The Stefani-Rossdales Shop

The most adorable family in the world Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani were out with their children in Los Angeles this weekend with him in Levis I love that they are such normal parents and seeing Gavin wrestle with the stroller is great. No Doubt recently announced they are going out on tour and Gavin is apparently going back out on tour soon also, he recently performed in Los Angeles at The Esquire House

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Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale enjoy a laid back Thanksgiving Day trip to Coldwater Canyon Park

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The Rossdales do Christmas shopping

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Gavin Rossdale-family time

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Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani seen leaving the Sarah Silverman concert at the Nokia Theater.

(Looks like Gavin has the hump with the paps)
Date: 21st November 2008
Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani seen leaving the Sarah Silverman concert at the Nokia Theater.

By Nicole Powers
Nov 21, 2008

For a man capable of making so much noise, Gavin Rossdale is very soft-spoken, his somewhat guarded reticence being understandable given all that he's been through.

The singer, songwriter and musician is currently enjoying his first Billboard Top 40 hit since the heady days when he fronted the post-grunge band Bush. For a while in the mid-nineties their singles ("Comedown" and "Glycerine") ruled the airwaves, and the band toured virtually non-stop -- with a quaint little Orange County band called No Doubt supporting them.

After the Bush's demise in 2002, Rossdale struggled to keep his identity in a strange La La Land amidst the turmoil of a lost band, a new marriage (to No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani), and the tabloid attention that came with it. Rossdale's 2004 release under the Institute moniker failed to make its mark. It was, "for all intents and purposes, a solo record, it was just a bad marketing decision to call it something else," says Rossdale, who picked himself up and came back with what he regards as his second solo album, Wanderlust, in June of this year.

The lead song, "Love Remains The Same," entered the Billboard Hot 100 at # 76, rising to #27 in October 2008. It remains on the chart for the twenty-fourth week at the time of writing. Rossdale describes the Bukowski-influenced track as a "drinking song -- my drowning of the sorrows song." And it would seem it has done just that, as its success allows him to sate his desire for the road with a full-scale tour scheduled for Spring 2009.

We caught up with Rossdale at his manager's offices in Westwood, CA, and chatted about the album, the song, and the feelings of isolation that inspired the rousing ode to friends, love and libations. But first, in the spirit of friendship, it seemed only polite that we formally thank him for counting SuicideGirls amongst his MySpace Top Friends.

Gavin Rossdale: I love SuicideGirls forever. Who doesn't? What's not to love?
Nicole Powers: So is that actually your MySpace? Do you keep it up, or is it someone else?
GR:
I do it. I'm slightly obsessed about it. When I'm doing stuff in the day I always take time out. I keep up. There's a couple of pages now that I haven't answered, but generally I'm on it.
NP:
So we're very flattered to be in your Top Friends then.
GR:
Oh right, yes, you are!
NP:
It's a very socially tricky thing, who's in your Top Friends and who isn't.
GR:
It's a political statement. It's amazing, I see that over a million and a half people have watched my video on there. So there's a lot of traffic going through there. And I get some people who write to me and complain, like my guitar player who was like, "Why am I not in you Top Friends?" I mean he should be in my top friends, he's one of my best friends.
NP:
It's worse than missing someone's name out during an award acceptance speech. At least now it's not restricted to just a Top 8. It's weird, I noticed one Christmas and New Year, not last year but the year before, that all the Brits were bored around the holidays and joined Facebook en masse. Everyone I knew.
GR:
Yeah, I use Facebook, but I only really do it with people I know, whereas the MySpace is twenty thousand close friends who I'm not sure I know so well, but it's fun being friends with everyone. "Thanks for being my friend. Thanks for writing a comment." It's easy to do nice things for people.
NP:
You've got a song called "Drive" on the new album. In the press notes you talk about the fact that it's about you being a Brit in L.A. and feeling alone.
GR:
Alien, yeah. I've become reconciled, I really love living here. I don't have any problem with it, but at first I was a bit, you know, I didn't really know anyone, I was just here for love, and work, in that order -- because I could have worked somewhere else.

