Gavin Rossdale keeping everything zen at home, on the road

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This article was published 25/04/2025 (524 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Gavin Rossdale’s home studio is his happy place.

“I love this room,” the English rock star and feng shui enthusiast says over a video call from his Los Angeles abode.

Wearing a Harley-Davidson tee with his hair tucked casually but deliberately behind his ears, Rossdale is seated in the corner of a white room with red acoustic panelling. There’s a keyboard and a guitar nearby. His workstation is, importantly, facing the door.

“I once had a studio in my old life, where my back was at the top of the stairs. It was really annoying because you’d be playing and waiting for someone to scare you the whole time,” he laughs.

The 59-year-old frontman of British rock band Bush has always been particular about his surroundings.

“When I was writing for Sixteen Stone, I lived in an apartment with, like, five people; there was graffiti everywhere, no carpet on the floor, but I still needed it to be tidy,” he says of the band’s breakout 1994 album.

“I’d vacuum the hallway because I couldn’t stand the dust and the dirt, and once I’d done that, I could be creative.

“When I got into a bit of feng shui, I realized I’m not mental.”

Rossdale isn’t spending much time at home these days, but he is spending a lot of time in the Bush heyday.

The band — which includes Chris Traynor, Corey Britz and Nik Hughes — is in the midst of a global tour supporting Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994–2023, a career-spanning compilation album released two years ago. The tour stops at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.

Rossdale isn’t one for nostalgia and prefers not to dwell on the meanings of songs such as ’90s radio mainstays Swallowed, Glycerine, Machinehead, Everything Zen and Comedown he wrote 30 years ago.

“I have no idea what I sang those songs about when I wrote them,” he says.

However, he is looking forward to returning to Canada after a one-off show in Toronto last summer.

“They’ve given us so much, we have so much history in Canada,” Rossdale says of the country where his band once had to tour as BushX, owing to a copyright snafu with a Canadian band of the same name.

“I like the idea of going to places we haven’t been for so long or places we haven’t been at all — it’s exciting and feels more exotic to go out to places that are off the beaten path.”

It’s been a minute since the band visited Winnipeg. Bush last played at the arena with Veruca Salt in 1997 and Rossdale performed solo at the Burt in 2009.

Attendees at Tuesday’s show can expect to hear early hits and songs from newer Bush albums, including 2022’s The Art of Survival and the forthcoming I Beat Loneliness, set for release in July.

“My excitement is bubbling over for people to hear it,” Rossdale says, adding the first single, 60 Ways To Forget People, from the band’s 10th studio album is sure to be on the setlist.

Prior to heading out on the Canadian leg of the Loaded tour, he was spending a few precious weeks at home playing tennis, going for long walks with his dog and cooking for his three sons — whom he shares custody of with his ex-wife, singer Gwen Stefani.

In addition to his studio, Rossdale also misses his kitchen while on the road.

An avid cook who’s taken the hobby to a professional level, he recently released the first season of Dinner with Gavin Rossdale. The cooking and interview show features the musician whipping up charred pineapple and avocado mousse for tennis pro Serena Williams and beef Wellington for singer Tom Jones while chatting (and singing) in Rossdale’s sprawling hilltop L.A. mansion.

“I was taken by surprise how I have an affinity for it, and if you see food as a really incredible opportunity to sit and chat about your life, which is what I see it as, it’s really fun.” he says.

The show is, unfortunately, currently unavailable to stream in Canada.

And with proper cooking facilities lacking on the road, Rossdale’s usual home-cooked gourmet fare is also unavailable in Canada.

“When I’m in a touring mode, all I know to do is boil eggs and put them in soy sauce and rice wine vinegar to munch on,” he says.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com