Modern Drummer (June 1997)

No Doubt’s Adrian Young: Not “Just A Drummer”

Adrian Young thought he was about to lose his job as No Doubt’s drummer. It was nearing the end of 1991, and the other members of the band had decided it was time to make a record. No Doubt was still unsigned, but they had put together a two-song demo the year before that was produced by the Chili Peppers’ Flea. It was Adrian’s first recording experience, and it didn’t go well.

“I wasn’t grooving. I was nervous and shaky,” recalls Adrian. "1 was this inexperienced kid, and Flea was trying to help me get into it. I was choking and thinking. ‘Oh God, I'm ruining it for everybody.' I felt really bad. We eventually got it, but it took a long time. And what was ironic was that we never used those tracks for anything.”

But during the band meeting regarding the album they were going to make, one of the bandmembers flat out said, “I don’t think Adrian is ready.” “I got really bummed out and upset,” the drummer remembers. “I had to go outside because I was crying. I came back and told the band, ‘You don’t need to be held back by me, so either record with me now or I’ll let you guys move on.’”

Adrian had only been playing drums for a year and a half when he joined No Doubt. He had hoped to become a professional golfer, but when he got into Long Beach State, the golf team was too tough, so he opted for a psychology major. For Christmas of his eighteenth year he asked his parents for a drumset, and he began to play—just for fun. “My dad said. ‘Now don’t run off and join a band,”’ Adrian recalls with a laugh. “And I said, ’Yeah, right!’ never thinking I would."

Young played along to Rush, Heart, Fishbone, the Police, and even some No Doubt demos he owned. (Adrian was a big fan of the local Orange County band before he joined them.) Adrian even played in a local heavy metal band. There he was, on a stage with thirty-year-olds in tight snakeskin pants!

Six months later the drum spot in No Doubt opened up. and their roadie, knowing Adrian was a fan, called him to audition. The group had been together longer than Adrian had been playing drums, but the young drummer didn’t let that sway him, and he began seriously practicing to their demo. Sure enough, Adrian got the gig. Problem was, he had learned the parts directly from the tape—he could play them backwards and forwards—but beyond that, his drumming knowledge was limited.

Adrian spent the next couple of years trying to catch up to the musicianship of the other band members. He borrowed bass player Tony Kanal’s metronome, and in addition to Thursday and Sunday group rehearsals, Adrian practiced constantly on his own. He focused his approach around bands like Fishbone and the Police, from whom No Doubt had derived a great deal of influence.

Adrian does admit to taking one drum lesson in 1990. The fact that he really couldn’t afford to keep up with lessons, though, probably accounts for his unconventional approach. But it’s that approach that the band was unwilling to part with upon his proposal during that first album discussion. They didn’t let him go, they recorded the first album, and he rose to the occasion.

Interscope records became interested in No Doubt because of that first effort, although the band convinced the label to allow them to record a new version of the album. Though that first record didn't do well commercially, the company gave the go-ahead for a second.

The sessions for the next record began in 1993, which was followed by a period in the band’s history that can only be described as chaotic. When Tragic Kingdom was initially released, Interscope did very little to support it. During this frustrating period, money grew tight for Adrian, and he moved back in with his father and stepmother. When his laziness subsided, he went back to waiting tables. Then longtime member Eric Stefani quit the group. And if things weren't tough enough, it was during this time that lead singer Gwen Stefani (Eric’s little sister) and bass player Tony Kanal broke off their relationship. Yes, there was some doubt about this band’s future.

RF: Was there ever a discussion about breaking up during that difficult period?

AY: After our first record didn’t hit commercially, we started writing songs for the second one as soon as we finished the first tour. Then we couldn’t get the second record out, because we couldn’t convince the label that we had the material. So Eric quit and then Tony and Gwen broke up. Yeah, there was talk about quitting, but I never talked about it. I didn’t want to stop.

RF: With your lead singer and bass player publicly breaking up, is it tough for a musician to go on stage with that kind of tension every night?

AY: I don’t know how it’s affected me musically, but Tom, the guitar player, and I have observed a lot of emotional struggles.