I think a lot about Soho in London, my old stomping ground, and going out in London. It's weird because I have a different life here. I moved here and my life is just different, it's a different style, you know. You kind of go to people's houses more here rather than actually really going out a lot.
NP:
Well you can't go to bars, because you can't drink and drive, and you can't get cabs home very easily. It you're driving, a night out is two drinks and that's it.
GR:
Designated driver -- or pregnant wife -- sometimes they're both the same person. [laughs]
NP:
So you need to have another kid.
GR:
No, no, no, I'm fine for now, thanks.
NP:
You called the new album Wanderlust, and obviously, you spent a lot of your adult life on tour. Do you miss that? Do you have wanderlust right now?
GR:
Yeah, I really miss it. Some people are born to be on tour and take it on, some people get done in by being on tour, and some people get done in by being on tour but love it. I think I'm the latter, you know. It's like it's a form of combat, with your body, with your mind, socially, you're ability to function with the same people in the same bubble. Do they drive you nuts? Do you drive them nuts? How you miss your friends and your family.

It's really tough. That's the reason why Bush isn't working right now, because one of the guys just doesn't want it anymore -- doesn't want the travel, doesn't want the fight. It reminded me of when I first started working on films. I was realizing that, God, it's such fucking hard work that even the crap ones deserve your respect. You've still got to slog it out and turn up for work everyday, and believe in what you do.

So being on tour, I love it, and totally miss it. I'll be going on tour soon. Now I've got a new complication because I'm so crazy about my son. I can take him for some of it but clearly not all of it, and that's a bit of a heartbreaker. When I was in Bush, it was all about leaving my dog. That was always the payback. I always used to think, "OK, you've got this unbelievable life, so everything has its cost." There's no free lunches right? That was the price. It was traumatic leaving my dog. It used to destroy me. I'd be silent, depressed, down for a couple of days and then I'd be, "Well, you're a musician, and things are looking up compared to where they were, and so you've got to deal with it and that's the price." So I'm sort of sensing that that's coming again.

It's a bit sad. I've been away on different trips, and I ring home and speak to him. He's just old enough now to speak to on the phone, and he says, "Daddy, get off the airplane." But yeah, I am looking forward to going and playing. I love playing. It's so fun to sing, it's such an ancient job. It's a minstrel. You wander in and you play -- it's just brilliant! The crowds...I mean basically, to be in a band, especially probably singers, you know, such needy people. This need for expression, and large gestures, and connection. 'Cause you're out on the stage, and even the most extreme form of performer, Johnny Lydon, being Richard III in the Sex Pistols, he wanted to hate everyone but at the same time he wanted to do it in front of everyone. It's the affirmation thing -- that you're worthy or something twisted like that.
NP:
And being in a band, there's the constant camaraderie.
GR:
Or not.
NP:
You can hate these people, but you love them too -- it's like you often hurt the people that are closest to you.
GR:
It is pretty testing to live at such close quarters with people, but I feel quite lucky. I mean some people you hear talk in bands about how, "Why would anybody be in a band when you could have the freedom?" If you can to be successful enough, you could have the freedom of not having to defer to someone else's opinions, no democracy, you know. But for me in Bush, you know, I really loved being with those guys, it felt very connected. We went through so much together, we didn't really wear it out. And if ever we wore it out between each other, it's pretty mutual and you'd just make it back up. I think if you start out as friends there's a pretty good chance you'll stay friends. So I feel pretty good about that.
NP:
Do you still talk to the guys?
GR:
Yeah, I mean I reached out to them. Two of the emails got sent back because I had the wrong emails in my Blackberry. But I heard from the drummer, Robin [Goodridge], he's on tour with someone and he's like... You know, I can't really work them out. They're English, you know, weird and a bit twisted -- you know, a lot of subterfuge. I mean they're not ringing me up. They probably know what's going on with my record but they wouldn't be ringing up saying, "That's' great!" Whereas the American friends I have are the kind of people that do that, but English people don't do stuff like that. It's way too nostalgic.
NP:
English people tend to resent success rather than be supportive of it.
GR:
Yeah, so, I haven't been hearing from them. The more the record does well the less I'm likely to hear from them. [laughs] But that's OK, I understand.
NP:
With this record, in a way you've been able to create the best of both worlds, of being a band and being a solo artist. You recorded it almost as a band, in five days with five band members, hired guns like Josh Freeze. It's a choice situation, but you still have the control of a solo artist.
GR:
I have and I love that. I've only ever made records actually playing as a band.
NP:
In the notes for "Love Remains The Same," you reference Bukowski as an influence. Did you ever get to meet him?
GR:
I didn't ever meet him, no. I would have loved to have met him, but never got the chance. When I first began to live in L.A. I'd be kind of [excited], you know, to see the areas he'd write about, and imagine the places he was.
NP:
What were your favorite pieces of Bukowski's writing?
GR:
My favorite book is one hundred percent You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense that was the one that really nailed it for me. And Play The Piano [Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument] Until the Fingers Begin To Bleed [a Bit]. There's obviously Post Office and Factotum, the novels, they were fun and irreverent, and like him as I got to know him through interviews and footage and stuff like that. But I mainly liked the poetry. I liked the brevity, and how succinct he was, and how he could put a whole world into a page.

