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No Doubt indeed
Seven years after breakthrough, band's talent undeniable
By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
November 4, 2002
It's been a man's, man's, man's world way too long for No Doubt, so it's understandable that singer Gwen Stefani is happy that this latest tour has finally turned into a girls' night out.
After all, she's paid her dues. She wrote the band's breakthrough hit, Just a Girl, as a reaction to the testosterone-fueled Orange County punk-rock scene, where she'd end up walking home from gigs along dark streets late at night. "I'm just a girl / because that's all you'll let me be," she sang.
So it's only fitting that the women call the shots this time around.
"Backstage it's crazy," Stefani says. "I've never toured with so many girls. Not only do I have (Shirley Manson of Garbage and Brody Armstrong of The Distillers), but I have my assistant, and Nina (drummer Adrian Young's wife) and two other girls. More girls out than we've ever had before! Cool for me because I've missed out on that." The bands play the Coliseum on Wednesday.
Stefani and Manson met in the mid-'90s when their bands were breaking big and playing radio shows together.
"There were more girls back then, first of all," Stefani says. "It was a really fun time. You'd play those things with a lot of bands you really liked. It's really fun to do that; you get inspired."
But she bristles at the notion that the No Doubt/Garbage tour is a theme tour - two bands fronted by strong, striking women.
"If you look at it from a show-business perspective, the best way to do it is have a guy. You'd get the contrast. That's probably what they'd teach you if you went to school," she says.
Actually, what No Doubt and Garbage have in common more than "Y" chromosomes is survival. Both bands burst out big, and both have continued to follow their own paths. The 1995 release Tragic Kingdom made stars of No Doubt, which also includes guitarist Tom Dumont, Young and bassist Tony Kanal. Many other bands of that era have died off, and critics - who have never been kind to No Doubt - have had to acknowledge the band's talent.
"Isn't it interesting how time passes and your judgment on different bands? I look at the bands coming out during that time period when we had our first success, and where they went. Some of them went away. Some of them went away that you thought, 'God, they were pretty good.' All of a sudden they died out. And others survived and actually proved that they're worth something - they're more than what you thought of them then," says Stefani.
That pretty much sums up No Doubt's current status.
"This is a magical time for us. We've been together so many years and we have had so much fun making this album. This record for us was so easy, so fun, such a surprise. We sat down and said, 'let's write a few songs,' and all of a sudden we're working with all these incredible people. It was so spontaneous," Stefani says. "The next call we get is, 'Do you wanna tour with U2?' This just has been a really crazy, spectacular year for us."
Indeed, No Doubt just opened a handful of dates for the Rolling Stones, a role it also played for U2 last year.
"That was magical," Stefani says of the U2 dates. "The album wasn't out yet and we get a call from them saying, 'Do you want to open for us?' I mean, we love them. They're legends. It was also right after Sept. 11, so, emotionally, to be able to be on a tour like that and seeing them bring so much happiness . . .
"The first show we played with them was Madison Square Garden; it was the first big show after the whole thing. So those songs just took on a whole other life."
And the guys were all down-to- earth. U2 went drinking with the band almost every night and let them fly on their private jet. The Stones have been the same way, with Mick Jagger popping in every night and chatting up their parents.
"They're all saying 'hi' to him and going, 'I've been listening to you for so long,' " Stefani says, half-embarrassed. The tour ended in Atlanta, with No Doubt taking the stage in a bar and playing some songs while the Stones, their moms and their dads partied around them.
"It was a really weird, odd mixture," Stefani says.
On 2000's Return of Saturn, Stefani got serious about songwriting. The band was proud of the album and the tour, but it was a grueling process.
