Interview #298: Gavin Rossdale

It’s hard to believe that Wanderlust is Gavin Rossdale’s first ever solo album. As former lead singer of Bush, one of the biggest post grunge bands on the planet and the husband of pop icon Gwen Stefani, Gavin has lived most of his adult life in the spotlight with others. But now for the first time he stands alone. A big step but one he was more than ready to take.

I Like Music caught up with the very lovely Gavin Rossdale to talk about his brand new solo material, life in the spotlight and his future plans.

"I Like Music because… it takes me away.” Gavin Rossdale

ILM: You release your very first solo album, Wanderlust, on June 9th. You’ve been in the industry for such a long time it’s hard to believe this is your first solo album, but it must be great writing music on your own terms? How’s it been?

Gavin: Really good. I’ve been really lucky during my life as a musician in Bush and Institute as I wrote on my own terms as well. But, it’s weird, it’s only when I do all these interviews it’s starting to dawn on me what I’m doing, that this is what I’ve got myself in for.

Sometimes I get myself into these situations that are really extreme and they’re so extreme I don’t think about them, so it’s like the eye of the storm and doing this solo record is a bit like that. So everyone is like, ‘is it weird?’ And I’m like ‘no’, and then after many hours of interviews, I’m like… It is weird!

I miss my band and I loved being in Bush and I’m way too nostalgic and a bit too sentimental so I do miss doing this whole process with them. But it feels really natural, I’ve not forced anything. Probably, if anything I was trying to force Bush again.

I’m always the last person to let anything go. In any relationship I was in, I was always like not wanting them to end, no matter how destructive they were I’d be like, ‘no, I don’t want it to end.’

ILM: It does feel like a natural progression though.

Gavin: Yeah, it feels really natural. I wanted to make that kind of record where you sit with your core producer and get different musicians in, so it’s been really good and an easy process as well with Bob Rock.

ILM: Yeah, you’ve written a mature, honest and compelling album; a fusion of anthemic rock and heavier sounds … which track has been the most fun to lay down in the studio?

Gavin: I think Future World because it sits in the middle of the record and it sums up the aesthetic of the record. It sums up my obsession with the past and the future and the world of feelings and technology and how twisted and exciting life is.

What used to happen when I was in Bush was that we’d get to a point where I’d get some dark broods going and I’d be like, ‘let’s bring the guitars out, let’s focus on the atmospherics a bit, but, because I did the Institute record which was much heavier, it meant that I was able to be free of the guitars to a certain degree in this.

I’ve got a few guitars and a few heavier tracks in this, but it really was about making it cinematic and universal and I feel that with Institute I may’ve done the unthinkable and lost the girls because it was a bit too hard; every girl I played it to was like, ‘ooh’.

So it was really nice singing against the bass and writing a few songs on bass, which gives it a whole different feeling.

ILM: Kind of letting your songs breathe then?

Gavin: Yeah, exactly.

ILM: So, about working with Bob Rock… is there anything you specifically learned from Bob while working on the album and vice versa?

Gavin: That’s a good question actually because, when I was interviewing people who I thought I might want to work with, that was the one massively important criteria that people had to fit, and that was that, I’ve got to learn something from them. And I did meet a few people who’d had a lot of hit records and wanted to work with me and here they’re very obsessed with success, especially at my label.

It’s not like I’m signed to Matador where it’s about being cool and good, I’m signed to a label where it’s like, is it gonna be a hit? If it’s not, then f*** off. I met a few people but I didn’t feel in my stomach that I could learn anything from them.

When I met Bob and listened to him, I realised there was a lot to be learned from him. It was about guitar sounds and a little bit of theatricality. That was the main gist of it, what I really learned from Bob. There were some bits that were mutual, where I’d do something and he’d say, ‘I like how you do that,’ so maybe he took something away from it as well.

But I definitely enjoyed it and I plan to do another record with him. I don’t want to wait such a long time again, while people are excited about this record, I want to make another record soon, because it all goes so slowly, it’s like pulling teeth bringing records out now.

ILM: Your brand new single, Love Remains The Same, is out on June 2nd 2008. Can you describe the track’s whole vibe?

Gavin: I’d done a lot of stuff singing to machines and basses and getting a really good feeling for the music first more than doing a chord structure, so I thought it might be a really good idea to do some campfire songs and tried something really simple. It’s a good lesson to write something really fast and give yourself an aesthetic. So I wanted to write something simple and campfirey where I could reflect on my periods of emotional flux, so I drew on that.

I like in pubs and bars how you can feel a certain way and then have a couple of drinks and you feel differently about something, so I thought I’d put that into a song. I wanted some music that could be played in a pub. With Bush it was never music that’d get played in a pub.

When you’re in a pub you’ll hear a break up song and you’re in the pub and you hear a song and you’re like, ‘ooh I like this song’ and it’s a naff song, but you’re in a pub. My ambition for that song is to get played on pub juke boxes.

ILM: I saw Bush live many years ago at Net Aid in 99 – fabulous and I’ve always enjoyed your lyrics as they resonate and they’re poetic. Please can you describe the Gavin Rossdale process of writing such bloody good music please? Does it tend to be lyrics first or melody or totally random each time?

Gavin: Well, I think it’s really about getting out of the way of your self. Putting yourself in a situation where you’ve got your music, your guitar or bass or drum machine and just committing yourself to being there and letting it flow. I think that sometimes, if you come at music with too much of an agenda… once you have an idea of what you want and maybe a title it’s just playing through that even if it’s 50 times, you just get inside the song.