It just has a way with it, which is weird, because I also liked [Allen] Ginsberg and Ted Hughes. Ted Hughes is a bit more flowery, like a proper poet, lyrical. "Lovesong" is probably my favorite poem of all time...Ginsberg is completely different, because he is super flowery, super stream of consciousness. I just thought if I had these disparate inspirations it would go to make a more interesting view. If you only had lyrical poets as a backdrop to stuff, like all the Beats, you were into all of them, it would be one-sided. Bukowski to me was so far removed from the Beats, he was much more alcohol and street and flop house and struggle and that side of life.
NP:
Some of your Bush material, "Comedown" and "The Chemicals Between Us," referenced chemicals. Are they part of your life now?
GR:
No, no, no, no. Just the fun follies of a life well lived.
NP:
While you're having the fun and follies of life, when you're busy leading the life, you don't think about the fact that you might have kids, and they're going to read about that life. How will you explain that to them?
GR:
Oh, evasive. Evasive, really evasive, really slippery. Just like poker-faced and slippery.
NP:
That's your guide to parenting, poker-faced and slippery.
GR:
I guess, on that subject. Because anyone I've ever known would have a very shaky leg to stand on if they're trying to sort of pontificate to their children. People I've seen in various states of entertainment. So it's a very tricky point. In fact that's the biggest thing that you've touched on. It's very perceptive, because it's like, it's the one area, it used to be that when you do interviews that would be the one area you didn't give a shit about. You'd let it rip because you want to be just as wild as Jim Morrison, and just as wild as the band next door. You know, if Liam's mad for it, everyone's mad for it, you know, all that stuff. And now it's like, "Whoa! Err? Hmm!" I got asked that the other day and got super slippery about it. Super slippy. Born Slippy. Now there's a great band.
NP:
Parents have the stock phase, "Do as I say, not as I do." What do you think was the issue your parents were slippy about?
GR:
My parents were evasive in a different kind of way -- busy -- and so that never really came to pass. The generations were so distinctly different. My version of fun and their version of fun, I think, were so separate. I don't think there was ever a case of like finding my dad's stash, or something like that. That never really happened, more the other way around, you know.
NP:
You have a song called "Happiness." What's happiness for you?
GR:
Happiness. [thinks] Happiness, well, it takes many forms. I mean I take that line of Spalding Grey, the great Spalding Grey. He talks about perfect moments. I don't know whether you've seen Swimming to Cambodia, he's an amazing actor. He's no longer with us but you should see Swimming to Cambodia. It's all about perfect moments. Life is just a series of perfect moments perforated by the fucking drag of the rest of it.

So happiness can be anything from, you know, I experienced happiness this morning when I was on a step at 8 a.m. helping my son crayon on the pavement, and eating toast and drinking coffee. I was really happy. Then I was also really happy last night. I was at a dinner for twenty-two people, drinking in a private room, eating amazing food, laughing and just having a really great time. And when I'm on stage, or when I finish a show; I played three nights ago. I played this party in Santa Monica, and it was so intense because there were acrobats, there were trapeze artists, there were flame-throwers, and all these stalls. I did this acoustic show, and the audience was like this close to me, all the way up. It was a party, it was packed, and I sang a bunch of songs, and it was just magic. I just thought it was one of the most funnest nights. And so I find happiness everywhere.
NP:
You seem to have done really well staying focused on the important things: your family and your creativity. And you have been surrounded by a lot of tabloid shit. You got shit with Bush because you were either too much or too little like Nirvana, just by virtue of the fact you hit around the time everyone was obsessed with searching for the next big grunge thing, and obviously the elephant in the room is your marriage to Gwen, and there's that whole tabloid monster, but you seem to have done really well at just keeping your head down and staying focused. How have you done that?
GR:
Because I realized that everything is so fleeting, and there's not enough time for the great things, let alone the crappy things. And clearly they'll be times when those outside elements begin to crush you, and the claustrophobia sets in, the shrinking wall of a Terry Gilliam film. As soon as you feel that way I just know the only way out is through, you know. So suddenly, if I realize it's really getting me down, I consider that that's all winning, and I'm losing. I'm just too English or Scottish –– I'm half English and half Scottish –– I can't stay down. I get hit down, and then I just get up. I just have to find a way through you know because what else is there to do? What other way is there?

