Entertainment

Gavin Rossdale’s Music Has Always Political — And He Has No Plan to Stop Now on September 21, 2023 at 5:48 pm Us Weekly

Published

3 years ago

September 21, 2023

Gavin Rossdale Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Getting involved with Artist for Action and Sandy Hook Promise makes sense to Gavin Rossdale as much as America’s epidemic of gun violence does not.

“It doesn’t make sense to me that 400 times this year, someone’s gone into a school and shoot more than four people,” Rossdale said while speaking with Us Weekly ahead of Bush‘s show at New York City’s Irving Plaza benefiting the anti-gun violence initiatives. “This doesn’t f—king make sense. You can’t rationalize it. It doesn’t make sense.”

Rossdale, 57, and his band Bush aren’t generally thought of as a socially-conscious rock band, but as he explains to Us, he has always been aware of what’s happening around him.

“I’m always being quite political and particularly underrated for it because I do it in a way that’s always been on the personal politics,” he says. “On the first record [Sixteen Stone], the song ‘Bomb’ is about growing up in the shadow of the IRA and the Protestants, the Orange Parade march, and things. Where I grew up in North London, there were these bombed shopping centers and buses, and people died, and it was the real thing.”

He continued: “The hunger strikes, and [IRA member] Bobby Sands and all that stuff, I grew up with that as the backdrop. And where I lived, my area was next to Kilburn. It’s where I played football for an Irish team. I went to all the Irish pubs on Quicks Road. I was really in it.”

“I’ve been quite heavily into that stuff without ever being flag bearing, just conscious of it,” he adds, “and aware of it as a human being, as anyone would be.”

Rossdale will utilize his awareness and voice on Friday, September 22, when Bush takes the stage at Irving Plaza for a show billed as “a celebration of unity in the fight against gun violence.” It’s also the first in a series of national events held by Artist For Action, a coalition of musicians working to end the epidemic of gun violence in America.

However, even Rossdale knows it’s an uphill battle. “My son [Zuma Rossdale] is a country guy. He has a whole life over there with this other side, where they’re shooting, hunting. It’s their culture,” says Rossdale, who shares 15-year-old Zuma, Kingston, and Apollo with his ex-wife, Gwen Stefani. Stefani, 53, married country star Blake Shelton in 2021 after six years of dating.

“You’re never going to take guns out of America. Never, never, never. So it’s a moot point,” explains Rossdale. “But I suppose, the [assault] rifles, to me, it’s got to be more about, how does someone in a community get so isolated?”

Rossdale — who changed his citizenship because of his love of America, and three of his four children were born in the country – sees the epidemic of shootings as not necessarily being about the actual gun. “What about the person? What about the community support, the people losing their minds, the lone wolves? How are teachers not recognizing those kids in the class?”

Rossdale wants to highlight how “the mental aspect” of this highly-politicized issue is “the most open to change.”

“How do you stop these people going so far out?” he asks.

Even Rossdale knows that it’s going to take a lot for Artist For Action and Sandy Hook Promise to end the endless shootings in America. “It’s an uphill struggle to change gun culture,” he says, “but it’s less of a struggle to try raise support for people who are driven [to violence]. Because I think, ‘Are there 400 inherently bad people, or there are 400 people that are driven beyond something?’ It is terrifying, as well.”

Rossdale says that the issue of gun violence can’t be reduced to a simple fix. “It’s not as basic as, “Oh, hello, I’m nuts, I’m going to go and kill people,’” he says. “It cannot be that basic. It has to be a culture of alienation, a culture of disconnect, a culture of a lack of support that allows these people to turn into psychotic killers. And I think that’s a huge area.”

“I’m just saying, isn’t that part of it?” he says. “It’s not just like, ‘oh, access to guns.’ What about the people pulling the f—king triggers?”

The Artist for Action show will kick off a busy season for Rossdale and Bush. His band will release a career-spanning greatest hits compilation – Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023 – on November 10 via Round Hill Records. Rossdale wrote and released a new song, “Nowhere to Go But Everywhere,” the namesake of the upcoming North American tour to commemorate the project.

