worldpop: You recently were forced to cancel a few UK dates due to illness - we were worried about you, boys! Is everything back to normal now?

Nigel: It's the first time in our eight-year long history that we've had to cancel any show and it was a shame it happened here, but then there was nothing we could do. We just had to reschedule the Norwich UEA and Manchester Academy gigs, but they're happening this week now.

Gavin: It was terrible, though, I just opened my mouth, tried to speak and nothing happened. Singing would have been impossible as the doctor diagnosed it as laryngitis! It's probably because we've been touring all over the world and hard work takes its toll at times.

worldpop: Everyone still calls you the band that broke America but not the UK. Are you happy to have made a name there, seeing that the likes of the Manics and Travis are still trying to make it there?

Gavin: We are lucky to have a big following both in the U.K and America - how many hits have we had here? I've forgotten, a lot though. Yes, it is hard to break it over there and it just means playing live again and again, but we did it, before we did it here. We've done both markets.

Nigel: We still carry that tag, five years after we were labelled with it. People forget that we live in England, have some of our greatest fans in England and love playing here.

worldpop: Gavin, you've hit the headlines with your girlfriends - do you like the life of a celebrity?

Nigel: Gavin, a celebrity? What do you mean?!!! Next you'll be asking if he's ever been a pin-up in magazines?!

Gavin: Very funny Nigel! I don't take that side of things seriously at all. I can be talking to anyone of the opposite sex and next thing I'll be in the paper with my 'new love interest'! If you believed everything that was in the papers...

worldpop: So have you ever got in trouble with your girlfriend when you've had your photo taken and then linked with, say, Nicole Appleton?

Gavin: Nicole is a friend! Yes, but I have had my wrists rapped though.

worldpop: You are always seen as a rock or a grunge band but how you'd label Bush now?

Nigel: Well, our new single Warm Machine and our last one, The Chemicals Between Us, are more than just rock. I'd say the same for most tracks off the album,The Science Of Things. They're a step in a different direction for us.

Gavin: I listen to such a diverse range of music that it's bound to affect my writing. I think this album has more of a beats, electronic feel. I still love listening to The Pixies, MC5 then I also love The Prodigy. Liam Howlett is a friend and what I know of their new material is wicked.

Nigel: The new songs have gone down well so far though. Dave Dorrell, our manager, is from a dance background too (old DJ and ex member of MARRS) so maybe that's come through too. We like playing the whole range of Bush music - you can't play the same stuff forever, you always change as you grow older and get into other bands.

worldpop: You hit the headlines again when you spoke out about the Austrian Far-Right government, then acts like Lou Reed, Sting and Embrace have followed your lead and boycotted shows planned there - what did you think of that?

Gavin: I just don't understand why they pulled out. I totally disagree with their actions. What about their fans? Now no-one will see them play. The Austrians themselves oppose the new far-right Freedom Party. I sang a Jewish prayer, the Hammotzi, for the people who themselves didn't want this right wing government in.

Nigel: What do Embrace and the likes think they are achieving by not playing? More Austrians voted against this government than for it. They should play and stand up and speak out. Now they haven't protested in any way.

worldpop: So what's next for Bush then?

Nigel: Touring and touring and more touring. We play our rescheduled gigs in Norwich last night and Manchester …and then it's nearly time for the festivals.

Gavin: We're not sure which ones we'll be playing yet but we want to play some UK ones and also some of the European ones. Roskilde and Rock am Ring are the two big European ones, but we'll have to see what our manager has for us.

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