Gavin Rossdale Talks About His Upcoming Solo Album
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 04.10.2008
Some great comments by Gwen Stefani's rocker hubby (JUST KIDDING!), plus a preview of the first single, "Love Remains The Same"...
Gavin Rossdale's first solo album, WANDERlust, is schedyled to hit stores on June 3rd. The first single, "Love Remains the Same," is already avaliable via digital markets.
"The wanderlust I'm talking about isn't that desire to travel and see the world," Rossdale explains with a grin. "It's my overwhelming desire to get out and play music for people. I feel like a racehorse that's been stuck in the stables a bit too long. The doors are locked and no one can find the key -- worse I'm not sure who's looking for it."
WANDERlust finds Rossdale collaborating with producer Bob Rock. He's also anxious to tour behind the set. "This album is my way of saying `Let me out,'" Rossdale says. "I'd love to take my family with me, but I do have a burning desire to go out and play for people again. I've felt too corralled for too long so this deep sort of wanderlust has set in."
On his switch from Bush to a solo career: "There's such a minefield of people who have gone from bands that had success to the solo thing," says Rossdale. "There's a chasm to get from one to the other --it's like Death Valley and you look down and there's fucking scorched singers."
On his less-than-successful post-Bush band, Institute: "We went on tour with U2 and I think those were Institute's four fans right there," Rossdale recalls with a laugh. "I loved some of what we did, especially a song called `Ambulances,' but Institute felt like a really painful left turn. It scared all the chicks away. My goal wasn't to get one hundred of Tool's audience. The expectation was quite high but the reaction was just confused and confusing. There was one guy who came to a show and he had Bush tattooed on one arm and Institute tattooed on the other, and remember thinking, `I've got to road test this stuff first."
On being in a "celebrity marriage" with Gwen Stefani: "It's been a challenge because it's been a tough few years for me because I've been lost in how to define myself in the present tense. With that glare of the publicity on us, how can I not feel like an appendage at times? It takes a tough man to be married to a force of nature like Gwen. `Rocker hubby' if I ever see that phrase again . . . I'm not sure I didn't prefer it when people were just writing, "These guys suck." It's challenging and it forces a lot of humility. There are guys who come and photograph me working out at the gym, and I'm liked guys come and shoot me working in the studio – hook a brother up."
On the new record and working with Bob Rock: "Really I felt like my life depended on this record," says Rossdale. "There are too many records anyway and not enough outlets, so it had to be everything or there was no point...As soon as I met Bob, I knew he was the guy, "says Rossdale. "I really wanted experience; I wanted an overview in the old school way of making album. I really wanted someone with perspective."
"We recorded it old school as a five piece at Ocean Way in Los Angeles," Rossdale recalls. "We recorded everything together and got down eighteen songs in five days, took a week to add guitars from Chris [Traynor]. Then I went to Maui to work with Bob. Bob thought I would get lonely and go mad, but as a husband and father now, I loved being that selfish for a short time. I'd get up, go for a swim, have a salad, and then work for ten hours until Bob chucked me out."
On WANDERlust's vocals: "We had a system," Rossdale explains. "Bob's used to handholding, but I'm quite clear about what I want. I'd always come in and do five takes. Then Bob would ask me for one over the top theatrical vocal. After that, I'd go out and play with Bob's miniature pet donkey, his dogs and eighteen cats I'm allergic to. And when I'd come back Bob would have comped my vocal back together. I'll never know how much he used of what take. I only knew it worked."
"I'm on the gang plank," he says. "One more fuck up and I'll never be allowed to record again, but I won't be alone. Yet the thing is I feel totally emancipated because there is such a sense now of being able to write myself back into music on my own terms. There's a sense of freedom for me now. When you're tense and needy, you're going to miss. And when you're free and loose, you're going to hit the ball the furthest."