It’s hard to watch your friends go through that stuff. It does wear on you, but somehow we’ve all pulled through it.

RF: Is it true what some people say, that you can go on stage and leave everything behind?

AY: I don’t know if you can leave that kind of stuff behind. It depends on the person, I guess. Sometimes when I’m playing I’m only thinking about the music, but other times I’ll be thinking about weird stuff. The only time I really leave my problems behind is when I golf. Golf doesn’t allow me to focus on anything else.

RF: Could it be that golf is something you have to think about intensely all the time, but drumming eventually becomes second- nature?

AY: Yes, but there was a time when I had to think about every single part I played.

RF: When do you think you turned that comer?

AY: The first time I noticed it was when someone else pointed it out to me. We were playing a show when some guy standing next to the edge of the stage started talking to me. After the concert, he said, “I can’t believe you were playing and having a conversation with me.” That was when I realized I could do other things while I drummed, which was probably around 1993. Other drummers will probably read that and go, “So what? He can talk while he’s playing,” but it was a big change for me.

RF: What finally convinced the record company to release the second album?

AY: I’m not sure. We recorded in eleven different studios over a period of two and a half years, and eventually it was completed. The first sessions for this album were in March of 1993!

RF: What about the second project you guys did on your own, Beacon Street?

AY: We built a studio in our garage and spent months in there writing and making demos on a sixteen-track board. In 1995, after two years of practically living out of that garage, we felt we really wanted to put something out. We had a very loyal following—in California especially—who had not heard a new record from us in a couple of years.

So we took a few recordings we had made in that garage, plus some tracks we had recorded at an inexpensive studio by ourselves, and put together our own record. A month later, we had boxes of CDs, and we just started selling them. By the way, that’s not something you’re supposed to do when you’re signed to a label, but Interscope was cool about it. They understood; they were the reason for the delay. So that’s why the Beacon Street collection doesn’t sound like a fully produced record.

RF: When No Doubt began in 1987, the music was different from the way it is now.

AY: I think the big misconception is that No Doubt stopped being a ska band a year ago, when in fact even before I joined, the band was experimenting with other things. Ska is really only a part of what we do.

RF: The first album was more horn-oriented. As the band progressed you got away from that. Did this affect the way you played in the band?

AY: I think it simplified things a little more and made me more rock-oriented. We used to do some weird stuff that caused me to experiment more. After Eric left there were fewer horns and keyboards in the band, and the songs became a little more straightforward as well. I think it was the age, too, because we were all getting a little older. In the early days, every song had a meter change—we used to experiment with all sorts of things. I do hope to bring back more horns on the next record.

RF: What would you recommend to drummers who want to get inside ska?

AY: I’d recommend going back and practicing to the ska bands from the ’60s all the way up to the ’90s. Pick up old Bob Marley & the Wailers albums and listen to what those guys were originally doing—those great beats. The recordings sound a little primitive, but they’re amazing. I’d also say you should concentrate on the Specials, because their drummer, John Bradbury, is a great ska player. Then listen to Stewart Copeland, who integrated rock with ska and reggae probably better than anybody else.

RF: Are there any particular drummers who have become important to you in the last few years?

AY: I still enjoy playing along to recordings of other bands, and recently I’ve been playing along to Steely Dan, Chicago, and Earth, Wind & Fire. One drummer who became really important to me, and a guy who has become a good friend, is Chad Sexton of 311. I think he’s bringing some¬ thing totally new to alternative rock, because he’s such a great marching drummer. He’s so precise and educated, but at the same time he doesn’t sound stiff—he grooves. He integrates that kind of dancehall and swing ska with technique. We’re both interested in that kind of drumming, but when I first started hearing him he was doing it better than me and just about anyone else.

RF: You just mentioned that some drummers—and bands—play in a stiff manner. How do you learn to play in a loose but confident way?

