Bush Manchester Roadhouse

United Kingdom

Why does everyone hate Bush?

It cant just be because theyre a rock band. Theres none of that big hair, leather-pants-that-lace-up-the-sides nonsense; Bush sound like the essence of Sub Pop, but they look like and are as English as cold tea... Could it be that we just dont like to see Americans having fun ?

Its easy to see how Bush landed that 15 zillion dollar deal with Yankee giants Antlantic while, over in their home of Blighty, their demos lined every record company wastebasket. 'Bomb' has that shimmery Muses/Belly guitar thing, as well as that quiet-loud-quiet Pixies thing. Add singer Gavin's undeniably Vedder-y voice and hey, Kurdt's yer uncle.

Even moody Manchester is prepared to risk life and limb to body surf in the three square feet the Roadhouse allows. Which is, of course, the correct reaction to the wonderful 'Comedown'; it is as powerful and shaggy a beast as anything the Western Seaboard has ever produced.

But weve come a long way down the pop superhighway since the dreaded 'Peralnirvanagarden' virus had us all breaking out in flannel. Sure, grunge is dead, but then so is mod, and were all prepared to welcome a billion Kinks clones with an indulgent smile. No, Bush arent cool, theyre not big, and theyre not even paricularly clever, but faced with the shiny metal of 'Machine Head' or the ,umm, testosterone of 'Testosterone', you cant help but join the floppy fringes as they form human piramids and pop up through the ceiling tiles.

So come on, hang up your button-down, pull on your purple Docs and dive into the sucking heart-beat of 'Everything Zen'. Because Bush need love too. Dude.