Back in the early 90’s, a small London based band called BUSH was making strides in the growing grunge craze. The band was formed in 1992 and currently consists of members Gavin Rossdale (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Chris Traynor (lead guitar), Corey Britz (bass guitar), and Nik Hughes (drums). Despite being a UK band, the group found major success in the States with their first two albums: Sixteen Stone and all time No. 1 album Razorblade Suitcase.
With inspiration from amazing bands and singers like Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Hole, and Soundgarden among others, Bush fit right in with the new alternative rock sounds that dominated the 90’s and still continue to play a large part in the music world. The original band broke up in 2002 but reformed in 2010 releasing five more subsequent albums.
In 2001, musician, songwriter, and producer Chris Traynor joined the successful band and maintained his place as lead guitarist when the band reunited. Traynor is now touring with Bush on their Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023 Tour across the United States until September 21, finishing in Washington, DC. Their most recent album The Art of Survival was released in 2022, making new music long overdue and possibly on the way. The band will be playing to a packed house tonight in Cincinnati at Riverbend Music Center.
We spoke with guitarist Chris Traynor about his favorite Bush songs to perform, his favorite Gibson guitar, and how he almost became a cowboy in lieu of a musician.
You guys have been out on tour this summer. Any highlights of the tour so far or favorite cities that you’ve been to?
Well, you’re not allowed to pick a favorite city, but we started out in Bend, Oregon and that was incredibly beautiful. We’ve only been on tour for a little over two weeks. The first two weeks are really cramming a lot of stuff for traveling and getting the show together and stuff like that. We haven’t hit a bad city yet, and the shows have been just absolutely incredible.
BUSH is playing Cincinnati this week. I’ve seen you guys play at Riverbend multiple times over the years. Do you have any favorite things to do in Cincinnati or favorite Cincinnati memories?
I went to see a Reds game, and that was incredible. I used to try to see those games when we were in town. We have a lot of friends out there. The last time we were in Cincinnati, a friend of ours named Jay took us to an old school hamburger stand that’s been there forever. It’s so interesting to me because I’ve been to Paris, like, ten times, and people are always like, ‘you’re so lucky.’ But I can’t tell you a thing about it because we are so in and out. We land places at weird hours. We play a show and wake up in a parking lot behind the venue, so we don’t get to see a lot of the places that we go.
You’re playing your Loaded: Greatest Hits Tour, but there’s obviously lots of Bush material to pick from. What’s your favorite song to play off The Greatest Hits?
Honestly, I could choose any one of them. I have really wonderful memories of all of them. One that I don’t play on, that I get to watch, is a reimagined version of “Swallow” where the band doesn’t play. Gavin is singing, and that’s just really beautiful and brings new meaning to the lyrics and new clarity to that vocal.
The last number one we have, “More Than Machines,” is the first song that we play on the encore, and it has an intro that Nik, our drummer, created. It’s really cool and it’s got huge energy. There’s a line in there that Gavin sings, ‘Girls are in control. Not the government, not the government’ and I just love seeing the women in the front singing that line and getting pumped up on it. It’s a lot of fun. Great energy.
You’ve played guitar almost your entire life. Did you ever consider a different career path?
Yes. During Covid, I started working for a family that sells ranch and trail horses and doing a little cowboy-ing, and I kind of thought I might not come back. It’s in a town called Weldon, which is about 45 minutes outside of Bakersfield, California.
So you loved it on the ranch?
Yes. It was just amazing because horses don’t talk back, and it’s all about how you present your nervous system. That’s a different way of communicating.
What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without playing guitar?
During Covid, I stopped for a while when we had The Kingdom come out and that record went to radio and was doing good with “Flowers On A Grave.” I also had produced and co-wrote some songs on a Chester Bennington record, and that was doing well. I just realized that things weren’t going to be the same for a minute, and I put the guitar away.
It was kind of healthy for me because I care so much about music that sometimes I care too much to make a mistake. So, in a way, there was some level of fear holding me back from being as good of a guitar player as I wanted to be. Working with horses and just being out by myself in the high desert changed my perspective on that. It was good to take a break because I used to practice 4 or 5 hours a day since I was a kid, and I stopped doing that.
You’ve always played Gibson. I recently did the behind the scenes tour at the Gibson Garage in Nashville and saw the treasures that they have in that place. Do you have a most prized guitar?
I love the Gibson Garage, by the way. That little vault room in the back, it’s crazy. I have a lot of guitars that I love. They all have a story. The ones that you keep all have a story. The first guitar that I ever had was my great grandfather’s, who I never met, but he left me a pre Gibson Epiphone Archtop. I got made fun of for having that be my first guitar when I was a kid because it was not a cool guitar at the time. That guitar, I love it and it will end up sitting on a porch with me somewhere, God willing, when I retire from all this craziness.
You live in Topanga, California. What would be your perfect day? What would you tell people to do if they were visiting?
I’d wake up in the morning and go to get coffee. There’s two real coffee shops there, and there’s one that you go in and you think you’re just going to grab a coffee, but there’s a lot of musicians in my town, so you could run into people from bands. You end up spending a little bit more time in the coffee shop than you planned, because you see somebody that’s off tour at the same time as you or a friend that you haven’t seen in weeks.
Then I drive a little bit further up the road to my horse, and I turn them out and I groom them a little bit, and then I’d go riding in Topanga State Park, which is the largest wilderness area within a city in the entire United States. There’s deer and mountain lions and bobcats and giant snakes. Then I’d come back and drive just a little bit down the road to the Thai place on the beach and eat some Thai food, watching the sunset on the beach.
What’s a destination that is on your travel bucket list? Where do you want to go that you actually can see, not on a tour bus?
I’ve always wanted to go to Egypt. I’m not sure when the right time to do that is, but ever since I was a kid, I have wanted to see the pyramids in person.
What can fans expect from the shows during this tour?
We have such an age span. It’s like a multi-generational fan base, but I think everyone can expect to hear authentic, heartfelt versions of songs that they love and grew up with; or they’re just learning now, or they heard their parents grow up with, or they just heard on the radio, and a band that loves each other and is genuinely having fun performing this music.