AY: Whatever group of people you get with, you have to jam together for hours until you fit like a glove. You have to keep playing together, exploring new areas, and not focus on things like, “You hit that bad chord right there,” or “Your fill is a little bit weak on that.” Just let people go. I’ve seen rehearsals where everyone in the band was fighting, and they were all good musicians. “You missed the second-to-last note on the third verse!” Come on, man, this is rock ’n’ roll, not the New York Philharmonic. It’s supposed to make you feel good.

RF: How does No Doubt go about putting music together?

AY: There are so many different ways a song is written. When Eric Stefani was in the band, especially in the early years, he had the capability of writing a complete song—bass, guitar, drum parts on a drum machine—the whole thing orchestrated with lyrics and melody.

RF: How did you feel about that? It sounds like that doesn’t leave a lot of room for contribution.

AY: I didn’t mind it because the parts were so great. I’m not one of those people who feels, “I’m an artist and I need my two cents.” But with more experience, from being in the band for a while, I started to come up with my own parts. I changed a lot of his original ideas, some of which he liked and some of which I’m sure he didn’t.

RF: But who had final say?

AY: There is no final say in this band, and there never has been. If it’s your own part, ultimately you’re the one who is going to be playing it. Everyone tries to compromise and understand, but at some point you’ve got to play what you want to play.

RF: Tom Dumont, the band’s guitar player, said in a Guitar World interview that his idea for “Just A Girl” was to double-time the whole song, but you came in with a half-time thing and saved the double-time bit for the chorus.

AY: Right. I think rather than going, “That’s no good, try something else,” the band lets me try things. I think with “Just A Girl” they got used to what I was playing and ended up liking it.

RF: As you start to work up the song, how is it presented to you?

AY: On that one, I don’t think there was any discussion about an idea. I think they showed me the riff, I just came in, and we jammed. We all take part in the transitions and the arrangements. It’s pretty rare now that a song is completely finished and arranged before it’s brought in. So in some ways I get to bastardize other people’s ideas, but I guess that’s part of being in a band.

RF: Tragic Kingdom, which Interscope sat on forever, today is platinum six times over. Since people know the tunes, I’d like to go through it cut by cut and hear your thoughts. First song, “Spiderwebs.”

AY: Tony had this bass line that was inspired by—I don’t want to say James Brown—but it made me think of that. It was a really slow, funky rhythm, but it wasn’t working for me. So I said, “Let’s play it fast.” It’s weird because that particular bass line is a little awkward to play fast, but it worked.

My little intro on that one came about in a funny way. Every time we started the song in rehearsal, rather than counting the band in with four clicks, I just did that little intro. It ended up being the beginning of the album, just on a whim.

RF: “Excuse Me Mr.”

AY: That song is old. We had probably been messing with that riff since 1992, but we could never make it into a song; it never felt right. We couldn’t arrange it and we’d just put it on the shelf and come back to it. Finally—I’m going to take credit for this one—I said, “Let’s just put a straightforward 2-and-4 punk beat throughout the whole thing and sing it faster.” There’s only one drum beat in that whole song, except on the bridge, which has a kind of ’20s Dixieland feel. So I decided to play a marching kind of thing there. That song was more or less in the Eric Stefani signature style.

RF: “Happy Now.”

AY: That’s a straightforward rock beat from me. It was pretty basic because it was a common chord progression, and the tempo wasn’t anything extraordinary either. We just had to get it to feel right.

RF: “Different People.”

AY: That’s an old one, written on our tour in 1992. Before we built the garage, we were jamming in a bedroom at the band house where Tom, Eric, and I lived. There was a good melody and the chord changes were good, but it took a long time to complete. Nobody really had any good ideas for a drum track. Then one day I came up with that kind of shuffle thing.

A band that used to do that type of groove a lot was UB40. I don’t know if I directly stole that from them, but once I started playing that part, it gave Tony several options for bass lines. Once that was established, it started coming together really fast and we arranged the whole song in a day.

RF: “Hey You.”

AY: That was the first song I learned to play left-handed. It has an easy beat, and since I felt I needed to work on my left hand, I tried leading with it on the hi-hat on this song. It was written by Tony and Gwen, and there’s nothing too complicated about the drumming, just that left-hand challenge.