“I’ve always had a weird relationship with [the collection],” Rossdale tells Us. “I’ve never wanted to do a greatest hits. It’s almost like a ‘sayonara.’ I [have always been] more interested in writing new stuff. Obviously, I did write a new song for [Loaded], but yeah. Greatest Hits.”

Rossdale doesn’t want Loaded to be the closing of his career. The group released its ninth studio album, The Art of Survival, in 2022. For new fans, Loaded will be a perfect introduction to the

“We literally [included] songs chronologically,” says Rossdale. The track list includes 90s alternative radio staples like “Everything Zen,” “Comedown,” “Machinehead,” “Swallowed” and “Glycerine.” Latter hits like “More Than Machines” and “Bullet Holes” are included, as well as a formal recording of the band’s version of The Beatles’ “Come Together.”

“There were 26 Top 40 hits, but we could only put 22 on there or something,” said Rossdale. “So there were four that didn’t make it, which is a bit of a shame, but they said, ‘We ran out of vinyl.’”

For Rossdale, Loaded is exciting because he collaborated with Chris Ashworth, graphic designer and former art director of alt-rock magazine Ray Gun: “On my first record, Sixteen Stone, I got [Ray Gun graphic designer] Dave Carson [to design the artwork].”

“When I signed a deal [with Interscope], they asked me what I would like, and I said, ‘Ray Gun is the greatest magazine there is. Can we try and contact them?’ So they contacted Dave Carson, and Dave did a fantastic job. We loved it. It had my dog on the album, jumping in Regents Park,” says Rossdale. “We had just his artwork, and it was the sensibility that I loved. And weirdly enough, then full circle, how life is, what, 30 years later, I ended up doing a piece for Marvin Magazine, [owned by] Martin Garret, who used to own Ray Gun. He even had Nylon, and now he has Marvin, and he’s like, ‘I owned Ray Gun.’”

“I said, ‘Oh, my God, I love Dave Carson.’ He goes, ‘Oh yeah, Dave’s an interesting character, but Chris Ashworth is really the guy,’” he explains.

Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images

From there, Rossdale began to follow Ashworth on Instagram, who subsequently followed the Bush singer back. The two were in each other’s orbit when it came time to do Loaded. “I thought it’d be cool to come full circle and get Chris to do the artwork for the greatest hits,” says Rossdale. “And Chris’s work is just gorgeous, and it was such a thrill to work with him. I’ve worked with a lot of great artists. It’s such an excuse to collaborate with great people, whether it’s videos or photographers. Yesterday, I worked with Sante D’Orazio, doing the best pictures, and it was just incredible,” he adds. “I love all that stuff. So yeah, I’m so thrilled. The most exciting thing of the record, to me, is the artwork.”

Rossdale explained that during Bush’s tenure, he’s “always chosen the songs on the records, but I’ve never chosen the singles because I’m not the one who has to go and work them.” As a self-professed believer of “people staying in their lanes,” he says, Rossdale hasn’t tried to micromanage his career down to the smallest detail.

“I thought if I try to dictate what things should be, to that degree, even drifting into someone else’s job of knowing what radio wants or what’s happening? That stuff is just not my jam,” he says. “So, I’ve never chosen the singles.”

“I’ve never been surprised or disappointed, like ‘don’t bring the ballad out!’” he adds. “I deliver a record, and they tell me which song they’re excited about. And the label I have now, Round Hill, is great.”

Rossdale’s creative ambitions have seen him expand beyond music. He dabbled in acting, appearing alongside Keanu Reeves in 2005’s Constantine, in 2004’s Mayor of the Sunset Strip, and The Bling Ring in 2013. He launched the Sea of Sound fashion line and hopes to launch a cooking/interview show, spotlighting both his love of food and company.

“I have a Nutrition Facts thing, which is a guide to humanity, and it incorporates food,” Rossdale says of one of the standout pieces in Sea of Sound. “It’s kind of cool because we have labels on the back of food. I did that for fashion and humanity, a good way of living.”

Rossdale hopes to translate that passion for the culinary arts into a new venture, as he’s been working on a potential cooking/interview show. He says that he’s close now to getting it made since the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike has resulted in studios who “turned [him] down last year” to reconsider it.

