Bush’s Gavin Rossdale has no illusions about whether his kids like his music
Gavin Rossdale has been in the music lexicon for more than 30 years, and in that time he has learned that just because you are related to someone does not mean they must, or will, like your music.
He has no illusions about his kids’ tastes.
“I am very clear on the job title; I am their dad. So I don’t ever impose my music on them,” Rossdale said in a recent phone interview with the Star-Telegram.
“When it comes to my shows, they may say, ‘That was a good show.’ I’ve always thought if you had to ask them if they like it, it’s going to be a lie, or not favorable. They are going to tell you they like it.”
Rossdale was famously married to former No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani; the couple were married from 2001 to 2016, and they have three children together. Despite their parents’ music resumes, Rossdale never tried to dictate music choices to his children. They like it, or they don’t.
“One thing I’d tell them is that I would write songs about them,” he said, “but having kids now — thinking eldest daughter now to my youngest son — I don’t want to suck for them. I just don’t want my kids to have to suffer that.”
Rossdale, 60, is back with the band that made him a name, Bush. The group is now on its “The Land of Milk and Honey Tour,” which stops at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving on Tuesday, April 21.
He recently talked to the Star-Telegram about his career, bullying and his favorite new artist.
Star-Telegram: Is what you do fun, or is it a job?
Gavin Rossdale: Shoot me if I had one complaint about it. It’s such a gift of a life I’ve been afforded. I live in gratitude for it.
S-T: Do you still listen to new music?
GR: I love to check out what’s going on with younger bands. I love Sleep Token. It’s an interesting band that people seem to love, or not. Bad Omens is another. I think the most talented person in music is Billie Eilish. My 17-year-old son likes Zach Bryan and country music. He likes yacht rock, and Chris Cross.
S-T: A performer will often say, “I’m my own worst critic.” Do you believe that?
GR: It happens with me. I torture myself in the writing process. And torture myself in many ways, but I end up with something [that] is right. That criticism is about if I get the idea across [in the song].
In terms of outside critics, people don’t like it, or they don’t connect with your taste in things. You get a bad review from Rolling Stone, or whatever, it cuts you to the core. But if you go to the dinner with [the reviewer], you may just not want to go to dinner with them because you don’t have the same tastes. Or they’re wearing an ugly T-shirt.
S-T: You said in an interview with Fox News that you don’t want to raise jerks with your children; how do you do that one?
GR: It’s funny you say that; we’re in a mini-dilemma age with kids at my kids’ school concerning bikes. You know when your kid is being a jerk. It starts with not sharing. I remember another way of putting it; I went to the primary school year and coming across kids I knew who were bullying my sons, and I didn’t like this one 6-year -old. I said, “Stop it.” Because I know this guy when he’s 30 or 40, and I am not going to like him.
The danger and warning signs; it’s spoiled kids who don’t want to share. The sad thing is annoying kids become annoying adults.
S-T: I read where you felt you were a target of bullying; how do you define that?
GR: Let’s go the other way. The consequences of it are the loners who go off and do mass shootings. I felt quite ostracized in some ways, and they tried to bully me, but that didn’t do so well.
I went to a very austere school which had this process of first-year school, and they’d have to make toast for the older kids. It was a cold, English school. This guy told me to do that, and I smacked him as hard as I could in his face. I can still see it. I never was asked to make toast again. Bullying is this awful ostracization of people who don’t deserve it.
S-T: What is your relationship with fame?
GR: Relaxed. I feel I’m fortunate to have a nice life of a working musician. I am trying to grow an audience, ergo why I’m on the phone here.
I don’t think about the big boys or guys playing the stadium playing the big shows — Coldplay or the Foo Fighters. I have an arena life. I just try to keep making great records. That is the driving force. My thing with fame, it’s weird; if I go into a restaurant few people know me. Back in the day, 80 percent know me. Musicians tend to get people that love your band.
S-T: What was your smallest paying gig?
GR: I was such a hustler with my first two bands; we’d go out and have a laugh and print 1,000 flyers and go to these clubs all over London building up to the show for a few weeks. It was a great way to talk to girls. We were the best promoters.
We would play the London Dungeon, which is a horrible place, and we’d get 1,000 people. They didn’t care about the music, but they liked the event. That’s how I did it.
After I got dropped by my record distribution, I had to go back to work. I painted 11 dentist offices. It was the most Kafkaesque. I thought I had done it; I had beaten the odds. It was a steady diet of failure.
S-T: You’re also an actor now. What is harder — acting before a camera or singing before a live audience?
GR: I love them both. When I write it, I have created it from scratch. There is a degree of control with that. Contrary to that on a movie what I like about it is creatively it’s easy to change ideas. The hardest thing is to start from a blank page. What I like is working with good writing.
The better the writing, the easier the acting. I love the rolling of “ACTION!” — you can’t mess it up. If you do, it’s the worst. I’m an adrenaline junkie who has enough Jewish in me not to do bungee jumping. If it makes [you] feel life; no cold plunge, or cold bath, you are going to implode, and I don’t think that makes for a fun life. I choose the side of pressure rather than sedentary.
S-T: When you were younger which artist gave you the approval either to your face or to someone else that meant a lot to you?
GR: That took a long time, trust me. People didn’t want to stick their neck out for this band. I’ve never found a way to say thank you for this, so thank you very much for asking me this. It was Lou Reed. He was doing an interview, and he said, “I’m presently enjoying this band, Bush.” To me that was so great. I’ve never met him, but to me that was enough.
S-T: Thanks so much for your time and best of luck with the tour.
GR: Thanks, mate. This was fun.
