Skater Magazine (August 1997)
Interview with Tom Dumont
No Doubt started off as a little band from Anaheim who has been around for 10 years.
Their latest album, Tragic Kingdom, has lifted them to the top of the charts with songs, such as "Just A Girl" and "Spiderwebs". We got to talk to Tom Dumont, the guitar player of the group. We found out the latest scoop on all the members of No Doubt what they like, how they got started, and a bunch of other juicy stuff.
Skatergirlz: How did you guys meet each other, and are you originally from Anaheim?
Tom: Okay. Well, when the band got started I wasn't even there. I didn't join until a year later but I can tell you the story 'cause I've heard it enough times. Gwen and her brother and this other guy...
Skatergirlz: Doesn't Gwen's brother play in the band right now?
Tom: No, he actually quit almost two years ago. It was those two who really got it started. They were in high school in Anaheim, living in Anaheim, gosh, Gwen was probably 16 and that's when it started in 1987.
Skatergirlz: In 1987?
Tom: Yeah, I think the first show was in the very beginning of 1987. I didn't join until about a year later in 1988. In No Doubt's beginning we went through a lot of musicians, we had a lot of different horn players coming in and out all the time but the two guys we have now we've had ever since the album came out. Then Adrian, the drummer we have now, joined probably about six months after I did, and after that it has been pretty solidified. Eric left December of '94 just after we finished Tragic Kingdom, even though it didn't come out a year later.
Skatergirlz: So everybody is basically just staying put now?
Tom: Yes.
Skatergirlz: Cool. Where was the first place you guys ever played together with the band members existing now?
Tom: Our first show with Adrian was our first show out of California. It was actually in Phoenix, Arizona. We loaded all of our gear into 3 or 4 of our parents' cars. I remember being in a big old ugly Buick, we had our amps in the back seat. Right around the time we crossed the border in Arizona, it was really hot in the desert you know, and the cars started overheating. If you know about cars when they overheat like that you are supposed to turn on the heater and crank it up full blast. You can imagine us driving through the desert with the heater on full blast-it really sucked. That was our first show with Adrian, and the first show I think the band ever played in was at a club called Fenders Ballroom in Long Beach, opening for, I hope this is right, opening for the Untouchables.
Skatergirlz: How did you guys come up with the name No Doubt, and what does it mean?
Tom: Remember when I told you there were 3 people? There was Gwen, Eric, and another guy. The other guy's name was John Smith. When we began we had two singers, John and Gwen, and they would sing back and forth. He made up the name, he used to say it all the time, I guess it was a little phrase of his. It was this weird thing that just somehow popped up and stuck. The sad part of the story, unfortunately, is that just before I joined the band John committed suicide and it's a weird thing, we have had all this success this year and we get interviewed fairly often now, and that story comes up and most of the time we don't mention that John died.
Skatergirlz: Why do you think this album was so popular compared to your other two albums?
Tom: There are 3 or 4 different things that changed. One was timing. When our first album came out in 1992, that was the same year that bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam started getting real big and that whole grunge sound got really huge. We were so far away from what that sounded like with the girl singing and the horn section. People at radio stations just didn't want to hear it. When this album came out I think that whole thing had been over for long enough that people had different tastes. I'd also like to think that as musicians and songwriters we grew a little bit, got a little bit better, and we hooked up with a record company that finally took us seriously and decided to promote our record. It was a combination of all those things and a lot of luck. We grew up in this all-ages underground club scene here in Orange County and Long Beach, where it was unfashionable to be on the radio and sell lots of records and be popular. There is this whole punk ethic out there- independence and this whole idea of selling out. For us, I think we always grew up listening to the radio. We don't have any shame or bad feeling about being popular. We feel bad if people don't like us anymore because we're popular but we're really happy to be doing this and we're playing the same kind of music we felt like we've always played.
Skatergirlz: What kind of band do you consider yourself?
