Towards the end of Institute's first British show, Gavin Rossdale says: "Hope you're digging this. It's a hybrid thing going on." That's rock speak for "Enjoy this brew of unrelated constituent parts," but provokes the question: a hybrid of what, exactly? Rossdale certainly has a hybrid accent, London with Los Angeles huskily seeping into a drawl that would amuse his former homeys in Shepherd's Bush.
But this is no musical hybrid, which would imply diversity and new directions. In fact, Institute are just a pepped-up version of Rossdale's former band, Bush, with new faces and a steely new name. His US success with Bush (who sounded, aptly enough, like an elephant plunging through shrubbery) gave him his pick of that country's top grungers for this venture; the other members of Institute were tempted away from the bands Helmet, Rival Schools and the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex, who may mean nothing here, but get the red-carpet treatment among American metal-dudes. Institute are a certified rock supergroup, and their album, Distort Yourself, is apparently eagerly awaited in the US. In his own country, though, Rossdale is best known as Gwen Stefani's other half, and Institute are effectively just another new group.
This small venue is packed, but it's not at all certain that Britain, having turned up its nose at Bush for the past decade, will take to Bush: The Remix. Nevertheless, Institute aren't bad. Rossdale has a positive genius for mixing stadium athleticism with bruised ballads, and if we're talking hybrids, just call him Kurt Bon Jovi.
A brooding angst-monger with a Mr Universe body (it's probably a California thing), Rossdale is great fun to watch, and not terrible to listen to. You can't spot the join between Institute's new songs and Bush's old ones. They play a handful of Bush hits, including Everything Zen and Glycerine, to prove how similar they are. Big on wounded remorse, they pound away tirelessly until the room is wailing along - familiarity, in this case, being just the ticket. Worth keeping an eye on, anyway.
