Singer-guitarist Gavin Rossdale, guitarist Nigel Pulsford, bassist Dave Parsons and drummer Robin Goodridge first came together in 1992 in the Shepherd's Bush section of London, where they all held down day jobs as house painters. Goodridge would routinely hijack an ice-cream truck he worked in to transport the band's equipment to gigs at night as they tried to break into the notoriously fickle London music scene. Bush's sound -- an assault of buzzing guitars, driving rhythms, soft-loud dynamics and Rossdale's tortured, raspy baritone -- fit in well with the grungy rock music then dominating U.S. airwaves. But the epicenter of the grunge scene was in Seattle, nearly 5,000 miles away. Britain was more enamored with DJs and dance music at the time.

They couldn't get a record deal in England, so Bush dropped Sixteen Stone in America. The disc was a huge success right out of the gate, unearthing a remarkable string of hits -- "Everything Zen," "Little Things," "Comedown," "Machinehead" and "Glycerine." Rossdale and the boys may have been battered in the American press for copping the sound of bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but the fans didn't care. Bush quickly staked their claim as one of the biggest bands in the world.

Thanks to the runaway success of Sixteen Stone, Bush were free to experiment on future releases without record-label execs breathing down their necks. The result was quite an eclectic string of albums. 1996's Razorblade Suitcase was recorded by indie-scene vet Steve Albini and favored a stripped-down approach, showcasing the band's raw edge on such songs as "Swallowed." Heading in the opposite direction, the foursome tapped a handful of big names in electronica -- including Brit beat-masters Tricky and Goldie -- to remix Bush tracks for 1997's finely polished Deconstructed, an unexpected foray into the world of drum-n-bass and trip-hop. 1999's The Science of Things offered caustic guitars and gloomy vocals layered on top of electronic samples and drum loops. Things yielded the chart-topper "The Chemicals Between Us."

Golden State hit stores on Oct. 23. Mixed by Marilyn Manson/System of a Down producer Dave Sardy, the disc is a welcome return to the pull-no-punches rock of Sixteen Stone, with a dash of industrial grind in the vein of Nine Inch Nails thrown in for good measure. "The People That We Love," Golden State's first single, was renamed from "Speed Kills" in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Rossdale and Goodridge recently sat down to talk with us about making Golden State, rocking out like the Grateful Dead, throwing down over Gwen Stefani and the dim future of a little Bruce Willis flick called Die Hard.

Gavin Rossdale: After Sixteen Stone, we really didn't want to make another record in the same way, which would have seemed like we were chasing our tail. So it was a very deliberate idea to go with Steve [Albini for Razorblade Suitcase] -- do the live thing, a really live recording. Then [The Science of Things] was more experimental, a bit more hi-fi. Then coming back to [Golden State], it was like, 'Let's rock out, let's do something exciting.' That's how it came about.

Robin Goodridge:[Golden State] is a bit subtler than Science of Things.

GR:That's because we used [programmer Bon Harris] from [pioneering English industrial band] Nitzer Ebb. He was really good to work with, different to the people that we used on the Science of Things that were much more dance oriented. He's very industrial sounding. It just suits the rock thing -- from Ministry and Foetus and all that kind of stuff. Whereas the people we used in London had never even heard of guitars in a studio. They were just doing their thing, putting cotton in their ears while the guitars are screeching.

RG:[Gavin is] a miserable git on tour. Touring has its moments. There are two magical hours every day.

GR:It's just so draining. So many demands are put on you. You put your body in a state that is not natural. Especially drums and singing, it's so physical. If I just had to stand and play guitar for two hours a night, it wouldn't be such a strain, but it's so physical for us. The wear and tear on that is definitely degrading. At the end of last tour, I collapsed. That was a weird one. I just blacked out for a minute.

RG:It was a food issue.

GR:Blood sugar shortage.

RG:Your body is so disoriented. If you lead the life we lead now, which is reasonably stable, you get your meals. Touring can really start throwing that out of sync and you can forget.

GR:Electrolytes, that's what I was lacking.

RG:You get dehydrated.

GR:I was electrolyte free.

RG:Electrolytes you had plenty of. You just get out of sync, miss a meal, don't think about it. Miss another one, exercise. Next thing you know, you're staring at concrete.

RG: We can be as long-winded as we like live. And I can assure you, we are.

GR:We did arena tours on one record. We played longer shows than our record was. It's like the Grateful Dead.

RG:Yeah, we did that. We had an absolute headache the other day. We were in rehearsal [asking] 'What tracks are we going to play other than tracks off the album?' It was like picking a football team. You end up with 14 players. There were 44 tracks we knew we wanted to play at some point. Then it's like, 'We can only do like 17, then we run out of time.'

GR:We're one of the last bands around that play gigs on Tuesday night that go on to Wednesday if we're not careful.

RG:You realize you can't allow everyone to play their favorites, because if we do we're going to be like Bruce Springsteen -- three-hour sets.

GR: When we finally got a chance to meet [Golden State producer Dave Sardy], it turned out that I had actually already met him at someone's house for dinner. He had spent the evening talking to Gwen, as anyone would if they got the chance. I spoke to him at the end.

RG:To politely ask him not to chat with your girlfriend.

GR:He's a friendly guy. He didn't mean anything by it, come on.

RG:He's still got a limp.

GR: Apparently [the original title 'Speed Kills'] was taken as an inappropriate collection of words in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. We didn't feel overly close to that title because the song itself had had three alternative titles already. It wasn't like, 'Oh God. You got to change the name of your band,' or anything like that. You change the name of a song. The whole world was in shock and outrage at what went on, so therefore we didn't want to be seen as anything trying to exacerbate the problem. You never want to be caught out being as if you were saying anything totally with the status quo. I will go against the grain and against the record on many, many things, but that clearly was a time when everyone was united in their horror. It was really that simple.

RG: But it was written before [the attacks]. There's nothing you can do. It's such a scary thing. Everyone is sympathetic about this, we all understand. But there are a million movies you could say should never be shown again. Die Hard, for instance. Can you show Die Hard ever again?

GR:You probably shouldn't anyway.

RG:Probably shouldn't for the acting.

GR:It's crap.

RG:But you get my point.