Gavin Rossdale is a rocker through and through, so he was surprised when son Zuma started playing country music.
“Weirdly, they like guitar-based stuff,” Rossdale, 58, exclusively told Us Weekly of his kids’ musical taste on Thursday, May 30, while promoting Bush’s new album, Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023. “One son loves the Pumpkins and … Zuma, he’s got the country bug. I have no idea where he gets that from, but he’s got it.”
The Bush frontman told Us he does “support him playing blues scales.”
“[It] is the last thing I want to hear in my house, really, to be honest,” Rossdale explained. “Blues scales — there’s a specific pentatonic scale that rock and roll uses that we’ve never used in Bush. We don’t use that. … So he comes in and shows the pentatonic scale. I’m like, ‘Oh God.’”
Rossdale, who shares Zuma and sons Kingston, 18, and Apollo, 10, with ex-wife Gwen Stefani, said “it’s all good” with his son despite their differences. (Stefani, 54, and Rossdale split in 2015 after 13 years of marriage. Rossdale is also the father of daughter Daisy, 35, whom he shares with ex Pearl Lowe.)
“That’s how much I love him. I will support him making any music. Even the blues,” he said, joking, “He’s got nothing of the blues about, but, well, I suppose everyone does.”
While Rossdale doesn’t get Zuma’s love of country songs, it could be connected to his stepfather’s career. Stefani’s husband, Blake Shelton, has been a country musician since 2001. Shelton, who married Stefani in 2021, has even hosted Kingston at his Ole Red bar in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, to give him a stage to sing as well.
Rossdale, meanwhile, told Us that although he is wowed by his kids’ talent, he doesn’t plan to write music with them.
“That’d be a horrible idea,” he said of working with Kingston. “I think he’s got to do it independently and do his thing. He’s really talented and that independence is a huge part of it.”
Rossdale noted that his “instinct” is to “try and offer” his help to his eldest son, but he’s chosen to refrain. “He’s asked [for] really little help and I respect that much more,” he continued. “It’s much better because if you’re going to make music, especially rock music, guitar music like he’s making, you don’t want, ‘Oh, is my dad on rhythm guitar?’ It just sucks. He’s doing his own thing.”
While Rossdale’s older boys pave their own way in music he is celebrating nearly 30 years with his band, Bush. The group marked the milestone by releasing Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023 in November 2023.
“I have a really persuasive manager. He’s 6-foot-6 and he’s full of opinions,” Rossdale said of how the album came about. “He just said it was a really good way of celebrating all that time. So he just changed my thinking about it.”
Now, Rossdale revealed he feels “good” about the record, especially after seeing how his songs are “in people’s DNA.”
In celebration of the record, Bush is also going on tour and Rossdale is ready to go. “We’re so obsessed about playing live and being consistent,” he told Us. “And being a great band, it’s always the next show that we’re most excited about.”
Loaded: The Greatest Hits Tour kicks off on Saturday, June 1, in Pennsylvania and ends on Sunday, September 15, in Los Angeles.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
