Indianapolis Star (May 19th 1997)
No Doubt About It
Misgivings cast aside, surprise hitmakers unequivocally enjoy success
What can No Doubt do for an encore? In the last miraculous year and a half, the band has sold more than 7 million copies of its Tragic Kingdom disc, occupied the covers of Rolling Stone and Spin and become a staple on radio and MTV. But in the next year or two, singer Gwen Stefani and the boys will have to try to follow their success. They know that will be daunting. So they've decided not to think about it.
Guitarist Tom Dumont says No Doubt - which will open Deer Creek Music Center's ninth season Tuesday - has no plans beyond touring through the summer, then heading home to Orange County, Calif. "I think everyone's going to resettle their lives, find places to live, have a normal life again and take a break from each other," he says. "But we haven't made any specific plan as far as how long that break will last or when we'll sit down and start thinking about another record. It's definitely in the back of all our minds, but we're trying not to think of it too much yet."
If they dwelled on it, the members of No Doubt might start wondering how they're going to match hit songs like the bubbly, ska-infused Spiderwebs and Just a Girl, and the lush Spanish-guitar-influenced ballad Don't Speak. They've written a "handful" of new songs, Dumont says. "But for whatever reason, we're not very prolific songwriters. Gwen's always got a little notebook where she's always writing lyrical things. Onstage during sound checks, me and the guys in the band mess around with different musical bits here and there. But we haven't really sat down and said, `OK, it's time to start writing the next record.'"
No Doubt never needed to exercise that skill before because keyboardist Eric Stefani, brother of singer Gwen, wrote nearly all the music. But shortly after recording Tragic Kingdom, Eric quit the band. He didn't like touring or dealing with the business side of music, Dumont says. Without Eric, No Doubt will rely on Gwen, Dumont and bassist Tony Kanal to handle the songwriting load. (Drummer Adrian Young is the other member. Trombonist/keyboard player Gabe McNair and trumpeter Stephen Bradley complete the touring lineup.) All contributed to Tragic Kingdom, sometimes in ways that went uncredited. For instance, Dumont's guitar-playing shines on Don't Speak. But on the original version, Eric Stefani opened with an organ passage and accompanied the verses with what Dumont describes as almost jazzy electric piano. Producer Matthew Wilder suggested the revision. "He said, `You'd better play that part because Eric's not going to be around to play it when you're playing live,’” Dumont remembers. "`So let's make it a guitar part, not a keyboard part.'"
Dumont, 29, joined No Doubt in 1988, a year into the band's existence. At the time, the band members were just getting a grasp on their instruments. "But there was this enthusiasm," he says, "and it was much more ska-oriented than it is now, with a lot more keyboards and a lot more horns than Tragic Kingdom has." Orange County offered a thriving underground music scene, complete with plenty of places to play. There, No Doubt put on wild, sweaty shows that caught the music industry's attention. When the band got its recording contract, its members decided to concentrate on writing better songs and developing their musical abilities. And with Tragic Kingdom, their third disc, they wanted to make a record that would "hold up on its own, one that you didn't have to see the band to appreciate."
That worked out - in a couple ways no one in No Doubt anticipated. For one, success made a star out of Gwen Stefani with her bleached-blonde hair, bare midriff and squeaky voice, while the rest of the band remained anonymous. That caused some dissent. Dumont doesn't mind the comparative lack of recognition because it means a more normal life. "But we just want people to know that we're a band and we always have been," he says. "It's not some manufactured things or something put together for success because Gwen's this pretty blonde girl and we've got these catchy songs."
Also, Dumont says that everyone in the band, at one time or another, has "felt bad" about No Doubt's enormous success. "We know this isn't Bob Dylan, and we're not incredible artists or poets," he says. "But at the same time, it feels really gross to be compared to the Spice Girls. Where we come from, this underground scene, there’s… all this baggage having to do with `it's not cool to be popular and it's not cool to be on Top 40 radio and it's not cool to be on MTV.' All these little rules. And I think for a few months, we felt, `Oh, no, what are we doing? Are we sellouts?' But now we're over it. And it's fine."
Yet Dumont also can see a time beyond No Doubt. Perhaps 10 years from now, he expects to be teaching - maybe music theory, maybe a course analyzing pop songs. He'd like to return to Cal State Fullerton, where he went to school after a few semesters at junior colleges. "But maybe," he says with a laugh, "we'll come out in 10 years, 15 years and do these summer oldies package tours. We'll be out with Green Day and the Spice Girls doing (amphitheaters), like Pat Benatar."