‘I Feel Like It's Hit A Nerve’: Bush’s Gavin Rossdale Is Writing For Everyone On ‘I Beat Loneliness'

For over 30 years now, it's been hard to think of alternative rock without one's mind being cast towards Bush.

First formed in 1992 by Gavin Rossdale and original guitarist Nigel Pulsford, the group swiftly rose to fame thanks to the likes of incendiary records such as 1994's Sixteen Stone and its follow-ups, 1996's Razorblade Suitcase and 1999's The Science Of Things.

In fact, while it's rare for bands to be so prolific and talented as to warrant releasing a greatest hits compilation spanning just five years of their career, their myriad singles and perennial chart success ensured that Bush would be a name that everyone – fans or not – would remember for decades.

Though Bush would initially split in 2002 after releasing four albums, Rossdale would reactivate the band in 2010. These days, he remains the only founding member of the group, but 15 years after reuniting the band have enjoyed their longest period of continued activity, releasing a further six albums since.

This month, Bush returned with I Beat Loneliness, their tenth record and their first since 2022's The Art Of Survival. It's a stellar piece of work, and one that captures Rossdale and his bandmates at their creative best. 

Most importantly, it's an album which Rossdale is excited about, as he eagerly explains via a Zoom call from the US ahead of the record's release.

"It's always an exciting time, that honeymoon period from when you've got the finished master and you start seeing final artwork, but you live in this little bubble where you think your record's great," he explains. "You're super excited about people hearing it, and no one's tarnished it yet. 

"I'm English, so I'm never going to be over the top about it, saying 'Woo-hoo,' or high-fiving everyone. But it gives me great excitement to speak to people about the album, because I feel like it's hit a nerve.

"As a writer that's just… that's everything," he continues. "It's like striking gold. So I just feel that this record will give back to us in abundance and to the people that like the band. And that always makes me feel good."

More than 30 years into the band's career, one could probably forgive Rossdale if he were to simply start following in the footsteps of some other veteran acts and begin writing music which could be considered lazy or derivative by his fanbase.

However, I Beat Loneliness arrives as an album of evolution. It's the best of Bush's legacy mixed with the musical manifestation of Rossdale's drive and determination to never rest on his laurels.

But ten albums in, even he is yet to admit he's cracked the code of songwriting. While some artists might strive to achieve a certain feel, or aim to capture a specific feeling or sound, Rossdale might as well be the Jackson Pollock of the music world. "I'm a bit more haphazard – I just write and see what happens," he admits.

"What you end up getting is a bunch of disparate songs about halfway through. Traditionally, I've always been like, 'Fuck, write about yourself,' so I literally find a subject because I think it becomes unbearable – you can't have a whole record about yourself. It's terrible.

"So I actively disembark from a personal journey, and it's gone to a personal reflection," he continues. "I look at something or I make something up like Blood River, where I'll look at an image and write an entire song about that connected to that, which is fun, it's an intriguing thing."

This time around though, Rossdale admits that the loftiness of Bush's new record being their tenth provided a chance for deeper reflection and philosophical exploration than usual.

"With this one, I actually did take stock," he explains. "I just took the time to think about what was important, what was my role in life, what's the meaning of my life, what's the meaning of being in a band, and what's the meaning of making a record?

"So I reflected on all the best conversations I've had with people about my band, which is the people that like the band, fans that I meet backstage or on meet and greets, people on the street, and people I just talk to, who come up to me. 

"And the common theme has been amazing," he adds. "The common theme is generally that the songs have been great friends to them through different times."

Rossdale is quick to admit though that while Bush fans often find themselves reflecting on the power of his songwriting, he doesn't want to take the credit for the comfort it provides. He's glad to have played a role in the strength it may offer a fan, though he points out that strength came from within rather than from him.

"When somebody writes a song that you connect to emotionally, you cease to feel alone," he explains. "You feel understood, you feel seen, and you feel connected with. That's the magic of music, that's the magic of words and all that for me, and so I just distilled that information [for this album] really.

"The first song that I wrote was I Beat Loneliness, and it really informed the record because I decided to make it a journey of like where I was at at this time in my life, what I'd reflected on where I needed help, where I had made mistakes and needed to make amends, and where I'd just gone through the routine of life that everybody goes through.