"I just got really in a confused and serious state in Return of Saturn. After going through that, everyone felt this freedom; we did it, we are really proud of that record, and it showed such growth to us," she says. "Whatever people might say, for me, those songs are a true reflection of my life. When I hear them, I know exactly what I'm talking about. That's my life! So it's interesting to come back after that and say, 'let's write some songs, but be really free about it; let's not have any restrictions.' We were in such a good mood. After that tour, everyone just felt so free. There was no pressure at all. It was such a cool time period."
For last year's Rock Steady, they hadn't even been planning on recording an album, just having fun instead.
"We just sat in a room and listened to some music that inspired us and tried to write a drumbeat," she says. "Then we'd get a keyboard riff and start laying down some kind of a track. I was playing keyboards. Hello? I don't know how to play keyboards. And I'd sing on top of it.
"The whole plan was, you guys work on it, geek out on the computer. I'm gonna sit on the couch and I'm going to finish the song right now. I'm not gonna do my whole getting the thesaurus, trying to be deep. I'm gonna write what's on my mind, write quickly. Before we knew it, we had this record."
They took the rough tracks to various studios and producers, including Sly & Robbie and Prince, and just let them work on them.
The hardest part of success, she notes, is having your time planned out far into the future.
"We sat down a year ago and I slotted my wedding into this year," she says of her nuptials with Gavin Rossdale of Bush. "We had a four-hour band meeting and decided everywhere we were gonna go in the world . . . and what date my wedding would be."
"So when someone goes, 'Hey guys, can you come play my backyard birthday party? Come on!' No, we can't, because we're playing somewhere else that night."
Success threw her at first. After being dismissed as "bubblegum pop, . . . this alternative to the alternative for all these years, this quirky little band that has this following, all of a sudden you sell 14 million copies," she says. "You come home and you don't know who you are."
She's found out, though, both in the band and in her carefully chosen side projects. She worked with Eve on the Grammy-winning Let Me Blow Your Mind, solely to work with producer Dr. Dre.
She recorded her part on Moby's hit Southside right after Tragic Kingdom came out, but it stayed in the can for years.
"I went down, did the video and the . . . thing blew up. Who'd have thought?" she says.
No Doubt indeed
Seven years after breakthrough, band's talent undeniable
By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
November 4, 2002
It's been a man's, man's, man's world way too long for No Doubt, so it's understandable that singer Gwen Stefani is happy that this latest tour has finally turned into a girls' night out.
After all, she's paid her dues. She wrote the band's breakthrough hit, Just a Girl, as a reaction to the testosterone-fueled Orange County punk-rock scene, where she'd end up walking home from gigs along dark streets late at night. "I'm just a girl / because that's all you'll let me be," she sang.
So it's only fitting that the women call the shots this time around.
"Backstage it's crazy," Stefani says. "I've never toured with so many girls. Not only do I have (Shirley Manson of Garbage and Brody Armstrong of The Distillers), but I have my assistant, and Nina (drummer Adrian Young's wife) and two other girls. More girls out than we've ever had before! Cool for me because I've missed out on that." The bands play the Coliseum on Wednesday.
Stefani and Manson met in the mid-'90s when their bands were breaking big and playing radio shows together.
"There were more girls back then, first of all," Stefani says. "It was a really fun time. You'd play those things with a lot of bands you really liked. It's really fun to do that; you get inspired."
But she bristles at the notion that the No Doubt/Garbage tour is a theme tour - two bands fronted by strong, striking women.
"If you look at it from a show-business perspective, the best way to do it is have a guy. You'd get the contrast. That's probably what they'd teach you if you went to school," she says.
Actually, what No Doubt and Garbage have in common more than "Y" chromosomes is survival. Both bands burst out big, and both have continued to follow their own paths. The 1995 release Tragic Kingdom made stars of No Doubt, which also includes guitarist Tom Dumont, Young and bassist Tony Kanal. Many other bands of that era have died off, and critics - who have never been kind to No Doubt - have had to acknowledge the band's talent.
