Songlounge (Sept. 11th 2002)

Tom Dumont

With a charismatic lead singer that you can't keep your eyes off of and a sound all their own, No Doubt is without a doubt one of the biggest and most popular bands in the world. Here's what their guitarist Tom Dumont had to tell Songlounge about songwriting, collaborating 
and working with producers in the studio.

SL - How do you guys approach songwriting? Do you write as a group or do you write individually and then present the songs or ideas to the rest of the band?

TD - In No Doubt songwriting is usually collaboration. On “Tragic Kingdom” and “Return of Saturn” Gwen would sit down with Tony or me (or both of us) and we’d flesh out the chords, rhythms and melodies of a song together with just an acoustic guitar. Gwen always did the lyrics though. We’d use a little handheld tape recorder to catch any cool improvisational moments. Recording everything as we wrote was indispensable and saved us a hundred times from forgetting something really good we’d come up with. After coming up with the basic elements of the song this way we’d then get together with Adrian on drums and feel the song out as a band, and when we sorted that out we’d make a demo.

On "Rock Steady" we took a very different approach. Tony and I would sit with keyboards and drum machines and come up with the music for the songs while Gwen would hang around writing lyrics and humming melodies to herself. Then using Protools we’d record a demo on the spot, which ended up being a very spontaneous and fun way to move a song along from idea to finished demo in the course of a day or two. In many cases those actual demo recordings ended up being on the final album mix.

SL - Usually bands work with one producer on an entire album. How hard was it keeping the 
new album ("Rock Steady") cohesive while working with several different producers?

TD - "Rock Steady" was a big collaborative process where we worked with many producers. We wanted to cram as much musical learning and growth into a one year period as possible. The thing that kept everything cohesive was us. It was still Gwen’s voice and words, still our playing, just filtered through the taste and sensibility of those we worked with. Also we spent 6 weeks mixing with one guy, Spike Stent, which gave the album a kind of sonic glue.

SL - We’ve heard that you’re an extremely democratic band. What would you say is the key 
element to successful collaboration?

TD - We’ve worked hard to stay as democratic as possible but in the end Gwen leads us creatively and Tony is the leader when it comes to business stuff. We do discuss everything and everyone’s opinions are respected and listened to though. I think it's very natural to have one or two leaders in a band and most bands probably work best that way.

SL - What advice would you give to a band going into the studio with a producer for the first time?

TD - Be assertive and at the same time try to learn something. A producer is there to get 
something great out of your band, and when you respect each other that’s usually what will 
happen. If you don’t see eye to eye with a producer or think that your goals are different then 
by all means find someone else. A good producer will listen objectively to your songs and drive you to improve things. Also a producer can mediate between the egos and personalities in a band. A producer is like a coach trying to make you win in the studio, to achieve what you want out of a song and a recording.

SL - Can you give us a tip about recording guitar for us to put in our Songlounge Tip Box?

TD - Sure, in a rock band a guitar often occupies the same sonic frequencies as the vocals,
so I try with my guitar parts to make space, not compete with the vocal.

Thanks Tom!