Rossdale's new band has its roots in Bush

August 31, 2005|Globe Correspondent

It's been nearly a dozen years since Gavin Rossdale stole a Neil Young riff, called it ''Everything Zen,'' and graduated from clubs to amphitheaters and arenas as Bush became one of the biggest bands of the late 1990s. If it was a bit of a shock to see him return to the realm of mere mortals with his new band, Institute, at the Paradise on Monday, he eased the dissonance by adjusting quite nicely to the venue.

There may have been a method to playing a more intimate setting. Institute's debut, ''Distort Yourself," won't be released until Sept. 13, practically guaranteeing that the audience would be composed of Bush fans unfamiliar with any of Rossdale's new songs. With expectations adjusted accordingly, the band was able to focus on introducing people to its material, playing all but one track from the new album.

It doesn't hurt that Institute sounds almost exactly like Rossdale's old group. The singer's throaty yelp is the same as it was a decade ago, and new songs like ''The Heart of Your Love" and ''Boom Box" possess the same moody drive and pop-grunge howl that had Bush dominating the airwaves way back when. Even with three new musicians behind him, ''Everything Zen" and ''Machine Head" came out sounding almost identical to the originals. If Rossdale had taken this band on the road as a reconstituted Bush, it's possible that no one would have batted an eye.

But Rossdale has chosen instead to start over, though he certainly learned well from his megastar past (and current status as husband of megastar Gwen Stefani). Even with his apparent comfort in a midsize club, some of his stage moves during ''The People That We Love" and ''Information Age" were outsized enough to work in the stadiums that he used to play. More importantly, ''Boom Box" and the slow, pinging ''Ambulances" show that he remembers a thing or two about how to construct crowd-pleasers. Institute could easily have been a vehicle for ego gratification, but for now, Rossdale seems content simply being a singer in a band.