Monday, April 1, 1996
By Sona Stepanian
Daily Bruin Contributor
In the recent trend of British bands making it big in America, where a band comes from seems to attract as much attention as their music.
But according to Nigel Pulsford, guitarist for the English band, Bush, his band's music outweighs any nationalistic tendencies.
"I'm not particularly patriotic about coming from England or anywhere else," says Pulsford. "Music is music and I think too much is made out of that. It's a lot of flag waving on both sides the States and England."
The members of Bush; vocalist/guitarist Gavin Rossdale, bassist Dave Parsons, drummer Robin Goodridge and guitarist Pulsford, are currently touring the States in support of their debut album "Sixteen Stone." And as British bands such as Bush and Oasis continue to amass international success, many are quick to label this trend as merely another musical "British Invasion."
"There was all this talk a year ago when we were over here the first time, but I thought it was more of an outing and not an invasion," says Pulsford.
"Sixteen Stone" is a collection of disconnected thoughts, vivid images and catchy tunes. Rossdale's bass voice and emotional lyrics combine to create ambiguous yet revealing tales of a friend joining a cult in "Monkey" and about human sexuality in "Testosterone." He speaks his mind, yet lets the listener interpret the songs' full emotional impact.
The album also introduces listeners to Winston, the fifth and perhaps lesser known member of Bush. Winston is Rossdale's dog and he gets an opportunity to exercise his pipes on "Ex-Girlfriend."
"We kicked him to death and he made a noise," says Pulsford with a laugh.
Leaving Winston behind, Bush is currently visiting American audiences.
"We concentrate more over here and have sort of achieved more success," says Pulsford. "We play sold-out shows at home but on a much smaller scale."
Not confining their fan accessibility to live performances and albums, Bush has also invaded computers. A recently released CD-ROM offers interviews, videos and other bits of information.
"We thought we can either embrace new technology or ignore it. People who like a band like to find out lots of stuff about them and have things like that to look at because it makes it interesting and exciting," says Pulsford. "We'll probably do another one and film it ourselves and interview ourselves because I wasn't happy with some of the way the interviews turned out. There wasn't a lot of depth to them."
Although this widespread exposure and success are welcomed by the band, the members have been forced to change their lifestyles and adjust to living on the road.
"Occasionally we get recognized when we go out, but it's not to the point where you can't go out," Pulsford says. "All it's really changed is that you're on tour all the time. You don't really have a home life."
Maintaining a private life seems to be difficult also. New rumors about the members generate almost as often as one of their songs is played on the radio.
"That's the price of fame in one sense," says Pulsford. "There hasn't been an awful lot of truth in them so far. When there is some truth in them and there's an unpleasant truth, then I suppose it's time to worry."
The band members, who did everything from interior design to driving ice cream trucks, got together while painting. After changing their name from Future Primitive to Bush because of trademark problems with the initial name, the members turned their attention from painting houses to making music.
Three years and a triple platinum debut album later, the members are far from any serious occupational worries, and are currently working on material for their sophomore record.
"We record a new album in June. We are going for the more bare-bones, performance pieces rather than highly polished versions of songs to get more of the atmosphere and the meaning of the song across," says Pulsford "We've been working on it as we go through the tour which isn't the easiest way to do it. But we've got good crowds every night. They are pleased to see us so that makes it all worthwhile."Members of the British band, Bush, are currently in the United States promoting their debut album, "Sixteen Stone."
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