And then the other one is to appreciate what you have. For every positive of course there's a balancing thing that is not as good and is taxing, but I just think that you can't expect to always have it your way. My life is so extreme, that when it's amazing it's shocking, and then when it's painful it's equally as shocking, so I just try to keep away from the pain.
NP:
So have there been times when it's been too much?
GR:
Yeah, but there is no such thing as too much. The only thing which is too much is death. So it's never too much. You may think it's too much. I always think, let the calendar flip and in a few days with a few nights' sleep...We're durable, we're all durable.

check out more great interviews at suicidegirls.com

Conversation with Gavin Rossdale on Kids Music

LISTEN HERE

Gavin Rossdale: Kingston's "Got a Better Wardrobe Than I Have!"

He's only 2, but Gavin Rossdale says his son Kingston is already showing early signs of being an entertainer.

"He's got a better wardrobe than I have! I can definitely see a performer in him," Rossdale told Usmagazine.com at Saturday's 10th Annual Home for the Holidays event in Hollywood.

But Rossdale added that it's "such a worry -- it's such a weird world. I mean, he's been photographed nonstop since he began.

"He had the first nine days off of his life - after that, it's been full- [throttle]," he said. "It's pretty intense. Who knows what's going to happen?"

Meanwhile, things with 2-month-old Zuma are "going great," said Rossdale, who recently celebrated his six-year wedding anniversary with Gwen Stefani.

"He's really easy, and it's smooth sailing right now," he told Us. "It's good times.

But I want to bottle them – to take them away with me, so I can sip this elixir of the fun."

Most of the time, "we travel together," Rossdale told Us, but when he's away for work, he relies on "phone calls. It's rough leaving them all."

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Bettie Magazine Interview: Gavin Rossdale

Back when Bush was a band, and not a lame duck President, Gavin Rossdale was Commander-in-Chief of British grunge.

It's been 14 years since Gavin Rossdale released a Bush record, moaning "There's no sex in your violence," — our flannel covered teenage hearts leaping at the sight of his tousled hair and English inflection. Our resin-clogged minds never thinking too hard about those lyrics.

This summer, Rossdale released Wanderlust, a solo record that is more chilled out than anything we remember from his Bush or Institute days. But even though he's a family man now with two kids by his wife/superstar/Harajuku queen Gwen Stefani, he's still worth a second glance. Or a third. We can’t stop staring.

Because you were Bush’s lead singer, your solo record still sounds sort of like those albums. Just…mellower.
Bush is really defined by angsty, soaring songs with heavy guitar and sex-obsessed basslines. So I had to keep the sex-obsessed basslines. After being in Bush and then doing the Institute thing, I just thought don’t detune and don’t rely on guitar so much. I had to find a different voice. For two months I thought there was going to be a Bush record so I wrote “You’re With Us or You’re Against Us” because I thought, I’ve got to get that band feel. [But] I’m always going to sound like I’m in Bush because that’s my voice.

That’s true, though your first single, “Love Remains the Same” is much more mellow than what we remember from Bush.
It’s been weird because I’m not even half the people know who’s singing it or that singer used to be in Bush. It’s such a weird world. It’s so fragmented. Like, at my house today, there was a guy having a meeting there and he goes, oh my god, my 14 year old daughter and all of her friends love your song. I was like, wow, that’s cool. How do they like the record? And he’s like, oh…I don’t know. It’s such a weird idea. If I were a kid, and I happened to like someone and I knew for a fact that there were twelve other songs by the same person I might give it a shot. I bought singles when I was like 12. If you like something, you get the record. And, even when they like that song, they [fire alarm goes off] That’s us!

By the time we return from walking down five flights of stairs, touring a law office, and waiting for a substantial amount of time in an elevator lobby, Rossdale has a burning question for Bettie when it comes to us staring at dudes.

What do women want?

All sorts of things…but we tend to pass on the oiled-up guys.
Men don’t always need that of women. Showing a Brazilian wax isn’t a prerequisite for a beautiful shot.

Tell that to the people working in porno! Now, over the past few years, you’ve stayed in the paparazzi spotlight but weren’t in the limelight. It’s that part of why you wanted to make this record?
Absolutely. It was such a bizarre few years to be a musician. I never stopped working, it’s just about when you’re allowed to bring records out. If they don’t drop you, they delay your record. Not for any other reason than all the powers that be are like, well, hang on, if we wait another month, maybe you’ll come up with something better. Keep writing. It’s maddening. You’re in creative jail.

