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Formed nearly two years ago, the London-based Bush met as
painters, the obvious beginnings of musical talent. "I thought, if we
could paint and whistle and talk so well together, we might as well
start a band," says guitarist/vocalist Gavin Rossdale. "The other three
were such really good painters, really good."
Since then, playing and hanging and playing and playing is what
Gavin, guitarist Nigel Pulsford, bassist Dave Parsons and drummer
Robin Goodridge do, and do so well. Their debut show was an
outdoor car park converted into a fantasy birthday setting for a friend.
Hotter, darker shows followed suspicious places to hungry audience.
"We played a gig in a really rundown pub in South London," says
Gavin. "As we were playing, the place got robbed --people were
stealing money from the till and taking it from behind the bar. Then
about twelve to fifteen police ran through, and we didn't know what
to do so we just kept playing." Friendlier gigs include the occasional
glamorous guest star. "My favorite guest appearance is by my dog,"
Gavin continues. "I like to bring him on, and he sits there and just
kind of hangs out."
Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, Rob Kahane and Paul Palmer of
Trauma Records were being told of this interesting band from London
by some large and trusted ears. A few months later Trauma signed
Bush -- and boldly left them alone. "The record company was great,"
says Gavin. "We were left alone to do the record we wanted, and
when we finished, we gave it to them --boom -- no hassle, no
corporate creativity."
Bush's debut release Sixteen Stone, was recorded pretty much live in
a London studio with revered producers Clive Langer and Alan
Winstanley (Elvis Costello, David Byrne). For their first video,
Everything Zen, Bush hooked up with Matt Mahurin, the acclaimed
video director (Alice in Chains, Metallica, Peter Gabriel, U2...),
rumored to be the last music video he does before moving into feature
films. "I saw Matt ice skating in Central Park, and he was such a great
mover that he seemed great for the job," Gavin says. Turns out Matt
knew how to skate backwards, so they shared a skate to Nadia's
Theme and it was a done deal.
True to the band's live energy, Sixteen Stone is explosive in a garagey,
sarcastic, yet emotion-filled sort of way. Behind the cryptic veil of
ambiguity, Gavin's subjects are personal and revealing. Everything
Zen, the relentlessly catchy song that jump-starts the album, cynically
declares general disenchantment and was recorded in one take.
Motivated by the Convent Garden bombing of a London pub, Bomb
explores the incident from the perspective of the man who died in the
bombing with chilling effect. Gavin gets into lots of topics, including
death and dying (Little Things), sexuality (Testosterone), the ego
(Machinehead), losing oneself (Glycerine) and a song about a friend
who joined a cult (Monkey) . "Our songs take on different meaning on
different days," he says. "Listeners can get their own meaning. I'm
definitely no storyteller. Being real is what's important."
Reality for Bush is working as painters, as moped delivery boys for a
kosher-sushi restraurant called So Sue Me, and driving an ice cream
truck. Members were sacked from all these jobs, but not before
screwing with The Man for the sake of the band. To get to gigs, Bush
would use the ice cream truck to drive their gear to and from shows,
and they funded Bush by diluting the paint they were given money to
buy, then using half the paint cash to pay for rehearsal time, strings,
gas, and the general cost of band living.
"So if the London Bridge looks a bit thin, you'll know why," says
Gavin.
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