Going down a new road, sort of

After years of being known primarily as the leader of the band Bush and more recently to tabloid fans as Mr. Gwen Stefani, it’s no surprise that Gavin Rossdale is using his new music project to make a name for himself.

That name is Institute.

Rather than make a solo album for his first post-Bush project, Rossdale has formed a new band. It’s a conscious attempt to avoid what he sees as the common solo-project syndrome.

“Often the next thing people do after leaving a successful rock band is a mellow record, saying, ‘This is the real me,’ with string sections and girl background vocalists,” he says. “I was thinking I wanted to do something that was the opposite.”

To that end, he teamed with producer Page Hamilton, best known as the guitarist-composer of the dynamic hard-rock band Helmet, and assembled a band with guitarist Chris Traynor (also from Helmet), bassist Cache Tolman and drummer Charlie Walker to craft a set of new songs marked by sonic and emotional intensity for Institute’s debut album, due Sept. 13. A single, “Bullet Proof Skin,” will be released in July. Focused and hard-edged, it’s anything but the kitchen-sink approach of many solo projects.

“Working with Page, the idea was to take it as far away from that as possible but not far from myself,” he says. “The idea was how to make a big, groovy, powerful rock band with minimal elements rather than overdoing it and having some sort of sonic confusion in there.”

But will fans see it as a real band or just a cover for a Rossdale release?

“Somewhere in the middle,” says a sanguine Rossdale. “It would be crazy to say it’s a straight-up democracy of ideas. But at the same time, it is. I write the songs but really enjoyed working with these guys.”

The album comes after a music hiatus for Rossdale, who disbanded Bush after a tour to support the 2001 album “Golden State.” In the interim he spent most of his time at his and Stefani’s homes in England and Los Angeles and also, as did his wife, trying a hand at acting, with roles in last year’s “Little Black Book” and this year’s “Constantine” and the soccer-themed “The Game of Their Lives.”

“Right now that’s going on the back burner as my day job takes me home,” he says. “I really enjoyed it and come back to music rejuvenated. I sort of missed music when I was on the set. But it was a challenge creatively to do those films and gave me some juice to go back and make music.”

The off time also gave him too much chance to read about himself in a celebrity spouse context rather than in coverage of his music. That seems to color even some of the new album, with rampant technology and media and a need for sanctuary as recurrent themes in the lyrics.

“It will be a relief having the record out and going back to doing what I love,” he says, having just seen a photo of himself and Stefani while thumbing through a magazine in a doctor’s office. “The hardest part of the tabloid coverage is it illuminates you in the downtime, when you don’t want to be lit up.

“It’s nice to go off the radar so when you come back it’s refreshing. It can be frustrating to have that other stuff come into it. But once the record goes out and you’re on tour and bringing out singles, you just steamroll over all that stuff.”

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On-screen where they belong?

Movie soundtracks have produced some classic duet couples: Jennifer Warnes and Joe Cocker for “Up Where We Belong” from “An Officer and a Gentleman,” Warnes and Bill Medley for “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” from “Dirty Dancing.”

So what about this pairing: Incubus’ Brandon Boyd with Pretenders leader Chrissie Hynde? The two made an unlikely team for “Neither of Us Can See,” which will be the closing-credits song for the aeronautic action film “Stealth,” starring Jamie Foxx and due in theaters July 29, with a soundtrack album to be released 10 days earlier. The thought proved tempting enough for Incubus and Boyd, who have routinely turned down past proposals for collaborations, and for Hynde, who also is notoriously choosy about her projects.

“We’ve become known in some circles as the band that says no to everything,” says Boyd. “But this was of our own creation.”

Incubus was approached last year by “Stealth” director Rob Cohen, whose credits include “XXX” and “The Fast and the Furious.” Cohen, a fan of the band, asked its members to write several songs specifically for the film and worked closely with them in shaping the tone and placement for the material in the plot. Ultimately three songs were chosen for use, and as recording started on “Neither of Us,” Boyd started thinking that it would work well with a female voice alongside his.

“I started getting these delusions of grandeur and we made a short list of people we thought would be cool on it,” he says. “At the top was Chrissie, and to our surprise she agreed to come to L.A. and sing with me.”

The work, Boyd says, interrupted what has been the band’s first extended time off in more than 10 years, but the experience of working on something with such specific needs was creatively energizing.

“We had a great time, wrote songs we felt held true to the character of the movie but also true to the character of the band,” he says. “And then when Chrissie happened, it couldn’t get any better.”

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Small faces

* While some Franz Ferdinand fans are eagerly awaiting word on progress on a sophomore album, others are more concerned with the fate of singer Alex Kapranos’ hair after he changed from shaggy bangs to a more styled look earlier this year. An online petition -- at www.petitiononline.com/fringe/petition.html -- has been gaining signers seeking the bangs’ return. England’s NME reports that Kapranos reacted with a statement on the band’s website (www.franzferdinand.co.uk) that sounded a bit flustered but noted that the “fringe” is growing back....

* With a rumor circulating that the Plimsouls’ reunion concert opening for X at the Pacific Amphitheatre on July 15 would take place minus frontman Peter Case, Case assures fans that he will be “in the middle, singing and playing guitar as always.” A release of a live CD from the L.A. band’s ‘80s heyday also is in the works, and Case continues with a busy schedule as a solo artist, working on a new album and playing the last Wednesday of each month at Molly Malone’s through the summer, the next appearance coming May 25 with Stan Ridgway and Marvin Etzioni ....

* A big band arrangement of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is one of the 14 selections on “Rock Swings,” a new album by Paul Anka, of all people. Anka also gives the lounge treatment to such songs as Van Halen’s “Jump,” R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts,” Oasis’ “Wonderwall” and the Cure’s “Lovecats.” The album, due for U.S. release June 7, has already been a hit in Germany, selling 50,000 copies.