“I just always loved food,” he tells Us. “I’ve always really enjoyed it. I just found a knack, I think – I just found a connection to it, a natural ability to time things, a natural ability to flavor things, so things taste good.”

He went on to reference his seven-year split from Stefani. “When I got divorced, I thought, OK, new life, how can I do this?’” he continues. “Whenever I cook for people, people will always be a bit surprised. It’s an anomaly. I have people come to my house in LA and say, ‘Well, no one’s ever cooked for me at a house before.’ Very strange. So I just got into it.”

For Rossdale, his creative exploits are all tied together with a similar philosophy. “I’ve always been into this idea of curation. A life well lived should be a life well curated,” he explains. With cooking, however, he adds that there was a more personal reason for him to pick up the whisk and ladle. “I was honestly just trying to get straightforward ways to stay home and not be leaving my boys, not have to go on tour.”

Though Rossdale will have to hit the road soon, he seems optimistic about the future – as much as a British man with a self-described “gallows’ humor” can be. “I do believe in an order, and an energy, and a connectivity to the universe, and a timing of things,” he says toward the end of the chat. “I really believe that.”

“So, I simply have had the opportunity to make those shows or to bring that clothing line out, where it’s sort of found a way,” he says with a smile. “Now, I feel that there’s a shift where I have set myself up with the greatest opportunity.”

Getting involved with Artist for Action and Sandy Hook Promise makes sense to Gavin Rossdale as much as America’s epidemic of gun violence does not. “It doesn’t make sense to me that 400 times this year, someone’s gone into a school and shoot more than four people,” Rossdale said while speaking with Us Weekly ahead

Us Weekly Read More

Entertainment

DJ Shinski Brings AfriqueFest To Life

Published

7 days ago

June 16, 2026

Bolanle Media Staff

AfriqueFest: Pan-African Musical Experience — World Cup Edition is set to take over Noto Houston on Sunday, June 28, bringing together East, South, and West African sounds in one immersive celebration of music, culture, and connection. Presented by Experience Noir and Bolanle Media, the event is designed as a cinematic night for the culture, blending global energy with Houston nightlife in a way that feels elevated, intentional, and deeply rooted in African creativity.

Spotlight on DJ Shinski

At the heart of this year’s experience is DJ Shinski. Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya and now based in Houston, DJ Shinski has built an international name off high-energy sets that move effortlessly across Afrobeats, Amapiano, hip‑hop, dancehall, reggae, and electronic sounds.

He has also become Africa’s most‑subscribed DJ on YouTube, crossing the 2‑million‑subscriber mark and turning his mixes into a global destination for music lovers.

DJ Shinski’s style is precise but unpredictable: one moment it’s classic Afrobeats, the next it’s East African anthems, then a run of throwback hip‑hop or R&B that still feels fresh. That ability to read a room and connect multiple worlds in a single set is exactly why AfriqueFest is building so much of the night’s energy around him.

At AfriqueFest, DJ Shinski helps drive the Safari Grooves segment, representing East and Central Africa from 4 PM to 6 PM. Expect a journey that moves from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Addis, and beyond, all filtered through his signature “vibes on vibes” approach behind the decks.

DJ Tunez and the rest of the night

Supporting that energy, DJ Tunez leads the Gold Coast Beats chapter from 8 PM to 10 PM, bringing his own Nigerian‑American Afrobeats pedigree to the stage. Together with the Diamond Rhythms segment (South) and a curated roster of DJs, the night stretches across the continent in three distinct musical chapters, all connected by a single dance floor.

Hosted by @chris_gone_crazy, @kingdrewwskyy, @roselynomaka, and @samsnewleaf, AfriqueFest is positioned as more than a party—it’s a celebration of sound, style, and Pan‑African identity in Houston, with DJ Shinski anchoring the experience from the moment doors open.

Brought to you by Bolanle Media & Experience Noir

Brought to you by Bolanle Media and Experience Noir, this World Cup edition of AfriqueFest is crafted as a night where global DJs, storytellers, and music lovers collide and create a shared cultural memory. With DJ Shinski front and center—and DJ Tunez helping close the night—guests can expect a show that reflects both the future of African nightlife and the power of the diaspora to create unforgettable live moments.