Then why not just go indie?
You can be signed to Joe Schmo records and bring out records once a month, but it’s hard enough to have an effect when you’re coming out on a major label. Most records generally fail now.

What does that do to your psyche as a musician?
It’s a really bad time to be starting a new venture, which Gavin Rossdale is. I’m just some commercially uncommercial. To be doing a rock band in England at the time I did it was when Brit pop was really happening. It was the worst idea I could have had. I didn’t know I’d even get to America, let alone build a career here. So, I’ve always done things the wrong way and I enjoy that sort of blind faith that goes into believing that the good will out.

You’ve said “Love Remains the Same” has a certain Bukowski-ness to it. How so?
I don’t think it’s remotely as good as that, but the Bukowski side of it is commiseration in drink. But, it’s far more lyrical and not nailed to the concrete sidewalk than Bukowski. I’ve got other stuff that I think is more in line with him. I love the way he writes.

Which books are your favorites?
You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense, Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, Play the Piano Drunk So That Your Fingers Begin to Bleed a Little [sic], Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window, stuff like that. I’ve got all the videos of his live performances I could find, I’ve got some interviews with him, I’ve read transcripts.

Did you ever get to meet him?
No. Why would he want to meet me? He’d be like, “Fuck that guy!” [laughs] He’d much prefer meeting my wife I think! [laughs] So would a lot of people.

Was that hard – until you released this record — that some people weren’t thinking of your music and thinking of you as Mr. —
Thank god there are now pictures of me singing – pictures of me doing my job! That’s my greatest thing about this record. I mean, you make a decision in life of what you chase, and for some people who are quite careerist, that could destroy them. If you looked at it on paper, you’d be like, that’s shit. [laughs] that’s not good. But that would be a ridiculous way to live your life. It’s just been a storm. No one could have predicted what happened to her, and I’m not going to leave her because that happened. [laughs] You know what I mean? It’s something to deal with. It’s a lot to deal with in some regards, but it’s not a lot to deal with in your house. Just outside. It’s now being corrected. Now, I’m the one who’s working and doing all the shows. It’s a good lesson. To have knee jerk reacted about that, even though it had been over a period of years, would have been such a waste. To give up something real for something imaginary. Also, no one ever seemed to pick up on this, but what I thought was interesting was the fact that: why should every woman who is brilliant be denied a private life that is fulfilling? There was a sense that that must kill him and if [a woman is] going to be that, you have to be alone and she doesn’t deserve to have that. I think equal is good. It’s progressive.

We love your feminist spirit.
There was all this sort of backhanded, twistedness. It used to be everyone’s a critic. Now everyone’s a published critic. We were in a restaurant in London and this guy was sitting opposite of us. His wife was really excited to see us there and he was really indifferent about it. I asked Gwen a question and that became the subject of his blog, sort of misquoting her. I remembered thinking, you were so disinterested when your wife was so excited, and suddenly, that’s your blog. I wish I had fucking thrown my food at him. I regret not doing that. Do you like noodles? On your head?

That would be a very Johnny Rotten of you. He’s one of the people you admire — why?
For his maverick sense. He was just so brilliant and such a great performer, referencing Richard III for his physicality on stage. And for his desire. While the Sex Pistols were imploding, he just starts PiL. And has two bands that are really important. He’s so fucking stylish and funny and has a great vulnerability to him as well, which is why he’s sort of touchy. You see all that stuff about him walking off all the time. I just fucking love that. He, to me, embodies punk. And when I was growing up, punk was massive to me. That was right as my life was beginning when I was thinking about culture and I began with the Sex Pistols. It’s always been embedded in me and I’ve always been a bit annoyed with myself that I tend to write with a romantic sense of with a sense of lust and longing and suffering and sometimes I want to be like fuck yeah and write other stuff. But he did that, so what are you going to do?

Be a sex symbol. Do you mind that you’re still considered one? After all, you did do that shower scene in the video for “Love Remains the Same.”
I did do the shower scene. Well, I like to keep clean. It’s kind of funny but it’s a complete compliment.

Posted by Bettie at 9:37 AM
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Gavin Rossdale poses for photographs after taping the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption's "10th Annual A Home for the Holidays in Los Angeles.

