Success Gives Bush’s Front Man Some Perspective

He still keeps his basement apartment in London, but otherwise, life has changed radically for Gavin Rossdale. The high-cheekboned heartthrob fronts the band Bush, which sold 7 million copies of its debut album and had five hit singles, yet has been tortured in the press as Nirvana wannabes.

Rossdale, a chatty 29-year-old who is more comfortable talking about his sheepdog Winston than his success, is still trying to make sense of the last couple of overnight-sensation-then-backlash years.

What has he learned?

“Never trust a journalist,” he says with a laugh, adding: “I’m actually referring to magazine journalists.” He’s still recovering from a snide Rolling Stone headline: “Why won’t anyone take Gavin Rossdale seriously?” and a current Spin magazine cover that declares, “Bush - Don’t hate them because he’s beautiful.”

“There’s so much armchair psychology from these substandard magazine writers. It’s just unbelievable,” says Rossdale. “But life goes on. It’s hurtful, but not as hurtful as being homeless, so I have perspective at least.”

But wait, there’s good news. Bush’s follow-up disc, “Razorblade Suitcase,” came out Tuesday. Not only is it a musical step forward from the top-selling debut, but Rossdale is pleased to report: “I didn’t write a second record where I moaned about how miserable it is being successful.”

Of course, the new album is still about alienation - a favorite Rossdale theme on earlier hits “Machinehead” and “Everything’s Zen,” with its now-classic line, “There’s no sex in your violence.”

Rossdale is still bouncing through the cosmos while holding onto a window ledge. The album’s first single is “Swallowed,” in which he sings, “I miss the one that I love a lot.” Says Rossdale, “I wrote it in 10 minutes. Sometimes songs just fall out of your mouth and you go, ‘Thanks.”’ > The album, again sporting grunge-rock, radio-friendly guitars, was produced by Steve Albini, who did the same for “In Utero” by Nirvana (uh oh, that name again). Rossdale knows critics will assume he’s coopting Nirvana’s legacy, but frankly, he’s getting fed up with the comparison.

“We wanted Steve Albini for our first record, but we weren’t good enough to get him,” Rossdale says from Osaka, Japan, where Bush is on tour (a U.S. tour will follow in the spring). “We wanted Steve because he’s been making records for 15 years. During that time he spent only two weeks with Nirvana, but he also produced a lot of records we love by Jesus Lizard, Slint, Smog … The list is endless.”

No less an authority than Courtney Love, widow of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, says she doesn’t think Bush sounds like Nirvana. “If his wife feels comfortable with my songs and my band, that’s confirmation enough for me,” says Rossdale, who dated Love a few times but says he has no steady girlfriend.

Rossdale loves Nirvana’s music, but notes his favorite band is Jesus Lizard. He also raves about the Pixies, the Massachusetts band that influenced Nirvana.

“One of the most important records in my life was the Pixies’ ‘Surfer Rosa.’ If you listen to the end of ‘Debaser’ on that record, then you’ll hear the whole riff of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ Kurt often cited the influence of the Pixies, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong in having good taste.”

Bush shares another thing with Nirvana - the role of whipping-boys for the press, at least at the beginning of their careers.

“I was reading an interview with Kurt and he was saying he didn’t know of any band that had more bad press and bad reviews than Nirvana. I remember when ‘In Utero’ came out in England, the critics slammed him. But how brilliant to start off a record saying ‘teen-age angst has paid off well and now I’m bored and old.’ That to me spells genius. The critics thought he was a wanker, but when the absolute tragedy of his death hit, suddenly he was lauded.”

Bush was launched five years ago. Today’s lineup includes Rossdale, Nigel Pulsford (guitar), Dave Parsons (bass) and Robin Goodridge (drums).

“We get on great and the balance is perfect,” says Rossdale. “You could replace any of us with better people. You could get a better singer or a session guitar player or session bass player, but that wouldn’t be Bush. For us, it’s as much about using your faults as not. What’s that Edith Piaf line? ‘Use your faults, use your defects and then you’re going to be a star.”’

Bush’s star should continue to rise with the new album. It strays into a couple of slower tracks that are too-obvious attempts at a more sophisticated sound, but most of it is crunching rock as in “Personal Holloway” (Holloway is a women’s prison in England), the Neil Younginfluenced “Cold Contagious,” the gnashing “History” (“I won’t be saved by all your yesterdays”) and the angst-ridden “Mouth,” with the verse, “All your mental armor drags me down.”

Rossdale again shows a knack for fractured lyrics - he’s a huge fan of Beat writers Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac - but the last song, “Distant Voices,” is unabashedly hopeful. “I’m going to find my way to the sun,” he sings.

The new disc was recorded in London, but next time Rossdale wants to rent a house out in the country, much as U2 once did with Ireland’s Slane Castle (for the “Unforgettable Fire” album).

“I’d like to do it somewhere where obviously a pub is nearby,” he says, “but I like the idea of it being barren and English and cold. I don’t want to get too comfortable.”