RF: “The Climb.”

AY: That was completely written by Eric Stefani and it’s really fun to play. There are many different parts. It’s in 6/8, and the bridge is weird. I came up with the drum parts for the rest of the song, but Eric had the bridge worked out with a snare drum pattern on a drum machine. It was a little tricky for me, though; I didn’t get it right away. I actually had to go, “What was that?” Once I worked it out I really liked it—a very cool part.

RF: You enjoyed the challenge of learning it?

AY: Very much. I’m not a rudimental snare drum player by any means, and that is a very syncopated thing, like you’d play in a marching band. That’s strange territory to me, but I enjoyed working on it.

RF: How did you learn your rudiments and all that stuff, since, as you say, you only had one lesson?

AY: I did have some other experiences. During the time I was living in Fullerton [California] in 1995, I went to the junior college there for a semester and took a basic drum class so I could learn how to read and find out exactly what I was doing. They only offered it at 8:00 a.m., and I’m not a morning person, but I did it anyway. I knew I had to do it.

RF: What did you get out of the class?

AY: I learned to read a little bit and I got better at my rudiments. Now I can do them properly.

RF: You had come all this way with your drumming without having studied; what made you feel it was necessary at that point?

AY: I think there were still a lot of areas where I wasn’t doing things correctly. I didn’t want to be just a feel player; I wanted to be a better all-around drummer.

RF: How do you feel rudimental knowledge is important to rock playing?

AY: It’s incredibly important. You can do so many different things with rudiments, on the snare drum especially, and on the whole kit. They’ve really expanded my playing.

RF: Let’s get back to the songs on the album. “Sixteen.”

AY: Gwen wanted to write about this sixteen-year-old girl we knew and just how tough it is for all sixteen-year-old girls, how trying a time it can be. Musically it was just a one-day jam.

RF: “Sunday Morning.”

AY: The main focus we all had on this one was to really accent the quarter notes. As for the drums, it has a straight bass and snare part, but I flip them and hit the snare on every quarter note during the choruses. That’s one of our old tricks, where we do a reggae verse and go to a ska chorus. This one ended up being more of a rock thing, but with strong accents on the quarter notes by the guitar. The Clash used to do that a lot.

RF: “Don’t Speak.”

AY: That song went through a major change. It was a finished product, but then we simplified it. The tune originally had a kind of ’70s Fender/Rhodes thing going on. The garage demo we made of it is really great; I like it better than what’s on the record, actually. It’s got a feel to it that is amazing. But it’s long and has a lot of parts, so it was one of those record company suggestions.

I used a Ludwig snare drum on this tune, which is the snare drum I used for every song on our first album. It sounds totally different on this album. I actually dislike the snare sound on “Don’t Speak” immensely because it’s really big and ballad-friendly, which is not really my snare sound.

Speaking of sounds, there are probably ten different snare sounds on this record, because I played ten different snare drums! We recorded in so many different places and I ended up using what was available. My favorite snare sound on the record is on “Sunday Morning.” I used a ’20s Ludwig all-metal drum on that one. I don’t own that drum, but I wish I did. I also like the sound on “Spiderwebs,” which is a 7x12 snare drum that Orange County Drum and Percussion made for me. That is the drum I play most of the time live.

RF: “You Can Do It.”

AY: We had this sort of disco song on our first album called “Let’s Get Back,” which we always liked to listen to and play. So for this record we wanted to do an all-out disco song. It’s pretty simple—standard disco drum beats, which are pretty obvious.

I grew up listening to a lot of ’70s rock, like Hendrix, Bob Marley, the Doors, Janis Joplin. My parents were hippies and we listened to the radio all the time, and I ended up hearing a fair amount of disco things. Eighty-five to ninety percent of the disco songs have the same drum beat. For the verses, I just threw in the 16th-note pattern and then when I got to the chorus I did the traditional hi-hat thing where it opens up on the “&s.” I played congas on that song, too.

RF: “World So Round.”

