Gavin Rossdale, the frontman for the British-born rock band Bush, says he’s been “obsessed” with loneliness his whole life. If you saw his handsome face on MTV in the 1990s, you might be hard pressed to think he would ever be lonely. That it was even humanly possible. But if you listened to his songs, you would’ve heard what Rossdale means. Think of their signature track, “Glycerine.” On it, he sings: I’m never alone, I’m alone all the time. It’s also something he notices in other people (cue: Paul McCartney’s violins).
“In this modern world of connectivity,” Rossdale tells Vice, “the disconnect is staggering. People feel lonelier than ever.”
The idea is especially on his mind these days as he and Bush are set to release their latest LP, I Beat Loneliness, which will drop Friday (July 18). In the 90s, Rossdale was a heartthrob, a sex symbol. A person who found himself in tabloids as often as he did the Billboard charts. But lives change, people evolve. He’s no longer married to his celebrity wife, Gwen Stefani, and he’s experienced plenty of personal ups and downs. As a result, the 59-year-old says, he’s grown.
“It’s so hard for people,” Rossdale says. “So, I wanted to make a record that spoke to my own struggles and my own feelings, so people [wouldn’t] feel so quite alone… The best thing I could do is offer an insight into my own journey because I have some perspective now.”
Bush’s new record is quite good. It rocks and it’s thought-provoking. On it, Gavin Rossdale is fiery and forthcoming. It’s not a glitzy record, it’s not soft or superficial. He sings lyrics like: Pain is a focus for relief. “The only worry,” Rossdale says, “was to not be as good as I could be or as honest as I could be. To make things vital, you have to get to the bone, and that [lyric] felt bone-like.”
Rossdale is self-deprecating, too. He says things like “I’ve always done everything wrong.” But he says music can “at times” make him feel less lonesome. He feels pressure when putting together a new record. “I think you can make vital music when everything depends on it,” he says. Being alive can feel like a constant UFC cage match, he adds. But that’s something he’s proud of. The fight and the willingness to move forward.
Whatever creative pressure he feels is both internal and external. He believes he’s gotten sharper as an artist, and the desire to constantly improve is real. “I’m focusing up now,” he says. But he also attributes his work ethic to the fans he regularly communicates with. Some in search of selfies as Rossdale gets his morning coffee have told him what his music has meant, how it’s helped them in the darkest times. “It’s really intense,” Rossdale says with gratitude in his voice. So, as he wondered what the new album should sound like, he landed on an answer. “The best thing you can do,” he says, “is be yourself.”
One thing he cares about is the idea of service. He’s in service of his bandmates, whom he’s been in a relationship with now for decades (they’ll all be in close quarters on tour now). And he’s in service of the fans, especially those who find deep meaning in what the group makes. He’s in service of the music, too. Earlier this summer, Gavin Rossdale sat down for a podcast interview with Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. The two had a breakthrough. Corgan apologized for making Rossdale feel like an outsider in the rock world. Rossdale calls it “an incredible moment for me” because he did in fact feel pushed aside by his peers. Loneliness.
In nature, some animals would rather starve than be separated from their community. (Good thing for Rossdale, he’s also a chef.) Of course, the idea of loneliness is powerful. Even for someone who was at the center of celebrity culture in the 1990s, loneliness can still work its depressive tentacles. “Inevitably,” Rossdale says, “when you have great highs you’re going to have great lows.” For the singer, who was once criticized as a young singer for his gruff voice and later became famous for it, art is about turning what’s maybe not the most perfect about you into something others can actually connect to.
“There’s a great phrase,” Gavin Rossdale says, “use your faults, use your defects; then you’re going to be a star. When I used my defects to the maximum ability, that’s when things started to work in my favor.”
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
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