Gavin Rossdale and 2-year-old son Kingston

BEACH BOYS
Life's a beach for Gavin Rossdale and 2-year-old son Kingston as they enjoy the ocean view during a family vacation in Mexico on Tuesday.
people.com

Q&A: Gavin Rossdale on Being a Target for Plus-Sized Underwear, the Chances of a Bush Reunion and the Lameness of Shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond

Posted 11/11/2008 1:09:00 PM by Mark Yarm
Filed under: Bush, Gavin Rossdale, Gwen stefani, Interviews, No doubt, Robert De Niro

This summer, Gavin Rossdale cracked the Top 40 for the first time since 1995—when he fronted the British grunge band Bush—with the ballad “Love Remains the Same,” from his first solo album, Wanderlust. It’s also been a good year for Rossdale personally: He and wife Gwen Stefani of No Doubt had their second son, Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale, in August. Blender.com recently caught up with Rossdale to discuss his big solo hit, his Hollywood career and what he’s heard of the new No Doubt album.

Since “Love Remains the Same” appeared in the Nights in Rodanthe trailer have you found more middle-aged housewives showing up at your gigs?

Getting some plus-sized underwear thrown at me, is that what you mean? I think it’s more than just that trailer. Before Nights in Rodanthe, the song was on Hot AC [adult contemporary]. That definitely creates a whole different thing: “Wow, I haven’t seen some of these people here before.” The song’s been out since June, and it doesn’t show any sign of slowing up. It became one of the songs of the summer. That’s an interesting feeling, because I’d sort of gotten used to being slightly more obscure.

So you were competing with the Leona Lewises and the Rihannas for song of the summer?

That would be a quick race. I’m sure they’d win it, so I wouldn’t try to compete with them. Maybe I’d win a running race against them, though.

I bet you could outrun them. So on this album you worked with Bob Rock, who has produced Metallica. Were you easier to work with than Metallica?

I worked longer hours, that’s for sure. And no therapy sessions. But every morning when I’d come in, Bob would be like, “How are you doing?” And I’d say, “I’m doing fine.” And he’d say, “No, really, how are you doing? Are you OK?” “Yes, I’m fine, Bob, leave me alone.” After two years of therapy with Metallica, he couldn’t help it.

You’ve been in some movies over the years, including Constantine and last year’s How To Rob a Bank. Why do you always end up playing the bad guy?

Probably because that’s how I’m seen. Probably because I’ve got the British accent. I usually get killed as well, so I’m usually dead and bad, or bad and then dead. So yeah, I’ve got to try and break out against the typecasting. But it’s pretty good fun. Problem is, whenever I do films, all the gaffers and the electricians are like, “Hey, where’s the record, man? What are you doing?” And I feel like a geek—I’m in a suit or something with a blown-off face.

What kind of scripts do you get now?

Not bad things. But the problem is, the better the scripts, the less chance of me getting it. There’s always 10 really fantastic A-list actors. I did read for the De Niro film, The Good Shepherd, with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. I did like six auditions for the part that Billy Crudup ended up playing. I was reading when they had Leo [DiCaprio] playing the lead, and then they switched to Matt Damon. If the lead actor changes, it clearly changes the entire casting. So I blame it on the casting [switch]—that’s what I like to think. I was disappointed. I just wanted to work with De Niro because he’s so brilliant.

When I Googled your name earlier, one of the first things to come up was pictures of you and Gwen and your son Kingston going to Bed Bath & Beyond. What’s the greatest length you’ve gone to avoid the paparazzi?

It’s impossible. It’s taking the mystique away—it’s really fucked it up. I do not want to see the Beatles coming out of Subway, you know what I mean? What a cack thing. “What’s he up to?” “Oh, he’s shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond.” It’s so lame. But it’s part of the fucking landscape.

So what’s it like being 50 percent of one of the most beautiful couples in the world?

I have no idea, I’ll ask one of those couples the next time I see them.

But you and Gwen are always rated as a highly attractive couple.



I think that this whole tabloid thing is so harsh on music. Even when I was getting killed in the music press, I preferred that to the tabloid world. These are such depressed times, of course I understand why those magazines exist. But I miss that mystery, don’t you? Bed Bath & Beyond, however you slice it, isn’t that cool.

No Doubt are supposed to put out an album next year. Have you heard any of the new material?

Just the odd ska beat. But I don’t know what it’s going to be like.

What are the chances of Bush reforming?

Quite high. Wanderlust was going to be a Bush record for about two or three months. And then the guitar player, Nigel [Pulsford], who originally was the one who didn’t want to tour anymore, suddenly didn’t want to leave his family. I understand. I think he felt that he missed his daughter growing up the first few years. It would have been a great year for Bush; it would have been a really good return. No one stole anyone’s motorbike or wife, so it’s always possible.