AY: Nothing interesting on the drums. Actually, none of us liked the way it came out. I like the song, but the production is like bad white reggae. We should have recorded that one in a crappy garage, turned the mic’s on, and played.

RF: “End It On This.”

AY: I definitely wanted to incorporate a Stewart Copeland-esqe approach mixed with the rock thing. I think a lot of people can hear that from what Fm playing on the hi-hat—those random hi-hat hits. At the same time there’s that driving “four on the floor” bass drum pattern. No one brought a drum beat to me; I like to play that beat, so I just threw it in there.

RF: “Tragic Kingdom.”

AY: Another Eric Stefani song, completely written by him. I had a hard time figuring out what fills to play on the intro. It’s a weird part and neither Eric nor I were happy with what I was coming up with. Finally, one day it occurred to me that I didn’t have to accent every one of the hits.

I had been trying to hit every accent while coming up with the fills. I realized I could accent certain ones and do fills over others.

The time goes back and forth between 6/8 and 4 throughout the song. That’s probably the most complicated song we have on the record, and to play it tight in the studio was difficult. I had practiced that song to the metronome by myself, so I could play the whole thing by myself. I wanted to be as polished as possible before we went into the studio; I did a lot of practicing.

RF: Some of your material gets pretty energetic. How do you deal with that live? Do you have to prepare physically for a tour?

AY: I never really had to do too much of that. I’ve always been a high-energy person and in pretty good shape. I’m not in as good shape now; I’m not working out as much as I used to because I don’t have a normal life anymore. I miss weight lifting, golfing, and other sports. But I don’t need as much of my whole body to play drums as I used to, because I play more with my wrists as time goes by. I used to be a full- on, “use all of my arms and club the drums” person. That was tough, but now I can pretty much go all night and not get tired.

I play in punk bands on the side for fun, where every song is a million miles an hour, and I can do it. There’s a local Orange County group called Manic Hispanic, and all their songs are really fast.

I don’t play that old kind of punk too often, so when they call me to fill in I actually have to practice to their tape just to build up stamina.

RF: At this stage of your drumming, what would you say are your assets and what needs improving?

AY: I would say my strongest asset is my drive to practice a lot, though I don’t have as much time as I used to. We’re on the road playing every night, so I’m not working on anything new, at least not lately. I just finished building a drum room inside my house, so now I’m going to do more practicing.

RF: What will you work on?

AY: I’ll probably put on “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder [from Songs In The Key Of Life] and play to that for a while, and then a couple days before the next tour I’ll play the songs we’re going to play to make sure I’m not rusty.

RF: Now that the band has been touring a bit, can you offer some tips on dealing with the live situation. Specifically, when you’re on stage, what do you like to hear in your monitor mix?

AY: I like the bass drum to be as loud as possible, then a little bit of vocals, and then an equal mix of horns, bass, and guitar. I like all of that pretty high in the mix. I usually don’t want my snare drum in the monitor mix because it’s pretty loud anyway. Lately, since our production is of a higher level and it sounds a lot nicer than in the clubs we used to play, I’ll put the snare in there just a little bit, because it can blend without tearing my head off. But that bass drum is usually the biggest challenge to get right.

I just talked to Tre Cool from Green Day, and he said he uses a Marshall cabinet as a monitor for the guitar. I’m going to try that, because that seems to be more natural than using a monitor where everything is coming out of it.

RF: What do you find yourself listening to most on stage?

AY: The bass, definitely. Bass and drums have to be like a hand in a glove in this band, and we try to keep it that way. The other instruments, at least from my perspective, play around us.

RF: Current plans?

AY: We’re going to tour through the end of the summer, which will make it a total of two years touring for this record. We’ll probably go into the studio this winter and hopefully put out an album by the summer of ’98.

The most exciting thing about this band is that there have been no limits on what kind of sound or what kind of music we play. When we start writing for that next record we won’t have any idea what the music is going to be like. If that sounds vague, well, that’s a part of it—that’s a part of my involvement in music and in this band. I can pretty much sum it up by saying, I don’t know how I got here—but, hey, I’m here.