Albuquerque Journal (Nov. 15th 2002)
No Doubt about its direction
Guitarist plays key role in old hits, new sounds
Forgive me for noticing, but there is more to No Doubt than cutesy frontwoman Gwen Stefani.
Don't get me wrong, Stefani is a key element to the ND sound, and she ably holds up her end when it comes to singing.
But if you dig a little further than Stefani, her flat tummy and her lyrical center of the universe, bassist/ex-boyfriend Tony Kanal, you will find guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young.
Dumont is the author of the jumpy riff in "Just a Girl," No Doubt's breakthrough smash, and the lilting intro to "Don't Speak," its subsequent hit. Then on "Return to Saturn," the follow-up to the album "Tragic Kingdom," Dumont wrote the brooding "Ex-Girlfriend" and many of the album's other tracks.
Finally, as the group considered what direction it would take for its latest effort, the Red Stripe and ragga-fueled "Rock Steady," from 2001, it was Dumont who again saved the day by setting down his guitar (and his ego) and substituting synthesizers and electronic bleeps where guitar might have been.
"I don't want to take credit for it, but it was really me sitting down with Tony's influence as well and trying to emulate this dancehall reggae stuff," Dumont said from a tour stop in Dallas, Texas. "By the end of making our last record, all the guitar bands we were hearing, Creed, the new metal stuff, Matchbox 20, were prevalent. And not that I'm criticizing those bands, but I thought they were really treading over things we've already heard."
The change worked, as far as the band considered, but fans had a different take on the band's new direction.
"Fans were thinking that what we were trying to do was pop music because dancehall is still underground in the U.S.," Dumont said of songs like the album's first single, "Hey Baby." "People are saying now, with our newer singles, 'We're really glad you're getting back to the old stuff.' All the songs are on the same record but fans only focus on what single is out at the time."
Hard-core fans in New Mexico probably know that the band inexplicably stayed away until this year, when it played back-to- back sold-out shows at the Santa Ana Star casino. This time around No Doubt will be housed in the more spacious Tingley Coliseum. But Dumont says if you came last time, you won't see the same things this time.
"The show is cool, and the bill is pretty rock solid," Dumont said. "For us, we're definitely putting on a much bigger show video screens and lighting and we have a few staging schemes up our sleeve."