2025 proved to be a successful one for both Bush and Shinedown. The two rock bands joined forces throughout much of the year, co-headlining an impressive live production that fused their catalogues in a way that celebrated their respective legacies.
Connecting in this way offered them an opportunity to reconnect with fiercely loyal fanbases in different territories, while also pushing each band into exciting new territory as new music either experienced release, or was bubbling away in the pipeline.
For Bush, 2025 saw the release of their tenth studio album, I Beat Loneliness. As for Shinedown, they looked ahead to the eventual presentation of their eighth album, fittingly titled EI8HT, which finally came out in May.
Now, with a fresh year well underway, Bush and Shinedown are looking towards the next installment of this successful co-headline run: a massive tour of Australia and New Zealand in September.
For Australian fans, it will be a fun return from Bush, last here in 2022. For Shinedown, it has been a much longer wait: the American band are coming for their first performances in Australia in over 15 years, as well as their first ever in New Zealand.
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Speaking with Rolling Stone AU/NZ, it’s clear that for Bush’s Gavin Rossdale and Shinedown’s Brent Smith, establishing an unforgettable experience for fans is at the top of both band’s lists.
“The shows are sacred. People who choose to see you perform, you have a responsibility to them to just blow them away,” Rossdale explains.
“What works so well with both our bands is that Brent works so hard at really creating an immersive experience, where people are brought out of their shells and confronted emotionally about things in a good way. The way the bands work together complements each other, and the audience has a tremendously cool time throughout the show.”
Smith agrees. ”We understand that it is on the other side of the world, but we’re bringing all the bells and whistles. As Gavin says, it’s an immersive experience.
“I’ve said it before: between Bush and Shinedown, we have one boss. That’s the audience. When you’re going into a different country, especially when it’s on the other side of the world, there are a lot of people who have been waiting to see us perform… our main goal is to give those people the night of their lives.
That’s the only objective. Hopefully we impress them enough that they will come back to us again.”
These concerts have been as fulfilling for the artists as they are for the arena audiences who have been flocking to see them perform.
The Rossdale-led band, responsible for some of the 90’s most memorable anthems, have continued to push further into sonic territory that has challenged them in the studio, yet has also flourished when it reaches the live space.
The concept of realm-building and developing new creative arcs for themselves is something that Rossdale remains stimulated by as both a songwriter and performer. I Beat Loneliness, he says, stands as a fresh example of how the band’s (and his) relationship to the craft has only continued to evolve three decades into their career.
“Music is such a mysterious mistress,” he smiles. “There are times when it co-operates, there are times when it doesn’t.”
“I’ve really enjoyed this world we’ve built across the last couple of records, a de-tuned, darker, and more mysterious world. It’s opened something up within me. Every song for me is almost like a learning curve about something. I’m never treading water, I’m always trying to see what I can do; how hard it can be, how melodic it can be, how textured it can be. I’m always confronting myself, creatively.”
“There’s a great power in it,” he adds, thinking of how the band’s dynamic — the core comprising guitarist Chris Traynor, bassist Corey Britz, and drummer Nik Hughes — has provided him with additional drive to pour into his own growth as a writer and vocalist.
“Having these powerhouse musicians come in and play, whether they write with me or just write the parts they play, when we get in there and the songs come together, it’s powerful. There’s a shorthand now from all the years we’ve spent together. I’m feral. Chris is really wildly dedicated. Corey is wild as well. The way that we work together — and it may be a combination of these things — the alchemy of the band is what makes things interesting. I like bringing the feral stuff in over the top of what they do. I like that role. If we were all the same, it maybe wouldn’t work.”
A genre-defining band in their own right, Shinedown’s impact on the American rock scene through the early ‘00s positioned them as a band poised to break records, and that they have. With a catalogue that has cracked over 8.3 billion streams, a record-breaking 24 No. 1 hits, and numerous platinum and gold certifications throughout the years, the band continue to aim high with each creative project.
The release of EI8HT follows on from 2022’s Planet Zero — an album that refined the band’s already huge sound. A broad grin spreads across Smith’s face when attention turns to Shinedown’s next creative arc.
“I’ve never looked at music as being just ‘one’ separate genre or thing. It’s just ‘all music’,” he says. “We’re influenced by so many different genres and styles, mainly because that’s the way we’ve been brought up.”
“I don’t think there’s any one Shinedown album that sounds exactly like the other one, in my opinion. Rock and roll is a spirit more than anything. I loved when Ice Cube was on stage being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with N.W.A, he said ‘rock and roll is a spirit’ — he was right. It’s not even a genre of music necessarily — it’s a way of life. There’s a community where anyone from anywhere, at any time, is welcome.”
EI8HT is the third Shinedown album that has been mixed, engineered, and produced by bass player Eric Bass. As Smith explains, by keeping everything in-house during the creation of albums like EI8HT, Planet Zero, and 2018’s Attention Attention, there was a sense of liberation the band fed off when it came to playing with various ideas and threads of influence.
“There’s no rules whatsoever,” Smith explains. “We’ve had a lot of great teachers over the years in certain studios, but when the song presents itself to you, it utilises you as a vessel. You don’t question it, even when you’re looking at putting a record together. If you were subconsciously going in saying, ‘I’m going to make a record that’s totally punk rock, no song will be over two minutes long,’ that’s cool. The way we do it, though, is that we go into the writing and recording process with absolutely no limitations.”
Seeing the way new music continues to affect longtime and new fans alike is something both Rossdale and Smith still thrive on and enjoy. It has been a large part of why these Bush and Shinedown co-headline shows have been so enjoyable for both bands: having the moments of nostalgia bleed in with those of discovery, the creation of new core memories for everyone in the room.
For fans in Australia and New Zealand, they can be rest assured that they will be guided through an experience curated for prime enjoyment by both bands.
“There’s an unspoken bond between the artist and the audience,” Smith says. “When you’re going into any show, regardless of if you’ve been to that city or country multiple times, there’s a guarantee that at a Bush and Shinedown show, there is absolutely anyone in that audience. All colours of the rainbow, from ages 8 through to 80.”
“The fact remains that you are walking in there and there will probably be people in there who have seen you 150 times. However, there will also be people in there who have never seen you as well. That, in and of itself, means that the artist has a responsibility to the audience to not phone anything in. Walk up there like your life depends on it — that’s how you have to go into it. That’s what is exciting about it all for me.”
Rossdale adds, “I know that for all band members, nothing makes a mockery of being on tour than not doing a great show. If we’re going to commit to being away and having these mad lives, the only justification, for me, is to be as good as I can be every night.
“It’s such an honour and privilege to have the opportunity to come out and play, and be wild. So many people would love to be in our position, to be doing these shows with so many people coming out… I have complete confidence in both bands to be themselves very much on this tour, and celebrate music. Celebrate the power of music.”
“When you see both our bands, every single member is intent on changing someone’s experience through the night,” the Bush frontman asserts. “That kind of power creates momentum in the show, it’s undeniable.”
“It’s a crazy, beautiful night for people who love music and for those who have also gone through stuff. They inevitably have vulnerabilities and challenges, life is not always easy. It’s full of twists and turns. Seeing a great band can just lift your spirits, it can lift you up. We have the chance to make it the most important night they’ve had with music for a long time.”
Ticket information for Bush and Shinedown’s ANZ tour is available here.
