and Mudhoney are grunge to me. Or like Nirvana's "Bleach." That's grunge. The Sub Pop (label). I admire all the things that try to make rock music cool. I think it's a beautiful medium expressed with guitar and tribal rhythms. And that's all I care about and what I'm always trying. I like pretty heavy music. And then I like Stevie Wonder and I like Billie Eilish and people who craft melodies. My thing is finding these riffs and aggressive music and then finding melody in it. It's like a secret undergrowth or underquilt. That's all I care about, trying to satisfy some sort of imaginary muse in my head.

Q: That 2022 album (Bush's "The Art of Survival") rocks hard, and you've said in interviews its sound was inspired by metal bands you saw at music festivals.

I love Corey Taylor. I think he's one of the greatest rock singers, and Slipknot is an unbelievable band. Slipknot is funny because they wear the masks and I think to some extent people believe they're on this very aggressive, distant island some people love to be on, but not them, but they're a most brilliant band. Those riffs and those melodies and vocals. Really incredible. I can't sing like that. He really belts it. And like that screaming they do in Bad Omens, I Prevail ... all those really, really good bands. But I do like the music and have my own approach. I've always had to. You're cut from the cloth you've got; you know? I'd don't know if I can scream. I'd be terrified if I scream. I don't want to lose the voice I've got. I don't know how they do it. That is impressive. It's like a sonic assault with a great riff. That combination of sound is staggering.

Q: In September, you played a "(Celebration of Unity in The) Fight Against Gun Violence benefit in New York City. Is that a campaign that's picking up steam in the music industry?

I doubt it. Though I hope so. I got involved and they're all great people. People are doing it and I'd like to see more shows like that. It's literally one of the most humbling shows I've done. Mark (Barden, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise) was invited on stage with us to play "Comedown" to close the show. He was a touring musician before his son got shot at Sandy Hook, and as a father, I'm just devastated for him... (At that time of the September concert) there'd been 400 mass shootings this year. There've been more since. I live in America and I'm just... why? Why is this going on? It's really about trying to help these ill perpetrators. It's not just about the banning of assault weapons, and of course you should do that. It's so terrible, so anything that can help.

Q: Your tour heads our way this November - the Pittsburgh show is Thanksgiving weekend - what else would you want to say?

Man, I'm going to be away from my family, my boys, because we'll be on the road; but I'll be with the boys in the band, and we look forward to seeing some families at the show. That way, we'll have the best show. It's going to be a great time. We just got off the road two-and-a-half months ago, so it's going to be weird, but it'll be over in a flash. So, we intend to have a great time.

Bush Dates

Nov. 18: Hershey Theatre, Hershey.

Nov. 19: Landmark Theatre, Syracuse.

Nov. 21: Providence Performing Art Center, R.I.

Nov. 22: Town Ballroom, Buffalo.

Nov. 26: Stage AE, Pittsburgh.

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Gavin Rossdale talks about Bush's legacy and fresh tour headed here