Gavin Rossdale Talks Wanderlust, Jesus Lizard and Dark, Dingy Dive Bars

by Erin Broadley
November 10, 2008 6:00 AM
Though it pains me to admit this, I honestly can't remember the first thing Gavin Rossdale said to me. It's not that I wasn't listening, but that I couldn't hear a damn thing. It was one of those days in Los Angeles where you miss every green light, you lose your cell phone under the car seat and your lunch consisted of black coffee and cigarettes. In my case, I had just arrived in Westwood to interview Rossdale and barely stepped off the elevator on the 20th floor of Azoff Music when I was ambushed by this deafening siren for what appeared to be a four-alarm fire drill.

Rossdale and I, along with countless Azoff employees, were ushered down the emergency stairwell, into a hallway and -- when the coast was clear -- crammed back into the elevator and allowed to return to our upstairs meeting room. The former Bush frontman is currently promoting his solo debut, Wanderlust, and funny enough, one of the tracks is called "This Place is on Fire." Coincidence? Probably. Regardless, the fire drill was the ultimate ice breaker and once the sirens stopped, the conversation flowed.

L.A. Weekly: So when was your last fire drill, man? I don't think I've been in one since grade school.

Gavin Rossdale: Yeah, a while ago. I really can't remember the last one. I think it was at a hotel.

Did you set the fire?

No, no. But I know who did [laughs].

I heard you’re friends with David Yow (Qui, formerly the Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid).

M-hmm. It began with me being bold enough to ask the Jesus Lizard to come out on tour with Bush. That was one of the best things about being in Bush was my ability to take out on tour who I wanted. Some people would say, “Get bands that are worth something to the ticket,” and Jesus Lizard obviously was worth a lot to the ticket. Certainly there were many bands I took that weren't big bands, but to me they were such great bands that they mattered. Taking the Jesus Lizard on tour was fantastic. We became good friends with David.

He's a force, isn't he? [Laughs]

I saw him the other night. I saw Qui play at Spaceland. It's great; he is a force to be reckoned with. He is a bright light in my sky.

Tell me about any music you and he have worked on, or some of the experimental pieces you’ve dabbled in that don’t fit the mold of what people might expect from you?

David is a really gifted, tastemaking musician. He's got his whole angle so he creates weird opuses and I squeeze on them and see what we can come up with. I like being involved with him artistically. He's a great illustrator. In my studio I have a blowup treatment of the photograph he took, it's about 12 feet wide, this massive piece on canvas. I always thought he was one of my favorite lyricists ever. And I'm totally enjoying Qui. I'm looking forward to their second record.

He’s great and I think he fits into that outlaw frontman role within the rock world. Some of the other writers you've spoken about before -- Tom Waits, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski -- they’re outlaws in their own way. Where does your attraction lie in these outsider characters?

Yeah. It's weird in this bizarre tabloid world to say it, but I've always felt the kinship with the outlaws and with the real mavericks [laughs]. It appeals to me. What I've done in my life is very much against the grain of what was around me and what was available to me. I really did break my own mold. No matter what anyone thinks of me, I have lived an artistic life and I've sustained it. There's a natural sense of life as suffering. I think everybody suffers and there's this thread through [artists] that I like which is, not only do I think that they're good, but they write about ways to deal with all the shit. I don't mean in any sense that I feel unique, I just think that it's much more interesting to embrace and illuminate the darkness in your life and that's the way through it. It doesn't mean that I'm manic depressive and I'm definitely not a Scientologist but...

Good thing we cleared that up, because that's totally what I thought coming in here.

[Laughs] Yeah, I hate to shock you about that. I'm not a goth or something like that. I'm not lost. I'm not in a heavy metal band where I think Satan is real, you know? [Laughs]

Right, your feet are on the ground.

My feet are on the ground, even when I'm on the 20th floor. I connected with Bukowski because he could pinpoint that pathos and suffering in the shortest forms almost like haiku. There was no wasted space. Bukowski is like bare knuckles dragging on the street... this human condition without any artifice. I couldn’t believe that someone could cut to the quick like him and be that succinct.

How does what we're talking about factor into your new record?

With Wanderlust I actually tried to pull back from these literary techniques that go into stream of conscious and make it much more direct. Like, take a breather. [Laughs] Can you survive without putting distortion everywhere? Of course you can. I felt it was quite cinematic because when you don't have guitars things become so much clearer. They muddy stuff up. I like guitar bands forever but it’s quite nice sometimes to not rely on that. A friend of mine who's a modern dancer said, “You don't have to be loud to have force.” I always thought that was a really brilliant thing.

