Las Vegas Weekly

April 4, 2009 · 12:54 PM

Gavin Rossdale goes to the dogs this afternoon

By Melissa Arseniuk

Gavin Rossdale considers himself a dog person, even though he and wife Gwen Stefani currently have their hands full with their young children.

Photo: Melissa Arseniuk

They say people fall into two categories: cat people and dog people. Gavin Rossdale says he’s definitely the latter.

The former Bush front man is set to play Pet-A-Palooza at Sam Boyd Stadium this evening. Mt Kearney and The Script will also perform.

The event, which kicked off this morning at 10:30 a.m., is expected to draw 20,000 people and 4,000 dogs throughout the day.

Rossdale said he is looking forward to “playing for 15,000 people who love dogs.”

“I wouldn’t do it for cats,” he joked last night on his way into LAX nightclub, where he performed a handful of songs for the Friday nightclub crowd.

While he doesn’t have a dog of his own right now, the British rocker still considers himself a dog person.

“I had one, like, very famous dog, … Winston, during my Bush years,” he said.

Rossdale said he and his superstar wife, Gwen Stefani, are hoping to get a dog very soon.

They’re currently looking at “really big friendly smart dogs” in hopes of finding the perfect one to add to their ever-growing family.

Rossdale, 43, and Stefani, 39, have two sons, two-year-old Kingston and seven-month-old Zuma. (Rossdale also has a daughter with British designer Pearl Lowe.)

The London-born rocker said he is looking forward to taking his band on tour this summer, and plans to take his son, Kingston, on the road with him.

Things certainly have changed since Bush shot to fame in 1994 with their post-grunge release, Sixteen Stone, and toured to support their multi-platinum follow-up, Razorblade Suitcase, in 1996.

Instead of playing huge sold-out venues, Rossdale has played for much smaller audiences since going solo.

Yet the former superstar said that’s the way he likes it.

“When we did Bush we never did these small, very rarely did these intimate things,” he said. “Now I’ve done a lot of the intimate things so it’s just balancing it out in my life I suppose.”

In addition to playing small and intimate venues, he said his solo career has allowed him to explore and exercise his artistic freedom.

“I wanted to do something on this record to do things where I’d get a chance to surprise people,” he said.

Rossdale’s first solo album, Wanderlust, hit stores last year. Featuring the singles “The Love Remains the Same” and “Forever May You Run,” the effort peaked at the 33 position on the Billboard 200.

A six-song EP hatched right here in Las Vegas, Live from Las Vegas At the Palms, was also released in 2008.

For the same price of the EP, $5, Rossdale fans can catch his set at Pet-A-Palooza this afternoon. The dog-loving rocker is scheduled to take to the stage at 4 p.m. this afternoon.

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