Alternative Press Bush Article 12/98
- Alternative Press: By John Kappes: Working
Album Title: The Science of Things
Projected Release Date: February 1999, on
Trauma/Interscope
Why Is It Anticipated? In 1994, Bush came out
of the blue and into the multiplatinum black
with Sixteen Stone, and the critics have been
sharpening their knives ever since. This 3rd
album provides the perfect opportunity for
singer Gavin Rossdale & Co. to show everyone
they can indeed rise above.
What's It Gonna Sound Like? "It definitely is
a rock record," Rossdale says, but he hints
that some of London's future sounds could
find their way into the final mixes.
The Last record [Razorblade Suitcase,
recorded by Steve Albini] was supposed to
reflect that time, being out on the road and
all that. I felt and still feel there's no
one that records bands like Steve. This time,
I just felt that it was nice checking around
what people were up to in England. We tried
to incorporate a few things that we wouldn't
have had a chance to do with Steve---more
overdubs, spending a bit more time on
things." But canny corporate calculation
this is not. "When you've sold a shit-load of
albums," Rossdale notes, "there are a
shit-load of reasons why people liked it.
You'd be totally screwed if you tried to work
it out." And rather than huddling up in
London with a retinue of image consultants,
as his critics darkly imagine he must,
Rossdale in fact wrote the new record in a
house overlooking a saltwater lake on theWest
coast of Ireland. "It's really bleak,
storm-driven," he says of the area. "I'd go
to the pub, where they'd have these brilliant
things like the best fiddle player you'd ever
heard. It would be pouring, and I'd be
drinking Murphy's. It was all very romantic,
in a dark Irish way." The band have completed
quite a few tracks already, but they'll
ruthlessly prune that initial batch to about
a dozen for the album. "I'm thick-skinned,"
Rossdale says with a laugh about the editing
process. "I start to resent people after
they've gone on too long."
Email:
bushguy1@bigfoot.com
