Daily News (March 27th 2002)

Hey Baby

Orange County’s No Doubt bringing its dancehall groove to the Universal Amphitheatre

The music of No Doubt reveals that its members love to have a good time. Usually, though, the band mates are a serious bunch in the recording studio.

But in making their latest release, "Rock Steady," the 30- something Orange County rock musicians - who have played together for 15 years - let in the fun.

Tony Kanal, the band's bassist and ex-boyfriend of blond bombshell vocalist Gwen Stefani, said this new batch of bubbly Jamaican dance-hall and '80s pop was especially liberating, given the band's experience on the last two records - 1995's "Tragic Kingdom," catapulted by the bouncy ska hit "Just a Girl," and its 2000 follow-up "Return of Saturn."

"With the last record, we really wanted to get in the studio and really prove to ourselves that we could improve as songwriters and musicians," Kanal said from the band's tour bus somewhere between San Francisco and San Jose - the band plays the first of two consecutive shows at the Universal Amphitheatre tonight.

No Doubt had invested relentless energy into "Tragic Kingdom," an album that took three years to complete and launched the band worldwide thanks to regular air play on modern rock radio and an appearance at a holiday concert for KROQ-FM (106.7).

"They had a huge local following when we first started playing 'Tragic Kingdom,' " said Lisa Worden, the station's music director. "That was such a great album with great songs on it. ... It was perfect timing."

Sharing the stage with No Doubt that winter night was the British rock band Bush, which offered the ska band an opening slot on its upcoming tour.

No looking back

Kanal is still struck by the unexpected success No Doubt found on that first North American trek.

"I always thought that after a few months of touring I would go back to my day job," Kanal said. "And you know, we left on tour and never came back."

"Tragic Kingdom" went on to score several hits - such as "Spiderwebs," "Don't Speak" and "Sunday Morning"- and 10 million copies were sold. For Kanal and his band mates, the pressure to one- up the album was on.

"It was very, very important for us at that time to show people we deserved the success we had had," Kanal said. "So making 'Return of Saturn' we took very seriously."

So serious, in fact, that No Doubt locked itself in the studio for an unexpected two years.

The album's long-awaited release triggered a whirlwind nine- month tour. Backstage Jamaican dance-hall parties followed every show, putting everybody in good spirits and inspiring No Doubt's next album.

In all, the most recent album took less than one year to complete. One of the first songs written for "Rock Steady" was the Jamaican dance-hall groove "Start the Fire."

"We were really tapping into this vibe because we'd grown up on reggae music, and Jamaican dance-hall music to me is reggae mixed with hip-hop," Kanal said, adding, "That was the thing that got us in a happy mood to begin with."

Global inspiration

The goal for No Doubt was to create the kind of record that might get thrown on the turntable at one of the band's backstage dance parties. After laying down digital demos at guitarist Tom Dumont's L.A. home, the four headed to Jamaica and, later, London looking for inspiration.

Through mutual friends, No Doubt hooked up with the reggae production team of Sly & Robbie, as well as a slew of '80s heavyweights, including Ric Ocasek, formerly of the Cars; Eurythmics' Dave Stewart; and Prince. Madonna's producer William Orbit also lent his talent.

Despite the number of producers polishing the tracks, Kanal said that No Doubt was always in control of the new album. Some 80 percent of the songs were laid down at Dumont's home, including the vocals on Stefani's homage to No Doubt's girl groupies, "Hey Baby."

"This whole record never really had a plan," Kanal said. "Everything really just unfolded in front of us naturally. We made this record so quickly that there wasn't time to think about things too much, which is such a cool way to approach making music."