Institute was an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band featuring Bush frontman

Gavin Rossdale Gavin McGregor Rossdale is an English musician, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Bush. He helped form Bush in 1992. Upon the band's separation in 2002, he became the lead singer and guitarist for Institute an ...

. The band's only album, '' Distort Yourself'', was released on September 13, 2005.

History

Institute was formed in 2004 in the wake of a hiatus of lead singer Gavin Rossdale's other band, Bush. Rossdale formed Institute with

Chris Traynor Chris Traynor (born June 22, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter, and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bush (British band), Bush, since 2001. He was previously active in the post-hardcore group Orange 9mm, and h ...

(who had previously played with bands including Bush and

Helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protecti ...

) when Bush agreed upon taking a break after their last album, '' Golden State''. The two later enlisted the help of bassist Cache Tolman (of

Rival Schools ''Rival Schools: United by Fate'', known in Japan as is a 1997 3D fighting game produced by Capcom originally released as an arcade game on Sony ZN-2 hardware. ''Rival Schools'' revolves around tag team battles between groups of students fro ...

fame) and drummer

Josh Freese Joshua Ryan Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American drummer. A member of punk rock band the Vandals since 1989, Freese has also been a member of new wave band Devo since 1996. He was previously a member of hard rock band Guns N' Roses ...

. Freese was only enlisted temporarily, as the band needed a drummer for the recording of their first album, ''Distort Yourself''. Rossdale later recruited Charlie Walker (known for his work with Split Lip and Chamberlain, in addition to a temporary stint in

) to take Freese's spot and round out the band. After reuniting with

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

(Interscope released Bush's first three albums), Rossdale started work on ''Distort Yourself'' with Interscope Producer and Helmet frontman,

Page Hamilton Page Nye Hamilton (born May 18, 1960) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer who founded the American heavy metal band Helmet in 1989. In the 1990s, Helmet and Hamilton were forerunners of alternative metal with the al ...

. Rossdale chose Hamilton to produce the band's debut album after being told Hamilton could provide the guitar sound that he was looking for. Though not known for producing rock ballads, Hamilton also proved keen towards Rossdale's lighter songs, such as "Ambulances", which featured Gavin's then-wife,

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton ( ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani rose to fame as a member and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose hit singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs", an ...

, singer of

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band formed in Anaheim, California in 1986. For most of its career, the band has consisted of vocalist and founding member Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young. Keyboar ...

and successful solo artist. ''Distort Yourself'' was released on September 13, 2005, and debuted at No. 81 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts, with first-week sales slightly over 12,000. The album's first single, "Bulletproof Skin", reached a peak of number 28 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and 29 on the

Billboard Modern Rock Chart Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

. It was also performed on various television programs and achieved significant radio play. The album also gained traction from being included in the main menu of the hockey video game ''

NHL 06 ''NHL 06'' is an ice hockey video game that was released in 2005. The PlayStation 2 version includes the Sega Genesis version of ''NHL '94''. Reception The game received "generally favorable reviews" on all platforms according to the review agg ...

'' from

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...

and its inclusion in the big-budget motion picture ''Stealth''. Institute played numerous Bush songs live, including "Machinehead", "The People that We Love", "Swallowed", an acoustic version of "Comedown", and "Glycerine". They also performed on ''

The Tyra Banks Show ''The Tyra Banks Show'', also known as and shortened to ''Tyra'' or ''The Tyra Show'', is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks that aired from 2005 to 2010. While Banks's show covered a variety of topics, there was a sensationalized focus ...

'' with

Banks A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. As banks ...

after Rossdale gave her some guitar lessons. In late 2005, Institute opened for U2 on several of their

Vertigo Tour The Vertigo Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 2004 album '' How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb'', the tour visited arenas and stadiums between March 2005 and December 2006. The Vertigo To ...

dates. As of 2007, there were no plans for Institute to continue activity as a band

Band members

(vocals, guitar) *

(guitar) * Cache Tolman (bass) * Charlie Walker (drums)

Discography

Studio albums * '' Distort Yourself'' (2005) - US number 81 Singles

References

External links

Bush official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Institute Musical groups established in 2004 Musical groups disestablished in 2006 American hard rock musical groups Interscope Records artists American musical quartets American post-grunge musical groups American alternative rock groups