"Isn't it interesting how time passes and your judgment on different bands? I look at the bands coming out during that time period when we had our first success, and where they went. Some of them went away. Some of them went away that you thought, 'God, they were pretty good.' All of a sudden they died out. And others survived and actually proved that they're worth something - they're more than what you thought of them then," says Stefani.
That pretty much sums up No Doubt's current status.
"This is a magical time for us. We've been together so many years and we have had so much fun making this album. This record for us was so easy, so fun, such a surprise. We sat down and said, 'let's write a few songs,' and all of a sudden we're working with all these incredible people. It was so spontaneous," Stefani says. "The next call we get is, 'Do you wanna tour with U2?' This just has been a really crazy, spectacular year for us."
Indeed, No Doubt just opened a handful of dates for the Rolling Stones, a role it also played for U2 last year.
"That was magical," Stefani says of the U2 dates. "The album wasn't out yet and we get a call from them saying, 'Do you want to open for us?' I mean, we love them. They're legends. It was also right after Sept. 11, so, emotionally, to be able to be on a tour like that and seeing them bring so much happiness . . .
"The first show we played with them was Madison Square Garden; it was the first big show after the whole thing. So those songs just took on a whole other life."
And the guys were all down-to- earth. U2 went drinking with the band almost every night and let them fly on their private jet. The Stones have been the same way, with Mick Jagger popping in every night and chatting up their parents.
"They're all saying 'hi' to him and going, 'I've been listening to you for so long,' " Stefani says, half-embarrassed. The tour ended in Atlanta, with No Doubt taking the stage in a bar and playing some songs while the Stones, their moms and their dads partied around them.
"It was a really weird, odd mixture," Stefani says.
On 2000's Return of Saturn, Stefani got serious about songwriting. The band was proud of the album and the tour, but it was a grueling process.
"I just got really in a confused and serious state in Return of Saturn. After going through that, everyone felt this freedom; we did it, we are really proud of that record, and it showed such growth to us," she says. "Whatever people might say, for me, those songs are a true reflection of my life. When I hear them, I know exactly what I'm talking about. That's my life! So it's interesting to come back after that and say, 'let's write some songs, but be really free about it; let's not have any restrictions.' We were in such a good mood. After that tour, everyone just felt so free. There was no pressure at all. It was such a cool time period."
For last year's Rock Steady, they hadn't even been planning on recording an album, just having fun instead.
"We just sat in a room and listened to some music that inspired us and tried to write a drumbeat," she says. "Then we'd get a keyboard riff and start laying down some kind of a track. I was playing keyboards. Hello? I don't know how to play keyboards. And I'd sing on top of it.
"The whole plan was, you guys work on it, geek out on the computer. I'm gonna sit on the couch and I'm going to finish the song right now. I'm not gonna do my whole getting the thesaurus, trying to be deep. I'm gonna write what's on my mind, write quickly. Before we knew it, we had this record."
They took the rough tracks to various studios and producers, including Sly & Robbie and Prince, and just let them work on them.
The hardest part of success, she notes, is having your time planned out far into the future.
"We sat down a year ago and I slotted my wedding into this year," she says of her nuptials with Gavin Rossdale of Bush. "We had a four-hour band meeting and decided everywhere we were gonna go in the world . . . and what date my wedding would be."
"So when someone goes, 'Hey guys, can you come play my backyard birthday party? Come on!' No, we can't, because we're playing somewhere else that night."
Success threw her at first. After being dismissed as "bubblegum pop, . . . this alternative to the alternative for all these years, this quirky little band that has this following, all of a sudden you sell 14 million copies," she says. "You come home and you don't know who you are."
She's found out, though, both in the band and in her carefully chosen side projects. She worked with Eve on the Grammy-winning Let Me Blow Your Mind, solely to work with producer Dr. Dre.
She recorded her part on Moby's hit Southside right after Tragic Kingdom came out, but it stayed in the can for years.
"I went down, did the video and the . . . thing blew up. Who'd have thought?" she says.