Tom: I think we just try to consider ourselves a rock band who plays a big variety of influences and styles. We like to incorporate a little bit of ska and soul, and a little bit of a punkish sound here and there. We mix all these sounds together and I think that's what we've always been like.
Skatergirlz: Is there going to be another album soon, and if so is there a name for it?
Tom: Hopefully there will be another album. I don't know when, a lot of the people in the country haven't seen us play yet so we're going to go out there and tour for a while longer and then record an album probably sometime in the summer. It's going to be a while, but we have started writing some stuff.
Skatergirlz: Do all the band members contribute to the songs?
Tom: Yeah, it's pretty even. Out of the 3 main songs that have gotten us popular on this album, each one was cowritten by each one of us. Me and Gwen did "Just A Girl", Gwen and Tony did "Spiderwebs", and Gwen and her brother did "Don't Speak". It feels really good that everybody pitches in and everybody has a little talent in that department.
Skatergirlz: Do you like playing at little shows or big concerts?
Tom: We've played so many little shows for so many years that I think we've all developed a fondness for that. We've always felt like we were about playing at clubs and then this last year we've started playing at bigger places and I think that there are pluses to both. They can equally be fun. I equally like them. Smaller shows are definitely better for the people in the audience. It's way more intimate and fun than if you're sitting in the back of a 5,000 seat place.
Skatergirlz: Tell us about your craziest fan encounter.
Tom: It's not that crazy. There have been some real loons. We were in Australia for the first time in September, we had four shows there, and one of the shows was in a city called Melbourne. We played in a club and the show went great, the people were really enthusiastic out there. Everybody in the band noticed this one girl probably about 20 years old off to one side right in front of the stage. She was singing all the lyrics, and she was super super emotional crying the whole time. She was really into it, and she was going nuts. The show ended and we were backstage chatting. Someone came in and said, "Hey, that girl wants to meet you guys!" She comes back, sees Gwen, and starts freaking out and crying. She hugged Gwen really tight and was telling her how much she loved her. We wish we had the video cameras running. She was probably on some kind of drug like ecstasy because she was really overdoing it. She wanted to take something of Gwen's to have a momento. It's not that nutty, but it was pretty intense. How lucky are we to have somebody react that way?
Skatergirlz: What do you think all the band members would be doing if they weren't musicians?
Tom: I think Adrian would try to be a pro golfer. Before the band he was a waiter. Tony would be some sort of buisnessman. He is really good with business and organizing stuff. Gwen, I think, might be some sort of environmental or clothing designer, she's really artistic. I think she used to work, she might correct me on this, but she used to work at the Broadway at the make-up counter. I'm pretty sure she did that, if you print that she might get pissed off if that's not what she did. She really has a knack for art and I think the same kind of thing extends to music, too. Then me, oh man, I'd really be in a lot of trouble because there's really nothing else I can do.
Skatergirlz: Do you have any hobbies, like inline skating?
Tom: I used to skate and surf when I was a kid, but when I turned into a musician I stopped all that stuff. I have these cars that I am trying to make into hot rods. That is about as extreme as I get for a hobby. We are all kind of pusses in that sense. Gwen inline skates, and Tony doesn't do any of that stuff. Adrian likes sports, he likes to play basketball with friends, and is into golfing.
Skatergirlz: If you were to name each band member and an animal they represent, what would they be, and why?
Tom: Tony would be a monkey. We always tease him about being monkeyboy, I don't know why, he just has this monkeyish thing going. Gwen would have to be something feminine and cuddly. Maybe a cat, but her attitude is not like a cat. She's really nice and she likes to talk to people a lot. Maybe a little baby bear cub, but a polar bear cub, because she has blonde hair. Adrian would probably be an alligator because he's much more aggressive and doesn't like to f#@k around. The other band members would probably say I'm a giraffe because I'm kind of tall and dorky.
Skatergirlz: Is there anything that you would want your fans to know before you go?
Tom: Thank you if you are a fan and if you supported us. We try to do our best and are pretty normal people for the most part.