Chris Traynor (born June 22, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bush since 2001.

Traynor played in two bands with his partner Sibyl Buck, Champions of Sound (as a touring member) [2] and High Desert Fires.

Traynor has done studio work with Blue Man Group and indie rock band Rival Schools.

“When I played bass for Blur and had to learn 24 songs in 24 hours or something like that.”[4] Traynor is currently living in Los Angeles and is touring with Bush.

[1] “My father is from Howard Beach, my mother is from Ozone Park, and I was born in Rosedale: the trifecta of Queens.”[5] His parent enrolled him in the first Suzuki method music programs in New York City.

[4] In addition to his writing credits with Bush on chart topping songs “Flower On A Grave” and “More Than Machines”, Traynor has written and produced tracks for bands such as Grey Daze (Amends featuring Chester Bennington of Linkin Park),[6] BRKN Love[7] and the Los Angeles based band Dorothy.

I went in and I did my tracks and I left so it wasn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be.”[4] While on tour with Helmet, Traynor was noticed by producer Dave Sardy and recommended as a potential new guitarist in 2002 for rock band Bush.

I knew he was working with Slayer so I thought it was Slayer.”[4] Bush's original guitarist, Nigel Pulsford, had recently retired to spend more time with his family.

I had known some of their songs and they said, ‘Come down and meet us and if we get a vibe from you we'll fly you to Philadelphia’.”[4] The tour wrapped in July and Bush went on pause for a number of years.

“I really feel proud of the guitar stuff that I've done on the record and some of the songs on there are really amazing.”[4] The album features the single "The Sound Of Winter" which achieved moderate commercial success on several North America charts.

Rival Schools longtime guitarist, Ian Love, had left the band in 2002 making way for Traynor.

“So I was looking for an opportunity to play with him [Walter Schreifels] but it didn't pan out the way that I had hoped because his heart wasn't in it at the time and obviously that record never came out [a second album that is still unreleased].Some of those songs are out on this new record (Pedals) that they just put out.”[4] By September 2003, the band split and Traynor along with bandmate Cache Tolman headed off to do a new project with a familiar friend, Gavin Rossdale.

[8] After touring as a member of Bush, Traynor and singer Gavin Rossdale began writing songs for a different project, which would later become Institute.

“It was a real process to get what we were doing right and Page Hamilton produced that record so it was like having your two big brothers in the studio with you and trying to make em both happy.”[4] The album received only mild success on the airwaves.

“What I do is I put the guitar down, I listen to the track and I try to hear what the part would be and then I pick up the guitar and I kind of figure out the part rather than having a view of it.”[4] “It wasn't until Gavin and I started doing the solo record that we really started to spread out.”[1] The album featured the hit single "Love Remains The Same" that reached No.

[8] Traynor's side project, a six piece band based out of his local Topanga community formed spontaneously.

I was on my way to pay the rent at the apartment we were subletting, and I stopped by Carmine Street Guitars, where they had a used 1973 Les Paul Custom.

“I collect Hendrix bootlegs; all of those guys growing up was my first thing.”[4] As he moved forward in his musical career he would look to records like (No Pussyfooting) by Fripp & Eno, that he kept longest in his life.

When my daughter was born, I put down the guitar for a month and I would listen to Beatles' records first on the left and then on the right to kind of hear all the parts.