The British rock band will play an outdoor show at Kewadin Casino St. Ignace on Saturday, July 18 <\/p>\n
For Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, the only way that he can justify the sacrifices made while touring is delivering on stage night after night.<\/p>\n
And in less than two weeks, fans of the Grammy-nominated rock band will have the chance to see Bush take the stage at Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace, Mich. with opening act Candlebox\u00a0as part of the band’s\u00a0North American tour.<\/p>\n
Rossdale says Bush is \u201cplaying better than ever\u201d these days, armed with a catalogue of rock anthems spanning four decades \u2014 including fan favourites like Comedown, Machinehead and Swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sort of see it as this wild opportunity to mesmerize people and to just get lost in music,\u201d said Rossdale, who was taking part in media interviews from his home in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want them to get lost in music \u2014 if you want them to lose their minds \u2014 you have to act accordingly.<\/p>\n
“So for me, whether it’s 200 people or 200,000, it’s the same intention and the same vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rossdale says that while Bush didn\u2019t play the “same set twice” during the band\u2019s recent shows in Canada and the United States, there will always be a \u201ccore\u201d of roughly a dozen songs the British band will always play for fans live.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can’t really have more than two mellow songs, I feel,\u201d Rossdale quipped at one point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI could be completely wrong, but I just feel that if you start getting into two, three, four mellow songs in a row, people start going to the bar faster than you can say Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fair\u00a0to say that Bush has had somewhat of a unique relationship with Canada: in 1994, the band was forced to release its first two albums under the moniker \u2018Bush X\u2019 in Canada because of an intellectual property dispute between Bush\u2019s lawyers and Domenic Troiano of the Canadian 70s rock band Bush.<\/p>\n
\u201cI literally put the \u2018X\u2019 as the smallest change possible,\u201d Rossdale said.<\/p>\n
The parties eventually reconciled their differences in a \u201cceremony,\u201d according to Rossdale, leading to Bush being able to drop the \u2018X\u2019 in its band name.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’d been approached in the wrong way, I think,\u201d Rossdale recalled of the lawyers\u2019 interactions with Troiano.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’d been approached a bit aggressively, and had he been asked nicely, I think it would have been fine \u2014 but I think they just were a bit short with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Bush released its debut album Sixteen Stone\u00a0back in 1994, rock music was a vastly different landscape, with the \u2018grunge\u2019 tag being applied to bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots.<\/p>\n
That same tag was also applied to Bush.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy European roots were denied in that phrase. I think there were the elements of it in there, of course,\u201d said Rossdale. \u201cIt is an easy reduction, but it didn’t last very long \u2014 and suddenly, grunge was dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it’s just rock music. I make rock music.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fast forward 40-some years, and Bush continues to release albums and perform live for audiences around the world.<\/p>\n
Rossdale attributes the band\u2019s longevity to \u201cpassion and intent and desire.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou fight as long as you want to fight. It’s not easy writing records, it’s not easy playing shows night after night. It’s not easy being away from your life \u2014 forfeiting your life.<\/p>\n
“I mean, to be in music properly, you have to be prepared pretty much to sacrifice your life. You just have to be prepared.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you’re not, it doesn\u2019t really work. It’s quite a wild sacrifice,” he said.<\/p>\n
But the sacrifice has seemingly paid off: Rossdale\u00a0has noticed a new generation of Bush fans at shows \u2014 primarily younger people in their early 20s \u2014 as well as parents bringing their kids to see Bush perform live.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that for a band to get a multi-generational audience is immediately the sign that you did something right,\u201d Rossdale said.<\/p>\n
Bush\u2019s July 18 show in St. Ignace is taking place outdoors on the lawn of Kewadin Casino.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn’t matter to me where I play,\u201d Rossdale said. \u201cWhat matters to me is how we play and the intention behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n