And if you can get yourself out of the way, meaning your insecurities, concerns or doubts, all of those things that are totally natural and probably part of it. But, all the best songs that I’ve ever written have been really quick and have involved giving up and giving in to the moment of writing, that’s how I like to do it. Rather than involving self persecution, going back into it and really enjoying it. I’ve never had writers block though, which is nice.

ILM: It’s probably because you have this raw process of writing, so you go with it rather than constantly self-editing.

Gavin: It’s funny because I listened back to the old catalogue, the old Bush stuff and Institute stuff and listening to songs, so it’s really fun to go back and be like, oh that’s a cool chord structure; other songs I might hear and think oh you bastard you never finished that lyric, so there are couple of songs that really annoy me, that were nearly right there but I don’t know why I signed off on them.

Normally I’m good at thinking about when a song lyric is finished, in the same way that you might see someone do a painting and you’re like, why didn’t they fill that bit in? And the reply is simply, because they didn’t want to.

ILM: How has being a father and husband changed your approach to songwriting and music-making?

Gavin: Your hours get a bit more limited and you can’t be so self-indulgent. But, so far so good. I have a studio in the house so I work in there a lot and, at the moment there seems to be tons of sessions coming out of there. I’ve done all these things for iTunes or sessions for AOL or Yahoo. I did some covers up there in the studio, just because I thought it was good exercise to record and play somebody else’s songs, so that’s been fun.

It’s kind of cool. My son is busy, so half the time he’s busy anyway, running round the place, and if he wants to come up and hang out, we just take the time out and he sings on the mic or he picks up the guitar and plays it and hums along.

ILM: Well, on the subject of family… I’m due to have my first baby the same time as your wifey, so wish her all the best.

Gavin: Congratulations… I’m sure she’d wish you all the best too. In fact, if you were interviewing my wife now, she’d keep you on the phone for an hour now, she’d be asking how are you sleeping…?

ILM: Yeah, how’s the acid indigestion… all of that. So how do you deal with life in the spotlight?

Gavin: Certain things you can change and others you can’t change. And the world of celebrity is nuts and somehow I’m caught up somewhere in it, it’s just the way that it goes.

So I don’t really over think it, because that would be totally self-indulgent and slightly wanker-like. It just is what it is… as long as people buy those magazines. Even my mum buys those magazines, ‘ooh I saw that picture.’

I understand it, but it is strange. I feel a lot more comfortable having a record coming out rather than just being in a photo.

ILM: Do you have any live solo dates or festivals booked?

Gavin: The only date so far in the UK is to come over to do this show. I’m doing some festivals in Europe, because they’re a bit more hospitable to me. The festivals I want to do, like Glastonbury and Reading and T in the Park, I think, if I get to do them, it won’t be until next year. I’ll certainly go on tour everywhere.

I wish that it was as easy for me to jump back in as it is in Europe and America, but somehow they love making me to pay for it, so I have to earn my right to do the UK festivals.

ILM: You mentioned covers earlier. Last year you covered John Lennon's Mind Games for the album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. A brilliant cause and a brilliant version I thought… how did that come about?

GAVIN: They approached me and asked me to do it. And I did it and I was really honoured to do anything for Amnesty, I think they’re the most incredible organisation. So it was brilliant to be able to help in some small way. I wouldn’t mind doing that song live in that way.

When I do covers I keep the melody the same, so I don’t try and change the music or the approach to the music because nothing can replace the original. So, with that, I did a mellow version; it’s quite quick that version, so I couldn’t do it any quicker, so I thought doing a really laid back chilled out version was the way to go.

ILM: Talking of chilling out… What’s your favourite track you listen to when you just want to unwind and chill out?

Gavin: My ultimate chill out tune would be Moments In Love by Art Of Noise, that brings back a whole world of memories; a whole flood of really good times. I could have that tune on a loop for a whole day straight.

ILM: You played semi-professional football until side-lined by an injury, and formed a band called Midnight (formerly Little Dukes) before Bush and Institute. How has the music industry changed for the better and worse since you first started out?

Gavin: Well clearly, it sounds ancient to say, but, although I think that the file sharing is brilliant for rarities and odd pieces, I like people to actually buy the records, because us musicians work hard to make them and want people to enjoy them and we want people keep making them. I think tons of stuff should be free, but also people should respect, when you bring out a record, it’s nice to go and buy it if you like the band because it helps everyone.

It also helps new bands come through. It’s all well and good saying it’s a modern world and that files should be shared. But for people who want to put money into new bands, it’s difficult to do that if nobody is buying any records. It makes it difficult for me and I’ve sold a couple of records, so I can’t imagine what it’s like to be struggling and trying to break into the industry.

Having said that music is in a brilliant place, live concerts are more interesting than ever, there are lots of interesting records coming out, so it’s a really inspiring time. Music is what I’ve given my life to and I’m proud of that.

ILM: You’re living your dream, career wise, what’s your advice to young people on pursuing their dream career?

Gavin: I think the most important thing that I found to be essential is to only listen to your self. You have to have a lot of faith in your own passion. For instance, with me, before Bush took off, when I was in Midnight, it’d always be slagged off and people would say my voice was the weakest part of the band. It’s hard to be young and to be told that you’re the reason why your band is going nowhere; some people like my voice and some people don’t.

But, the weird thing is, it turned around so that my weakest element turned into being my strongest thing. And it was only from believing in it and from training it to get better and finding ways to use it to the best of my ability that got me to where I am now. If I’d stopped and listened to everyone around me then, I wouldn’t be on the phone talking to you know. So it’s about following your passion, it makes everything possible, whereas if you don’t follow your passion, the opposite is true.

Gavin Rossdale's new solo album, Wanderlust, is out June 9th 2008. New single, Love Remains The Same, is out on June 2nd 2008