Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Bush moves through time, musical revolutions

Editors Note: This interview was completed prior to the canceled April 24 " MTV Campus Invasion Tour" which Bush was headlining.

As the turbulent winds of popular music direct the plight of both listeners and musicians, the band members of Bush say they have bent to nobody, keeping to the same path that has kept them in the fore-front of modern-rock.

This route, drummer Robin Goodridge said, involves continuos movement within the band's style.

"We had to develop our sound," he said. "We don't want to be like the Rolling Stones, who have been putting out the same record for the past 30 years."

Goodridge said the band reinvents itself for both the fans and themselves.

"We don't want total repetition," he said. "I don't think it's very good for the band. It's real fun changing things up a little."

Goodridge said the band's development is obvious in their three studio albums, 1995's Sixteen Stone, 1997's Razorblade Suitcase, and the recently released The Science of Things.

"You see that in the progression of the three - I like to look at it as a trilogy," he said. "As we are getting older, so are our fans. People who saw us in 1995 on the Sixteen Stone tour are now five years older."

First gaining notoriety with Sixteen Stone, Bush has consistently kept up in the hard-rock with each album selling at platinum levels, including a re-mix release titled Deconstructed.

Goodridge said the band's success is not only indicative of talent, but also Bush's dedication.

"We've proved (that) we're survivors," he said. "When people first heard us, they said we're just a one-hit wonder. We've proved that if you are really are a good band, you can survive any musical revolutions."

The most notable change in the music that concerns Goodridge is the current pop-music and R&B trend - something he said the band will trudge through.

"Can you think of any 18-year-olds who would say that the Backstreet Boys are their favorite band - I didn't think so," he said. "Who knows, next year rock may be on all the time and we'll be right in the middle of it."

As part of the MTV Campus Invasion tour, Goodridge said he hopes to keep the both the band's name as well as their over-all style in the minds of listeners.

"At the moment, they (MTV) can't or won't play rock, so it's our way of keeping in touch with MTV," he said. "We need to move on and keep things interesting for ourselves."

The band members of Bush, all of whom are English, said the music scene in Europe is much less yielding for the band's style. Their music has found a home on American radio, which has featured roughly a dozen Bush songs.

"In Europe, mainstream radio is pop not rock," he said. "In the U.S., there is a mainstream in rock, and Bush is pretty much down the middle of it."

While Goodridge said this changes the audience response, fans in both Europe and the U.S. have a lot in common.

"The audience is just the same - very passionate - it's just that we have a harder time getting radio play (in Europe)," he said. "In the U.S., we have 13 singles, but in Europe, we only have six. The intensity of the show is the same, but there isn't that gasp when the audience hears a song from the radio."

Goodridge said radio air play is not the only difference between Europe and U.S. music scenes. In Europe, the band plays smaller venues while in the U.S., they are featured in stadiums.

"We do play a lot of big shows, but they are mainly festivals. In Europe, we play a lot of two thousand capacity shows," he said. "The band is the band. We enjoy the space that we have."

Still, Goodridge admitted that the band conforms to the size of the audience.

"You've got to go with what you've got. In smaller venues, our show calls for high octane, and we let loose," he said "At large shows, audiences expect more theater."

After playing together for nearly a decade, Goodridge said the band has kept a strong personal relationship and has not focused on the large profits.

"What made us want to be in a band in the first place (was) an uncontrollable desire to be in a band," he said. "Never let it be about money. You're in the wrong business if you want money. Get into the Internet if that is what you want."

Goodridge said the future of the band is still up in the air. After touring, he said he and his bandmates will return to the studio - but only for a short while.

"The general feeling of the band is that we'd like to make a six week record," he said. "We don't want to spend six months in the studio all the time."