Gavin Rossdale: “Oh Shit... Where’s the Horizon?”

How would you describe yourself? What kind of a person are you?
I’d say I’m quite a few different people rolled into one – like all of us, actually. I don’t think that I’m particularly special, we’re all just different from each other in special ways. It’s as if every chapter of our life is the sum of those parts that make us who we are. We all have these different journeys, and I feel like I’ve journeyed a long way. But I also think I’m a lot of fun to be around. I’m a good person to go out to dinner with.

What drives you? What keeps you going?
I really hate to say this, but in the first half of life, when you first begin, it’s the pursuit of excellence. When I was a kid making music, I made music with no horizons. I didn’t know the future, and I didn’t think I had to think about the future. Then you reach the second half of your life and you become an adult and you go, “Oh shit . . . there’s the horizon.” I’m a pretty good self-editor. I don’t just assume that something I do has to be good. You really have to be honest with yourself. In every line that I write, if I can’t hold it against David Bowie’s lyrics, my internal critic at least gives me a little glimmer of hope. If he destroys everything I write, then I know I haven’t got a very good song or very good lyrics. Then I have to keep pushing. I think there have been times in my life, when I was younger, where I thought I was done with something and I didn’t need any more editing. Now I think in a much clearer way.

What do you think of your old songs from the nineties?
Obviously, I’m really proud of them. They gave me this life. They gave me an entire world. I’m in debt to them. But I’ve never been one of those people that calls them their babies. They’re songs. Looking back, I understand the naivete, I understand where I was at musically, I understand every song I’ve written. I’m clearly not a child prodigy. I was sort of a late starter. I’m amazed at my blind confidence, some kind of blind faith that I could get it together to make a song.

How did you get started with music?
I was listening to music for a long time before I even thought I could make music myself. Nobody in my family played a musical instrument. I was living with my father when my sister’s boyfriend gave me a bass guitar when I was fourteen. I didn’t play it, however, I just kept it in my cupboard and it felt really good. When I was sixteen, I tried to be in a band and sing, but we spent too much time worrying about what we should call ourselves. We did like two rehearsals, did a jam song . . . nothing. But then, when I left school, I decided to make music. I think when you’re seventeen, you do become pretty arrogant, and you just think that you know everything and that you’ll be fine. I gave the only musician I knew a cassette of songs of mine to put music to. That was very brazen, youthful. I wouldn’t advise that to anyone. My path was a tightrope, a man on a wire between two great buildings.

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→ Read the full interview in rampstyle #30 »Blue Skies«. Release: 20. November!