Waikato Times (Sept. 17th 1996)
Yeeeoooowwwwww
The Yanks resdiscovered ska at exactly the same time they discovered No Doubt. A creepy coincidence or what? Stefan Herrick looks into it.
Fame brings pain. Just ask Tony Kanal, bassist for Californian ska-punk wackos No Doubt.
A couple of years ago when the band was down on its luck, he made a bet with their blonde-babe singer Gwen Stefani: if the band ever had a gold record, Kanal would get his nose pierced.
"About six months ago it happened," he says from his home at Yorba Linda, near Anaheim. "She goes `You lost the bet, it's time to go get it done.' I was, like, `OK, I can be a man. I can handle this'. But it hurt incredibly -- the worst pain I've felt in my life. I passed out and threw up . . . it's not something I'm too proud of."
A year ago No Doubt was one of hundreds of west coast club bands looking for a break. Now they're seriously big. The day Sounds! spoke to Kanal, the band's album Tragic Kingdom -- with the single Just A Girl -- was No 4 in the US and the screamer headline on MTV News was "No Doubt Cancels 10 Shows".
During a tour of the US east coast, Stefani's voice gave out -- the first time that's happened since the band formed in 1987. Which is why England-born Kanal has a week off.
"It's funny," he says. "It's only since I've been home these past few days that it's really started to sink in what's happened. Hearing ourselves on the radio station I grew up listening to has changed my perspective. I'm in the eye of the storm and it's such a strange experience."
For nine years No Doubt slugged it out up and down the Pacific coast while other bands from their neighbourhood, like Offspring and Rancid, went global in the new punk frenzy. Outside a band of loyal fans No Doubt were unknown. Kanal, Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young nearly tossed it all in many times.
"But we always knew we had the potential to get our music out there and a lot of people would enjoy it," says Kanal, a Prince fan. It's the members' mix of pet styles that makes No Doubt's sound such a melting pot. Stefani loves Madness, Dumont grew up on metal and Young was influenced by 70s rock.
"For many, many years people would say `You guys are all over the place, you need to focus and play one style of music'," says Kanal. "We went: `You know what? We can't do it so we're not even going to try'. It seems to be working now. No one's complaining any more."
Kanal is good at interviews. He's done hundreds, refined the art, and simply doesn't put a foot wrong. "I never get sick of doing them though," he says. "For years nobody wanted to know anything about us. Now that things have turned around, I'm just flattered people want to talk to us."