Syracuse.com (June 18th 2009)

For guitarist Tom Dumont, there was No Doubt about band getting back together

When lead singer Gwen Stefani was enjoying that prosperous and successful solo career of hers from 2004 to 2008, did guitarist Tom Dumont remain convinced that the old band would come back together?

No doubt.

Dumont says during a phone interview at a tour stop in Philadelphia last week that he was convinced that Stefani would make good on her word and come back to No Doubt.

"We took the break. It ended up being longer than we expected," Dumont says. "But for 21 years I've been in the band now and we know each other so well. It was understood among the four of us that 'Gwen's doing her thing.' It was not a break-up."

Sure enough, Stefani called her old friends at the end of her 2007.

"She said, 'let's do this?" Dumont recalls.

They started hanging out in early 2008. "It was getting reacquainted," he says, "and knowing each other and making up for lost time."

The No Doubt's-back tour hits the Turning Stone Resort and Casino Event Center on Monday. That's where Stefani turned in a fine December 2005 performance that won over the crowd with her solo hit "Hollaback Girl" and much, much more.

Any jealousy about her success without him at her side?

"Not about a specific song," Dumont says. "But all the emotions got involved. That's a natural condition of the situation. But envy is not something I subscribe to."

Indeed, Dumont says, the hiatus made No Doubt a better band in the end.

"The great thing that happened, and I think it was a healthy thing, is that we matured," Dumont says. "When we started, Gwen was a teenager. So was Tony (Kanal, bassist). To finally have that break and have each of us stand alone as artists was a healthy thing."

Dumont had his own project, Invincible Overlord. He also produced the CD "Songs We Sing" by Matt Costa.

More importantly, he says, "I started a family. I stood as a man myself."

He says the live show has come together splendidly.

"The second concert, the Bamboozle Fest in New Jersey, we nailed it in front of 40,000 people," Dumont says. "There's that instant gratification you get from the audience."

Sometime after the tour, they'll make another studio album.

Don't expect it to be exactly like "Tragic Kingdom," "Return of Saturn" or "Rock Steady."

"That's true. It's one of the reasons why it's always been a challenge to make albums for us. We're constantly growing. What's exciting is we have a blank canvas to paint on."