Bush Fans Become Breathless

Bush Fans Become Breathless

The Trauma lawsuit that shook the Bush world.

Just a few years ago, Bush was in court for the right of their real name to be used in Canada. They won.

This time, the matter is more serious. There is no doubt that Bush's new album is highly anticipated, even more with a delay. Unfortunately, our beloved Bush men have a bigger deal to work out through court.

Senior writer Gil Kaufman from Sonicnet reports:

Label Sues Bush For $40 Million

British grunge-rockers allegedly breached contract with Trauma Records by failing to deliver LP.

The record label for British rockers Bush has filed a $40 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against the popular grunge quartet, claiming it failed to deliver its latest album The Science of Things but rather is shopping the record elsewhere.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Friday, alleges that in failing to turn over the record, the band violated the terms of its 1996 contract with Trauma.

"We're alleging that they are under contract to Trauma and obligated to deliver an album to the label," said Trauma attorney Skip Miller, of Los Angeles law firm Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro, LLP. "And that they've completed the new album and are shopping it around to other record companies, which is a blatant breach of contract."

The suit against the bandmembers -- singer Gavin Rossdale, guitarist Nigel Pulsford, bassist Dave Parsons and drummer Robin Goodridge -- and their U.K. corporation, Vineland Limited, alleges that the band failed to deliver its third studio album despite repeated demands from Trauma and, additionally, failed to provide a recording budget for the album.

Bush's U.S. spokesperson, Michael Pagnotta, said he had no comment about the suit. A British representative for Bush could not be reached at press time.

Pagnotta said the band is "just about finished" with The Science of Things, the follow-up to its multiplatinum 1996 album, Razorblade Suitcase. The album was produced by indie-rock legend Steve Albini (Nirvana) and spawned the radio hits "Swallowed" and "Greedy Fly".

Pagnotta said that since November, the group has recorded 16 songs for the new album with producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. The new numbers include "Altered States" and "Ban The Bomb."

Miller said he expected to take depositions from the members of Bush within the month, but would not speculate about the reasons for what he termed Bush's "non-delivery" of the album. "Their lawyer as much as admitted to us [that they are shopping the album to other labels]," Miller said. "It's common knowledge in the music industry."

A late 1998 press release from Pagnotta stated that The Science of Things was expected to be released in spring 1999 and that the band would follow with a world concert tour.

The suit states that the group failed to live up to a contractual requirement that it deliver the new album to Trauma within five months of the label's requesting it, and no later than 12 months after the delivery of Razorblade Suitcase.

According to the suit, Trauma is seeking $40 million in damages to cover the costs of the undelivered album, the options on three future releases, and the damages suffered by the label in anticipation of its inability to market and release those albums.

Formed in England in 1992, Bush were among the first U.K. bands to pick up on the grunge-rock sound of American groups such as Nirvana. They signed an American deal for their debut album before securing a British-label contract, a scenario typical of their career-long pattern of being higher-profile in the U.S. than in their native country.

Sixteen Stone, Bush's first album, made the group a U.S. radio staple with such hits as "Everything Zen," "Comedown" and "Glycerine." The Christmas 1996 release of Razorblade Suitcase was followed in late 1997 by Deconstructed, an album of their songs in electronic remixes.

Miller described the relationship between Trauma and Bush as "very cordial," saying that the label was responsible for promoting Razorblade Suitcase and Sixteen Stone, both of which have sold over 4 million copies worldwide, according to the suit.

"Those albums were a huge success, and they're a good band," Miller said. "And Trauma is the one that put them on the map, which is why [the label is] totally mystified about this."

The suit alleges that, following the tremendous success of its first two albums, the band "began to show the negative signs of sudden success when in or about early 1998, the band members began making what were to become repeated demands to rewrite the 1996 Recording Agreement for the primary purpose of drastically increasing the percentage of royalties payable by Trauma to the band."

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