If you want to experience DJ Shinski live at AfriqueFest, now is the time to lock in your spot. Purchase your tickets now at AfriqueFest.com and get ready for a night of music, movement, and culture at Noto Houston.

Entertainment

STREAMING PREMIERE · JUNE 13, 2026

Published

1 week ago

June 13, 2026

Bolanle Media Staff

Laughter Meets Inspiration: Our Ladies Show Lands on The Roku Channel

A bold new sketch comedy series for women premieres June 13 across the U.S., U.K., and Canada — arriving on the back of a festival-winning run that has critics and audiences already paying attention.

It isn’t every day a brand-new comedy arrives already wearing a row of trophies. Our Ladies Show does. The seven-episode inspirational sketch comedy series — created, written by, and starring Christin Jezak — begins streaming on The Roku Channel on Friday, June 13, 2026, available free to viewers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.

Produced in partnership with global media services leader Encompass Digital Media, the series sets out to do something rare in today’s streaming landscape: make women laugh out loud and leave them lifted. In a media moment crowded with noise and cynicism, Our Ladies Show is a deliberate counterweight — comedy with a conscience, built for women of every age and background.

A Show Built Around Real Life — and Real Laughs

Each of the seven episodes opens with a monologue from one of the cast members introducing the theme, then rolls into three or more sketches that hit the subject from every comedic angle. The series tackles the things women actually carry: holding grudges, comparison, beauty, patience, gift giving, the importance of community, and dealing with anxiety.

The comedy comes from a place of warmth rather than mockery — a “laugh at ourselves” spirit that runs through a gallery of unforgettable characters: a nosey neighbor, an overwhelmed mom, relentlessly optimistic flight attendants, beauty pageant winners past their prime, and a crew of unruly campers with a counselor who simply cannot hold it together.

Then the show does something most sketch series don’t. In the final segment of every episode, the cast gathers in a living-room setting and invites the audience in — sharing real inspiration drawn from the theme, the sketches, and their own personal stories. It’s the moment the laughter turns into something that stays with you.

The Women Behind the Show

Our Ladies Show brings together three performers with serious range:

Christin Jezak — creator, writer, and star (Miracle at Manchester, Raising Hope, Jimmy Kimmel Live!)
Hillary Hawkins — (Primal, Nick Jr.’s Play Along, Gullah Gullah Island)
Sarah Hernandez — (Nefarious, Unplanned, House of Payne)

“In a world with so much division and depression, I hope women of all ages and backgrounds will watch this show, laugh, be reminded of how beautiful, unique, and loved they are, and remember how much we need each other.”— Christin Jezak, Creator & Star

Already a Festival Favorite

The series’ recurring long-form sketch, Neighborhood Watch, didn’t arrive quietly. Originally released as a web series and revamped for Our Ladies Show with new footage, sound, and music, it has been sweeping the festival circuit:

🏆 Best Webseries — 2026 New Media Film Festival (Los Angeles)
🏆 Best Web/TV Series — Paris Film Awards
🏆 Best Web Series — Dallas Movie Awards
🏅 Additional wins at the London Movie Awards, Florence Film Awards, and Hollywood Gold Awards
🎬 Official Selection — 2026 Harvard Divinity School Film Fest
⭐ Finalist — Houston Comedy Film Festival
📣 Three nominations — 2025 Content Christian Media Conference, including Best Actress in a TV and Web Series nods for both Christin Jezak and Sarah Hernandez

Where and When to Watch

Our Ladies Show premieres Friday, June 13, 2026, streaming on The Roku Channel — the home of premium and free entertainment — in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. All seven episodes deliver the series’ signature blend of sharp sketch comedy and genuine encouragement.

