Commonwealth Network

BUSH

More Than Ready For

Success At Home

Over the past year, we've become almost blase

about the phenomenal level of success enjoyed by UK rock act Bush in the US,

but this week

the band scaled a new peak when their second album Razorblade Suitcase

debuted at number

one in the Billboard charts.

Razorblade Suitcase shipped 2.5m units in its first week of release, outstripping the first week

sales of REM's New Adventures In Hi-fi by 80,000 copies. It also went to

number one in

Canada and looks set to repeat the success in Australasia.

This achievement caps a whirlwind year for Bush and their US-based label

Trauma Records

after the pair combined to push the band's previous album Sixteen Stone into

the US Top 10 and

on to worldwide sales of 7m units. Intensive gigging also saw the band become

the third largest

touring act in the US this year. "We're thrilled at the scale of their

success, they have a

very loyal following," says Rob Kahane, joint president of Trauma. "Bush have

this work

ethic. They go out of their way to play to as many people as possible and

work as hard

with people in the market as they can."

They used every break in their jammed touring schedule to record a new album

and then

committed to the promotional chores. Former DJ and MARRS figurehead Dave

Dorrell, now

the band's manager, says, "Some bands might have thought about sitting around

for a

year, thinking about a change in direction. Bush wanted to carry on playing

live but with

new material. You have to remember it's two years since the debut came out,

not many

new bands would wait that long to release a follow-up."

Razorblade Suitcase, another dose of powerhouse grunge rock, was recorded in

two

three-week bursts at Abbey Road and Hook End with Steve Albini at the helm, a

choice which

inevitably raised eyebrows but which seemed natural to the band. "He was the

perfect man

for us after coming off the road and performing 230 shows," says bassist

Nigel Pulsford.

"We knew how good we'd become at playing live and we wanted to capture that

feel. No

one's better at putting that dynamic down than Steve. He seemed like a

perfectly

natural choice and we'd always admired his stuff with Big Black through to

his

production work with The Breeders and The Pixies."

Kahane admits to some reservations about the choice of producer, but points

out that he and his

partner Paul Palmer leave the band to A&R themselves, a point confirmed by

Dorrell. "The

bands are very autonomous creatively, we don't have what I call traditional

A&R

guidance," he says. "Steve is painted as some kind of corporate bete noir,

but he's a

damn fine producer. The label was more than happy to give us a shot and the

results

prove us right. We're a real band, we don't want to spend 18 months in the

studio."

As you'd expect from Albini, Razorblade Suitcase features the minimum of

overdubbing, although

the producer claims it's the longest time he's spent making an album in

years. While Razorblade

Suitcase is busy shifting units in vast quantities around the world, the

album's UK release has

been held back until next month. MCA marketing director Mark Crossingham

says, "It

would be suicide to release it into a Christmas market. Our opinion is that

we wouldn't

get the sort of profile we're looking for with the media. Early next year, we

can make

some impact when there are fewer records around."

Kahane, who formerly managed George Michael, believes the fact that Trauma is

now going

through MCA, following its acquisition of Interscope last August, will help

raise Bush's UK

profile. He says, "The switch to MCA has made a great difference. They've

really put

their weight behind us and, since they have had this record from the

beginning, I think

we're really going to see Europe explode."

However, Bush could be forgiven for turning their backs on the UK given the

relative lack of

interest which has seen them shift only 42,000 units of Sixteen Stone here.

"We're not media

darlings in Britain, but that doesn't bother us. We don't have any real

expectations for

this country really. Funnily enough, it is nice in a way to come home and not

be treated

like pop stars," says Pulsford.

Kahane is more candid. "I'm not sure they'd admit this, but I think the UK is

more

important to them than ever. It's their home and everyone wants to be

accepted at

home," he says. With a UK tour planned for February and then another stint in

the US, 1997

looks as if it will be at least as, if not more, intensive than this year.

"We're at the tip of the

iceberg," says Kahane. "They have amazing drive, they're quite the most

talented act

I've worked with and I've worked with some big names."

by Mike Pattenden