Las Vegas Review-Journal (March 29th 2002)

Stefani’s side projects bring attention to No Doubt

The members of No Doubt never worried that Gwen Stefani would leave the band to go solo, just because she sang on two of 2001's biggest hits: Moby's electronic-dance song "South Side" and a hip- hop duet with Eve, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind."

Stefani, in fact, had taken a break from No Doubt for only one day, three years ago no less, to sing on Moby's song. "South Side" just wasn't released until last year. And it was the other members of No Doubt who convinced Stefani to accept Eve's offer to spend one day in a studio with producer Dr. Dre to sing on "Let Me Blow Ya Mind."

"She was waffling" over the offer, says guitarist Tom Dumont, who told her it would be a cool gig.

"It's not like we keep her on a leash," Dumont says. "She just popped in for a day. It wasn't like she was going to go solo or anything. It was like (Gwen saying), 'I'm going to be gone Friday.' 'Oh, OK.' "

For No Doubt, which plays Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel, Stefani's sort-of solo success last year "was cool for us in a way," because it gave new exposure to the band, Dumont says.

In the meantime, all four members of No Doubt were working with a slate of outside musicians, and with more than one producer, for the first time. They were recording their 2001 album, "Rock Steady," which would yield a serious hit, "Hey Baby," and sell a million and a half copies in three months.

"Before this album, we had done four albums in a very self- contained manner. We wrote everything. We played everything," Dumont, 34, says. "We wanted to change the landscape to keep out of a rut."

So they decided to co-write and produce with highly esteemed writers and producers, from the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart and Prince to the Neptunes, Dr. Dre and Timbaland.

Before that, No Doubt had become known for putting pop melodies and hip-hop rhythms into ska-rock songs. The hits rolled out, from the dancers "Just a Girl" and "Spiderwebs" to Stefani's sweeping ballads "Simple Kind of Life" and "Don't Speak."

But this time, the band wanted to try its hand at dancehall reggae, a form of urban music that bassist Tony Kanal turned the band onto. It's a musical genre that had so far only snuck onto American radio through Maxi Priest, Shaggy and a few other artists.

Dancehall reggae comes out of Jamaica and normally pairs guttural vocals with quick, infectious reggae rhythms. The band hoped to adopt the style and give it a signature twist.

"Clearly, Gwen doesn't sound like those guys," Dumont says of Stefani's melodic, feminine vocals. "Me and Tony programmed the beats (and) realized there's very little bass and guitar in dancehall. ... We started messing with keyboards, something we're very naive about."

In addition to having a lighter vocalist than standard dancehall, No Doubt's lyrics are not homophobic, as is much of Jamaican dancehall.

"I like to mention that," so no one will end up thinking No Doubt has turned homophobe, Dumont says.

And with less rock on the record, he says, they also wondered, "What are we gonna play onstage?" But the new No Doubt tour does include six or seven new songs in each show, in an attempt to showcase equal amounts of songs from their last three albums.

The band members continue to promote themselves through interviews like mad, as they have for four months. Dumont says he doesn't mind doing interviews, as long as they're not insipid. But he thinks America's obsession with celebrities helps bring stars down.

"When I was growing up, listening to bands in the '70s, the only thing you knew about the band was the album sleeve, and if you saw them in concert," he says.

Now, many magazines are all about stars' lives. Ozzy Osbourne has his own reality show on TV. MTV cameras follow Osbourne's family around. And musicians show the insides of their homes on "MTV Cribs."

"It's a brighter, faster burnout now" for celebrities, because of the overexposure, Dumont believes.

Even so, fans don't hear all the gritty details of their idols' lives, he says.

"I think celebrities are pretty good at hiding the grungier aspects of their lives," Dumont says. For instance, Dumont convinced VH1 not to show certain things captured on camera when the video- music station followed No Doubt in Jamaica for a documentary on the band.

"There was a bunch of footage when I was visibly intoxicated," he says. "You can imagine everybody has a drink, especially in Jamaica. ... I said, 'If you don't mind cutting out the parts when I was drunk.' And they were nice enough to edit these things out."

Then again, profiles of the 15-year-old band usually center on another topic, the ending of Stefani and Kanal's years-old relationship, because it gave the band a sexually charged dramatic narrative, what with Stefani writing hit after hit about the breakup.

"It is the same old story," Dumont says matter-of-factly.

He knows that, otherwise, the band's not as colorful offstage as others.

"We were just in Rolling Stone, and it is empty. There's not a whole bunch of drama," he says.

"We get along well. I think that's part of the reason we're still here. ... We have our share of (stress), but at the end of the day, we all get along."

And they still work hard, no matter how many times they've performed "Don't Speak," he says.

"There's been times in the past when we've been 50 shows into a tour, when it becomes routine a little bit," he says. "But we still try to give our best effort. Fame is fleeting.

"But it is strange, sometimes, when it's routine to be playing in front of 15,000 people."