Watch the trailer now on your platform of choice:

For more information, visit www.ourladiesshow.com and follow @ourladiesshow on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

About Christin Jezak

Christin Jezak has worked for over 15 years in the entertainment industry. She created and stars in Our Ladies Show and the award-winning web series Neighborhood Watch. She produced the EWTN TV program For the Sake of the Gospel and the all-women web series Ladies Keepin’ It Real, played Dr. Sam in Miracle at Manchester (starring Dean Cain, Daniel Roebuck, and Eddie McClintock), and voices Agnes in the podcast Confessions of a Catholic Single. She held a lead role in a short film for NTT Data directed by Academy Award–winning cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, has co-starred on Raising Hope, and appeared in Jimmy Kimmel sketches and a Grubhub Super Bowl commercial.

About The Roku Channel

Roku pioneered streaming on TV and is the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico by hours streamed (Hypothesis Group, Dec. 2025). The Roku Channel is the home of premium and free entertainment, alongside Roku’s Howdy and Frndly TV services. Roku is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Encompass Digital Media

Encompass Digital Media is a global managed services company — technology-driven, software-defined, and people-powered. Trusted by world-leading broadcasters, networks, sports rights-holders, and OTT platforms, it processes over 25,000 hours of content daily, serves 850 channels to 84 countries, distributes over 243,000 live events annually, and reaches 400 million radio listeners weekly worldwide. Learn more at www.encompass.tv.

Media & Interview Requests: To interview creator Christin Jezak or the cast, contact Christin at cjezak@p2ptheatre.com.

Entertainment

What Filmmakers Should Actually Steal From Euphoria

Published

3 weeks ago

June 4, 2026

Bolanle Media Staff

Most of the talk about Euphoria asks one question: was it realistic? That’s the wrong question if you make films. The better one is simpler. How did Sam Levinson get an audience to feel addiction from the inside? And what did it cost him to end the show the way he did?

Strip away the noise and Euphoria is a clinic in three choices: point of view, style, and the ending. Here’s what’s worth taking — and what isn’t.

1. Put the Camera Inside the Character

Most shows about drugs watch from across the room. Euphoria doesn’t. When Rue is high, the camera is high too. Walls breathe. Floors tilt. Time skips. You’re not watching her — you’re stuck inside her head.

That’s the lesson: point of view is a decision you make with the camera and the cut, not a mood you add later in color. Levinson builds it into the lens, the blocking, and the edit.

So before you shoot a scene through a character’s eyes, ask one thing on set: whose eyes is this lens standing in for? Then make every cut respect that.

2. Your Style Has to Mean Something

The glitter. The slow push-ins. The impossible club lighting. Euphoria‘s look got copied everywhere. That’s the trap.

The style worked because it carried weight. The beauty wasn’t decoration — it was the lie addiction tells you, the reason the next high looks worth it. The camera made self-destruction gorgeous on purpose.

The copies missed that. A thousand music videos took the look and left the meaning behind, and you can feel how hollow they are. So here’s the test: if your signature style could be swapped onto any other project and still “work,” it’s not a style. It’s a filter. Every choice should have a reason behind it.

3. The Ending Tells the Audience What It All Meant

When Euphoria ended for good in Season 3, Levinson killed Rue — an accidental, fentanyl-laced overdose. He called it “the honest ending,” saying he wanted to tell a true story about addiction and grief in a time when one mistake can be the last one. Reportedly, that wasn’t the original plan; the death of Angus Cloud, who played Fezco, changed the script.

Forget whether you agree with the choice. Study how it works. An ending is the last instruction you give your audience about how to read everything before it.

By ending on consequence instead of recovery, Levinson reframed seven years of beautiful chaos as a story about cost — not a celebration of it.

It’s also the show’s most debatable move, and that’s worth noticing too. A show that spent years making pain look beautiful had to fight to make that pain land as loss. Did it earn the ending, or enjoy the wreckage too long to stick it? Smart filmmakers will disagree — and that argument is exactly what a good ending is supposed to start.

What Not to Take

The neon grief is the most copied part. It’s also the least useful. Take the surface — the colors, the slow-mo, the trauma-as-texture — and you get the costume without the body.

The real craft is underneath. Commit your camera to a real point of view. Make every stylistic choice earn its place. Treat your ending as the point of the whole thing. Do that, and your work won’t look like Euphoria. It’ll do what Euphoria did.

This piece touches on addiction and substance use. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available through the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.