Alternative Press Magazine, Nov 1999- Issue 136
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BUBBLES.
Science!
BUSH figure out the way Things work
Three years in the world of alterna-pop can be an eternity, and the last time Bush had a record of new material on the charts--1996's Razorblade Suitcase-- Monica Lewinsky was still having blue-dress encounters with out supreme leader. And if all had gone to plan with their new Trauma/Interscope release, The Science Of Things, fans wouldn't even be seeing that until next year. The final 12 months of this century had been determined to be a "stupid" year by the band, and in a fit of whimsy, they decided to hold off on releasing their new album.
"Well, 1999 is a dumb year," acknowledges drummer Robin Goodrich*. "But we're too impatient. The songs are a year old already, and it'll be nearly two years before we get to go out and tour with them. And playing it to strangers is what it's all about."
A couple of million strangers are what Bush-- Goodrich*, guitarist Nigel Pulsford, bassist Dave Parsons, and frontman Gavin Rossdale-- are hoping will come back out from the woodwork to make The Science Of Things as platinum as their previous two studio albums, Sixteen Stone and Razorblade Suitcase. A couple of million fans who might be surprised at what they hear on songs like "The Chemicals Between Us," "Prizefighter," "Letting The Cables Sleep," and "Warm Machine." With Science, Bush have left the grunge building almost completely, substituting electronic gimmickry, vocal effects and orchestral programming instead.
"We've experimented a bit more." allows Goodrich*, "and we've sculpted things in a slightly different way. The remix album [1997's Deconstructed] influenced us a little, and we quite enjoyed how other people interpreted our music. We could have gone and recorded it in three weeks, and we sort of did, but after a month, we just started fucking around with it."
"It was a case of taking the time to experiment," remembers Pulsford. "And experimenting was like smashing your head against a brick wall until you find a wall that doesn't hurt."
What they ended up with is definitely Bush, but the record's considerably more immendiate and-dare it be said-catchy. Clearly, the band are still underneath all of that knob-twiddlying, but Science is defintely not going to sound like another retread.
"We wanted to see if Bush could remix Bush, essentially," explains Goodrich*. "Just take a little step left from where we'd naturally be. And it's worked. I think. It's worked for bands I really like, like Tricky and PJ Harvey, some of the most eclectic and interesting music out there. Unfortunately, people don't buy those records like they should. Certainly they don't buy them like they buy the other shit that's around, like Mariah Carey."
Certainly not the way they buy Bush records, anyway.
"Well, yeah!" enthuses Goodrich*, before pausing. "Although I don't like Bush being used in the same sentence as 'shit records.'"
--Randee Dawn
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*Sadly, Alternative Press magazine misspelled Robin's last name. Rather that Goodrich, it's supposed to be Goodridge.
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