On a local note, now that you live here, what are some parts of L.A.'s underbelly that you've discovered and fallen in love with?

Well... what have I fallen in love with. There's an intense rip-tide in Los Angeles. When I first came here all I could see was a concrete jungle. I was kind of shocked by it. I love Koreatown, Chinatown... Koreatown probably more so because I used to live in Los Feliz. I love Downtown and Olvera Street. Now I moved uptown, bringing down the neighborhood, so that's kind of weird. The underbelly I found is the people here. We're spoiled because of the fantastic bands that come through; you can see any great music any night. I like the dark bars. Growing up in England, there are pubs on every corner. Dark and dingy, you feel like it’s the Depression-era or something. I like that you're in deep conspiracy with those in there, like only you guys know how fun it is to have a cold beer in the day. I used to love the Drawing Room, Ye Old Rustic Inn. The rip-tide effect, you can be walking along the shore in Los Angeles and not know what's going on beneath you and it can pull you right out. But that's the nature of the city. That's the beast.

Wanderlust is available now through Interscope Geffen A&M Records. For more information check out Rossdale’s official site and My Space . Expect a tour early 2009.


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Gavin Rossdale: Zuma is 'Very Buddha-like'

By Scott Huver

Gavin Rossdale's son Zuma is only 2 months old, but he's already exhibiting a Zen-like personality that inspires his father.

"He's super mellow, and at the moment very Buddha-like," Rossdale told PEOPLE at BAFTA/LA's Brittania Awards, where he performed Thursday night.

Still, Rossdale says Zuma has been a little bit fussier for mom Gwen Stefani than his older brother Kingston, 2, who was an even more blissed-out baby. "Apparently Zuma's more trouble, but I thought that he was perfect all the way."

Being a dad to the Buddha-esque babies has also had a spiritual effect on the former Bush frontman. "What I've found from having children is that they just want to make you be better," said Rossdale. "Beforehand, without children, I think that I was probably more reckless and thinking a bit less about the consequences, and now I want to make sure I'm good for them when they check me out."

Rossdale's enjoying a career comeback with his first official solo album Wanderlust and the hit single "Love Remains the Same."

Still, that success comes at a price. Being away from his kids leaves him "feeling a bit bad. Like, I left my son. He was on holiday and I left the older one to come here. So I feel bad leaving them."

"I haven't really written any songs about [my sons]," he says. But Rossdale is happy that fans are responding to his softer sound. "It's just meant a lot, really, because of your faith. You keep making records and people hear them. I love singing and making music and so I'm into the success."

Performing at the Brit-centric BAFTA/LA event returned the London-born singer to his roots, something he maintains at home. "At my house?" he says. "Yes, for sure. English roasts. Good tea. What else do I bring? Irony. A lot of irony. A very dry, caustic humor. You might not get it, but just as you think you haven't got it, it turns around and whips you."

The one purely American thing he can't do without? Grinning, he says, "My wife."


people.com

Gavin Rossdale arrives at the 17th Annual BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel

Gavin Rossdale arrives at the 17th Annual BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel on November 6, 2008 in Century City, California.

The Rossdales leave LA for?

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Gavin Rossdale & Son Love Lunch Dates Together

Lunch with Kingston Rossdale is one of his musician dad's favorite weekly gigs.

"I have so much fun taking Kingston out for lunch; it is something I look forward to on a regular basis," Gavin Rossdale tells PEOPLE about his 2-year-old son with wife Gwen Stefani. "He really loves noodles. I think that has become his favorite food. We try to find new places to order them."

Rossdale, 40, says that he takes Kingston out alone so mom can take care of their 3-month-old son, Zuma.

"Gwen is amazing with Zuma and does most everything while I just hang out," he admits. "Even though we share responsibilities with the kids, Gwen definitely does more than I do."

Rossdale, an accomplished tennis player, spoke with PEOPLE Saturday night during the 19th annual Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic in Delray Beach, Fla., where he and tennis star Justin Gimelstob beat Jim Courier and Jon Lovitz in the first day's match.

So why don't Gwen and the kids come watch Daddy play tennis with other stars like 12-time Olympic medalist Dara Torres, and comedians Billy Crystal and Chevy Chase?

"Gwen never comes because she doesn't do what I do," says Rossdale, all decked out in a handsome black tux. "She doesn't play tennis or get ready for events quickly!"

source people.com

Gavin Rossdale participates in the Chris Evert and Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Day 2 event at Delray Beach Tennis Center