Bush are set to unleash their ninth studio album, The Art of Survival, on October 7th. Leading up to its release, Heavy Consequence caught up with frontman Gavin Rossdale to discuss the new LP, the band’s tour with Alice in Chains and Breaking Benjamin, and more.
The Art of Survival comes two years after Bush’s last album, The Kingdom, which was released in the midst of the pandemic in July 2020. The veteran UK act is essentially supporting two new albums, having missed out on touring behind The Kingdom upon its initial release.
As for the album title The Art of Survival, Rossdale told us via video Zoom (watch above), “I think it’s a shared experience everyone’s going through. The weirdest thing about the whole pandemic is that it clearly separated everyone, the whole isolation thing, but ironically everyone was separated together under the same pressures. Whoever you come across, you just hear these consequences of the last few years and what it’s done to everyone.”
He continued, “I think it was such a trying time … and it just seemed to be really an apt title and a common emotion that everyone has shared.”
Rossdale also discussed the single “More Than Machines,” in which he addresses a woman’s right to choose. The song was released shortly after the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade. “The Draconian reversal of that law … it’s just like these old men deciding what these young girls, in what’s probably the most challenging times of their lives … how to control them.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Rossdale also spoke about the songs “Heavy Is the Ocean,” “Creatures of the Fire” and “1000 Years.” In addition, he talked about how tour mates Alice in Chains helped shaped his musical tastes prior to forming Bush.
Watch our interview with Gavin Rossdale in the video above. Pick up The Art of Survival via Amazon, and grab tickets to Bush’s last few shows with Alice in Chains and Breaking Benjamin via Ticketmaster.
Trouble viewing the interview in the video player above? Watch on YouTube.