at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
St. Pete Catalyst: The album is called I Beat Loneliness, but you\u2019re on the \u2018Land of Milk and Honey\u2019 tour. It\u2019s named after a track from the album. Why?<\/p>\n
Gavin Rossdale: It could be the \u2018I Beat Loneliness\u2019 tour, but \u2018The Land of Milk and Honey\u2019 just felt like Xanadu.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0\u2018The Land of Milk and Honey\u2019 is a melodic song. I\u2019ve heard you talk about how melody is very important to you. In a world of heavy music and guitar riffing, why is melody key to what you consider a successful song?<\/p>\n
For me, personally, it provides the magnetism. It provides the magnet. If there\u2019s no melody in a song, it kinda runs through me. Like water in a sieve. Nothing to hold onto. I\u2019ve always liked trying to find that sweet spot between super heavy music and ear candy melodies that work their way into your system. I can\u2019t help it.<\/p>\n
System of a Down, \u2018Aerials\u2019 is my favorite song of theirs. I think melody is the key to people\u2019s hearts, you know?<\/p>\n
I like being melodic, but I\u2019m conscious of being too melodic, that I\u2019m, like, too weak. Showing vulnerability! [laughing] So it\u2019s like constant balance of the right thing.<\/p>\n
Plus, I grew up on \u2026 my parents had like four records. And what they did have, between Roberta Flack and Queen, it was all melody-based. And so it goes in there. And then I spent years going to school, and being in sort of austere church settings. Which is ironic, as an atheist.<\/p>\n
I often think that I mined the hymns for the natural cadences.<\/p>\n
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Can we talk influences? What was it that motivated you to get into this rock \u2018n\u2019 roll racket?<\/p>\n
For me, it was probably the threat of getting a job. I was like \u2018That sucks. That\u2019s no way to lead your life.\u2019 So I had a better idea, I thought. I can remember facetiously saying to my dad, when I was about 12, \u2018Isn\u2019t this weird \u2013 this is going to be my job.\u2019 And I\u2019d sit there and write some shitty verse, and some shitty melody. He looked at me like he felt sorry for me. He rolled his eyes like \u2018What\u2019ll I f\u2014ing do with this kid?\u2019<\/p>\n
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Were there specific artists that made you twist and shout?<\/p>\n
I just was in awe of music. I grew up \u2013 very Malcolm Gladwell of me \u2013 there was a record store at the top of my street. I would go in and I\u2019d get into Sex Pistols, and they\u2019d be like \u2018Try the Doors.\u2019 It was a wide range of stuff, but the bands I really loved were X-Ray Spex and probably Psychedelic Furs.<\/p>\n
The first Psychedelic Furs album, that was the first album I ever bought, and there was something great about it. They were a huge influence. I don\u2019t talk about them enough. I listened to them the other day and I realized, oh my God. I\u2019m still trying to be in the Psychedelic Furs at times, you know?<\/p>\n
It was wild, you know, music touching me. It wasn\u2019t Motown or my parents\u2019 sounds.<\/p>\n
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It wasn\u2019t Roberta Flack.<\/p>\n
Yeah! Although \u2018Killing Me Softly\u2019 was a staggering song. Unbelievable.<\/p>\n
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There was a period where your personal life was getting more attention than the music. Are you glad that\u2019s behind you?<\/p>\n
It drew a lot of attention, and I understand. What are you gonna do? I didn\u2019t want it to define me, and so I worked enough so that, to an extent, it hasn\u2019t. These unfortunate things happen, these terrible life lessons. And when you\u2019re in this position, you kind of grow up having everyone experience what you\u2019re going through with them.<\/p>\n
On that subject, why did they release the video of Justin Timberlake? (Editor\u2019s note: In March, police in Sag Harbor, New York released bodycam footage of Timberlake\u2019s 2024 arrest on suspicion of DUI.)<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t believe I watched it. I was like oh, you\u2019re a f\u2014king hypocrite for watching it. I just thought, what a shitty thing to do, take someone literally at a very low point, a really low point \u2026 what\u2019s the function of this other than to humiliate someone? Why are they putting that out there? It shouldn\u2019t be public domain.<\/p>\n
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Are you saying that\u2019s the way you felt at the time \u2013 \u2018leave us alone, we\u2019re not public property.\u2019<\/p>\n
Well, it\u2019d be a bit na\u00efve to think you\u2019re not public attention. You may not be the property of the people, but if you sign a deal to be known for what you do, you\u2019ve got to accept that, that\u2019s what it is.<\/p>\n
So no, that would be a bit na\u00efve, to be like \u2018I can get away with it! I can do anything I want!\u2019 I mean, I understand that.<\/p>\n
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Never thought I\u2019d say the words \u2018Poor Justin Timberlake,\u2019 but here we are.<\/p>\n
That thing where you get people at their lowest, it\u2019s just gross. I like the idea of really intently trying not to be a shitty gossip, just a foul human like that. As man, it feels a weak pastime.<\/p>\n
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What does the future look like for you, as far as creating and pushing hard?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m in the middle of doing that. I\u2019m eight songs into a record. Always just trying to learn more, and be more interesting. And it\u2019s strangely inspiring that I just have to consider Mozart and Radiohead, and I say, I\u2019ve got a lot of ceiling \u2013 a lot of headroom to go.<\/p>\n
So, just keep doing it, keep trying to find stuff that\u2019s interesting. I\u2019m very inspired by U2, I love them, and their new EP. He (Bono) is singing about Renee Good; it reminds me of that MLK song, [singing] \u2018Early morning, April 4 \u2026\u2019 I think it\u2019s noble because he\u2019s just a very conscious man, wonderful man, and they\u2019re a great band.<\/p>\n
But I look at it from my own perspective: what do I care about? (On I Beat Loneliness) I was just obsessed with mental health and the pressures that are put on people.<\/p>\n
People come up to me all the time, and they do not reference anything outside of the lyrics. And what the lyrics have done for them. It\u2019s the most incredible thing. Because I\u2019m English, so I can\u2019t take myself that seriously.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s really good to know that the work has been there for people, in a way. So I enjoy following through on that.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dynamic, dramatic and moody, the music of the British rock band Bush is cinematic in its scope. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-264445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}