"It's like writing an 'every person' record," he continues. "It's not a record about being aspirational, it's not about summer cruises in the Mediterranean and a nice Aperol Spritz in Amalfi. It's just about how sometimes it's hard, and that's what makes life so magical."

Though some of the inspirations behind I Beat Loneliness may have been rooted in good intentions and Rossdale's aim to provide a record that speaks to the realities of life, it's not a self-help record or anything like that. Rather, it's an album designed to serve as a comfort, and to lean into Rossdale's own approach to the world.

"I've always been very much a glass-half-full kind of person," he explains, "but I'm anxious and I worry about things. I drift into the past, I eulogise the past, I forget about wrongs and I come back to the present, then I feel good, then I worry about the future, I fight it and come back to the moment... 

"But I just wanted to not bring that chaos to people, but bring that degree of trying to show that it's not easy for anybody," he adds. "That's what informed the record, so it was a weird one because it's not a concept record by any stretch of the imagination."

Notably, one of the hallmarks of I Beat Loneliness is just how much it feels like a Bush album.

Following the release of The Art Of Survival in 2022, Rossdale and Bush went back into the archives to release Loaded, a greatest hits compilation that spanned 29 years of the band's career.

The result was a year-long tour which saw the group reflecting on their legacy as they dished out headline dates full of all killer, and no filler. Though Rossdale admits the record had been completed by the time of the tour, one can't help but think whether or not this time spent reflecting on the past is partially responsible for an album which could easily sit alongside their critically and commercially successful '90s output.

"About nine of the songs were written before I went and did the Loaded tour," he explains. "At the beginning of last year I wrote nine songs and then I forgot about them – just never listened to them again.

"Then after the tour, I went back in to make a record early this year. So I went and wrote a few songs with Erik [Ron, producer] first, which I don't normally do because I thought, 'If you're going to make something great, make it differently than you've done before.'"

But while Bush are indeed making music that is done differently to what they've done before, what does I Beat Loneliness say about who Bush are at this stage of their career?

"It says we're vital and hungry," Rossdale states. "That's what it is. And then you look at our insane tour schedule, we're just on a roll and I feel that in our world – in our algorithm – we're having a moment. 

"Nothing beats having a great new record and an enthusiastic band; that combination is great. Then we'll obviously be coming to Australia. We're figuring out the tour now and talking about who we would play with, so it's a really exciting time."

There's a notable Australian connection for Bush as well. According to a 1999 biography of the band, Bush first formed when Rossdale met Pulsford while watching Sydney's Baby Animals open for Bryan Adams at Wembley Stadium. 

Fast-forward to the creation of their band Future Primitive, and they were making music analogous to what a record executive would one day describe as being a "little like the more commercial side of INXS."

On the live front, Bush have been performing on Australian stages for decades, too. First visiting in 1996 just days before the release of Razorblade Suitcase, a second visit took place under a year later. However, the band's split meant it would be 15 years before Bush returned as part of the 2012 Soundwave line up, while their most recent visit occurred back in 2022.

Three years on from their last tour of the country, Rossdale is just as eager to visit Australia as fans are to host him, with Bush's connection with the local market being one he describes as historically very strong.

"The thing about Australia that I knew coming into it is that there's such a great tradition of bands there, and a great standard of local bands," he explains. "People grow up with live music and they're connected to live music – and what I've heard is that if you suck, they let you know.

"But if you let it rip, everyone's very happy. So we've had really good tours down there and I think it's a really great place for us."

Though Rossdale can't quite confirm when the band will be visiting Australia once again in celebration of I Beat Loneliness, he does suggest that early 2026 period might be one that fans want to keep an eye on.

"It's a great rock market, and I love INXS, so I really think fondly of all my time in Australia and all the shows we've played," he notes. "It's not as easy to get there as it should be. 

"It's exotic for me, It's fun for me, and it's just wild, but there's always this whole world out there. I mean, how young bands that are starting out, how they get to play places and how they get to do things, it's just becoming harder and harder.

“What I mean is that I'm not sure people understand how difficult it's to get down to Australia to play for people and for promoters to take the risks,” he concludes. "But we definitely will be down there, and we really look forward to it."

Bush's I Beat Loneliness is out now.