Jonathan 'JC' Clarke

Jonathan 'JC' Clarke

ON AIR: Sundays 7PM - 9PM. Jonathan Clarke joined Q104.3, New York's Classic Rock, as an on-air personality in 1997 and continues to be a mainstay...Full Bio

 

Gavin Rossdale Explains Why Bush's Latest Album Is So Heavy

Bush made the bold choice to follow through with the release of its album The Kingdom in the summer of 2020, despite understanding that any plans to tour in support of the record would remain on hold indefinitely.

Once touring was again possible, Bush struck out on one of its most acclaimed tours in years. Last fall, the band added yet more fuel to its newly revitalized creative furnace with perhaps its best album this century, The Art of Survival.

Frontman Gavin Rossdale tells Q104.3 New York's Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke that the positive energy around his band has been building for years.

"When I picked myself up after [2017], getting divorced and all that horribleness, I thought, 'You know what? I just want to go heavy. I'm just annoyed and mad,'" he recalls. "I was sick of being vulnerable."

"Since then, The Kingdom (2020), we've just done two, really kind of ripping records. I think that people really connected to that. People really responded to 'Flowers on a Grave.' ... You know we've just been on this momentum thing and touring with some great bands ... just building it back up and it's wild because, like you say, it's not like we ever stopped, but it's like the momentum is extraordinary now."

The Art of Survival draws heaviness from much more than the scars of a broken relationship, Gavin adds. Lyrics for the LP's latest single "More Than Machines" explore bigger-picture concepts and Gavin's frustration at recent attacks on women's rights.

"Weirdly, before that song was done, the whole Roe v. Wade issue had arisen, and I was in shock ... I just really felt it, the invasion. I felt protective of the women who've now been dictated to about their bodies. I just couldn't connect to [the logic of it]. Maybe I'm English, maybe I'm too libertarian ... It was just like a thorn in my shoe. ... I'm not a soapbox person, I'm not a political person, overly like that, I'm very human-driven."

Check out the full conversation via the player above!

Bush's latest album, The Art of Survival, is available now!

The band hits the road again in the U.S. this May. Go here for tour dates and more information.

Watch the lyric video for "More Than Machines" here:


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content