Gavin Rossdale clears up decades-long misconception about his band Bush

Gavin Rossdale, lead singer of Bush, has cleared up one of the long-standing myths about his band as he promotes their latest album.

First formed in 1992, the English rock band has had several hits over the decades, including Glycerine, Machinehead, and Swallowed.

The band’s 1994 debut album, Sixteen Stone, is certified six times multi-platinum, and the group is utterly beloved by die-hard fans of the grunge-rock genre.

But despite their decades-long success, it appears fans have all been getting one major thing wrong when it comes to the band’s name.

For years, there has been a misconception that the band is named after Shepherd’s Bush – as an homage to where they first formed.

However, Gavin, the frontman, vocalist and rhythm guitarist, 59, has a rather different relationship with the area of West London, telling Metro: ‘F**k Shepherd’s Bush.’

‘My mum was once mugged. I was with her. We were in Shepherd’s Bush, and she was once mugged down this alleyway when you go down coming from the A40.

‘And like they took her money and rings. It’s a bit traumatising,’ he said earnestly while chatting in a recording studio in Soho, London, as a quick promotional stop as he visited London for his daughter Daisy Lowe’s wedding.

‘So I’ve always wanted to get my f**king revenge on Shepherd’s Bush, and to me, the Bush is the source of deep inspiration. So it works in many ways, nothing to do with Shepherd’s Bush.

‘It was just funny, because I thought Bush was a great word and it had a couple of meanings that I really related to.

‘But nothing to do with Shepherd’s Bush. F**k Shepherd’s Bush.’

So there you have it!

The star has had a long and enviable career, and when asked what the biggest difference is from being a rockstar in the 90s to today, Gavin confesses that it’s all about accountability.

‘I think accountability, because you probably could get away with more then, because people weren’t recording every single interaction.

‘But yes,it’s funny, because on one hand it seems so recent, and then, yet, when you see footage of the 90s, it looks like the 90s.

‘It was a great time to come up through music, because I just snuck in when people were still buying albums. So that really helped out.

‘Now I feel bad for young musicians, and musicians in general, who just want to provide music, and they’re expensive to make, so it’s hard for young bands.’

He added that being terrible in your early career is a rite of passage, and something that helps artists to grow, admitting that ‘of course’ he started out less than fantastic.

‘I just found my way, but I was 100% not very good for ages. I mean, I think I feel confident now that I feel good on stage, and it’s like a thing, but I’m fully aware that it took a minute.

‘I remember the first show ever I did at the Half Moon pub in Herne Hill, the first ever show did, I was standing on stage in my first band, thinking, “What the f**k am I doing? This is terrifying. I don’t like the songs, I don’t like the band, and I like the people.”

‘I just didn’t like anything about it. But I somehow got onto the next gig.

‘We had like backing singers and percussion players, like my friends, doing music. This was in my first band, Midnight, and it was just like 12 people on stage. It was just so lost.’

This latest record is Bush’s 10th studio album, and Gavin explained that he hopes it will soothe listeners in the way that it’s helped him.

‘This record is really dedicated to all of us who have – which is, by the way, everyone – gone through a lot of things, and are just trying their best to manage under all their own circumstances.

‘Everybody has their circumstances, and everybody has their histories. So when I write a song like We’re All The Same On The Inside, or Don’t Be Afraid, those are soothing songs to myself that, in turn, I hope will be inherited by people and taken as theirs.’

Bush’s 10th album, I Beat Loneliness, is released on July 18 on earMUSIC.

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