Billboard (Feb. 10th 1996)
Trauma’s No Doubt Keeps Faith
While it may appear that No Doubt is just another band to come out of nowhere and hit it big with a catchy modern rock song ("Just A Girl"), the Orange County, Calif.-bred, ska-influenced outfit has actually been paving the way for this breakthrough success for eight years.
The band's latest album, "Tragic Kingdom" on Trauma/Interscope, reached No. 1 on Heatseekers for the week ending Jan. 27. The following week, No Doubt became Heatseekers Impact Artists when "Tragic Kingdom" broke into the top half of The Billboard 200 with a 27-position move to No. 89.
This week, the album, released Oct. 10, 1995, is No. 70 on The Billboard 200; it has sold more than 87,000 units to date, according to SoundScan.
"People can't get enough of the ska sound. They're hungry for it," says Hugh Jones, marketing manager of the three Cellophane Square stores in the Seattle area.
Meanwhile, "Just A Girl" is No. 1e on Modern Rock Tracks and No. 5e on Hot 100 Singles this week.
"This record has no burn," says Aaron Axelsen, assistant music director at modern rock KITS (Live 105) San Francisco. "It's increasing in momentum. Just when you think it's peaking, it increases in sales again. We're spiking 'Spiderwebs' now, which is equally as strong as 'Just A Girl.'" "Spiderwebs," the second single from the album, has not officially been serviced to radio yet.
There was much more involved in bringing No Doubt to the masses, however, than one long-lasting song.
The band, which is booked by Mitch Okmin at MOB, has toured relentlessly in the past eight years, traveling as far out of Southern California as its members could afford. Since the release of "Tragic Kingdom," the band has been on the Warped tour, which is sponsored by various skateboarding companies; performed at skateboarding festivals; and toured clubs on its own. Now it will head out on its biggest tours yet as the opening act for Everclear from Feb. 1-10 and for Bush and the Goo Goo Dolls from Feb. 12 through mid-April.
The band's new-found friends at radio can be attributed to the natural evolution of its musical direction, which positioned it as more airplay-friendly. I 1992 self-titled Interscope debut, which didn't make it to Heatseekers or The Billboard 200, was saturated with ska sounds, while "Tragic Kingdom" delivers catchier songs in the pop/punk vein with shades of ska mixed in for flavor.
Strong live shows and support from modern rock radio and MTV certainly paved the way for No Doubt's success. However, the album's 27-position jump on The Billboard 200 two weeks ago can largely be attributed to exposure on a closed-circuit television outlet, the Channel One Network, according to Paul Palmer, who mixed "Tragic Kingdom" and is co-president of Trauma Records with Rob Kahane.
The band's sassy lead singer, Gwen Stefani, hosted Los Angeles-based Channel One's 12-minute daily news program Jan. 16, which aired in 12,000 classrooms. No Doubt's songs were used as the music bed between segments. An in-store at a Blockbuster in Fresno, Calif., following the show drew many of the students and helped fuel album sales.
"In our early strategy sessions, we talked about getting to high school markets, more than just the traditional stickering," says Jim Martone, VP of marketing at Trauma, who set up the promotion. "We wanted students to be exposed to the band and to Gwen, because she really relates to them."
Steve Berman, head of marketing at Interscope, says Trauma did a great job setting up this record with aggressive street campaigns in the skateboarding community and in schools.
"We worked hand in hand with them in expanding their marketplace," adds Berman. "One thing we really feel we do well is we went under the tour markets and radio airplay and really pounded the streets with promotions."
Tony Ferguson, the Interscope A&R executive who signed No Doubt in 1991, says part of the reason "Tragic Kingdom" fared much better than "No Doubt" is the timing.
"We released 'No Doubt' at a time when the music scene was breaking Pearl Jam and Nirvana," says Ferguson, "so punkish ska didn't really fit in. This is all about timing and the involvement of people like Paul and producer Matthew Wilder."
Tony Kanal, bassist of the band, which also includes guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young, says it took three years for "Tragic Kingdom" to come out, because the band and the label weren't seeing eye to eye.
The band was so frustrated that it released "Beacon Street Collection," which Kanal refers to as "Tragic Kingdom" B-sides, on its own in early 1995 and sold it at shows and via mail order.
However, Kanal says all of the frustrations are behind them now. "It was the kind of situation where Interscope was blowing up at the time, and the grunge thing was happening," says Kanal. "We definitely needed some fresh blood behind it and Trauma was really psyched about the project, so now we have the best of both worlds. We have a small staff that's really hands-on, and then we have Interscope, which has developed into a good situation."
The band is managed by Tom Atencio of Tom Atencio & Associates.