Tragic Kingdom (January 2001)

Tony Kanal Interviewed by Brandon Griggs

What made you guys enter the studio so soon?

We were just feeling the vibes. We finished touring in November of last year and we started writing at the beginning of January. The writing process moved quickly and was going so well that we were like ‘lets go into the studio and make this happen’. As smooth as everything was going, there was really no reason to wait.

So did you all help out on the writing of this album or did you have any outside collaborations?

Gwen, Tom and I wrote most of this record, but we did do a couple of outside collaborations. We co-wrote a song with Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics, and a song with The Neptunes (a hip-hop production team).

We heard you did something with Kelis?

No, that’s different. We co-wrote a song for her record and Tom, Adrian and I played on the track.

So do you guys still want to try and put out a B-sides album sometime?

We definitely plan on doing that sometime in the future, as well as releasing the “Live in the Tragic Kingdom” live concert on DVD.

So on this album you have Ric Ocasek, Sly and Robbie and then I heard that some others are producing as well and that even Dr. Dre is doing something on this album?

We still haven’t worked with Dre – we’re going to do a song with him but it just hasn’t been scheduled yet. We had this guy named Nellee Hooper (Bjork) do three tracks for us. He is amazing and we might even do some more with him. We’re also going to work with another producer named William Orbit (Madonna).

Most of the time you guys have stuck with one producer but you’re going a new route this time around by having several producers. As a band did you think more producers gives you a chance to try more?

This time around we let go of everything we’ve done in the past. This record was about exploring new territory and just having a good time. We feel that with Return of Saturn we made a really creative and artistic record and we were able to do everything we wanted as songwriters and musicians. This time we kind of changed it up a little bit and tried something new. We started working with various producers and then we realized that by having a bunch of different producers we would get a lot different flavors on the record.

What would you say is the most rewarding thing you got from Return Of Saturn?

The best thing for me is that there’s usually not a day that goes by without somebody saying how it is one of their favorite records. Other musicians and artists also compliment us on that record. I think when we made that record we really labored over it and we put a lot into it of which we are really proud. It’s one of the best things we’ve done.

When you guys finish an album do you maybe make a goals list of stuff you want to do maybe we can sell x amounts of records, tour here, etc?

No. I mean we want to tour around the world again, but as far as selling records you never know what is going to happen.

As a band how do you guys feel about Gwen doing stuff with Eve/Moby/etc. Do you guys support it

Absolutely.

Are you worried that she might do a duet with someone in direct competition with No Doubt?

I think the stuff that she does is just her way of exploring other artistic and creative outlets and directions. Like the stuff she did with Moby and Eve – that’s not stuff that our band does. Also Brian Setzer and Prince- those things are just different and I think it’s awesome for her to get to work with all those people. If she gets those opportunities she should definitely take them and all of us are really, really happy for her and we love it.

Lyrically each album has had a theme for the most part. Tragic Kingdom was about you and Gwen’s breakup; Return of Saturn was about Gwen and Gavin’s relationship. Does this album have a theme lyrically?

I think if anything it’s probably just about having fun and dancing. It’s about having a good time. As you know with Gwen she can’t get away from relationship stuff but it’s not as heavy and deep as it was last time. This time it’s more about having fun.

I’ve read that you guys have some hip hop style on the new album can you tell us a little bit about this?

I think all that stuff is being incorporated in the new record but we’re not making a hip-hop record at all we couldn’t if we wanted to anyway. We’re making a No Doubt record. I listen to hip-hop and so does Gwen and so does Tom and we love that stuff. It’s not so much that we’re trying to do a hip-hop record but it’s just that we’re incorporating the simplicity of the beats and different sounds you find in hip hop music. It’s still going to be a No Doubt record at the end of the day.

So have you maybe been keeping some of this in stylistically?

Stylistically it’s going to be the No Doubt sound. It’s going to have the new wave sound, the rock sound.

Is there a little ska in there?

No. There is dancehall reggae in there though.

Is that how it got that danceable thing in there?

You know when we started writing the new record I was listening to a lot of Jamaican dancehall music and we were all listening to it on the road last year. So the first few songs we wrote were all dancehall songs. That’s why we went to Jamaica to record them with real dancehall producers.

As far as Jamaica. This was the first time you recorded outside the US right?

That was the first time as a band we ever recorded outside the United States. You know I take that back we actually did something in New Zealand a long, long time ago but just like a day off between shows. Jamaica was a great experience. I’d gone there last year for a vacation. I have friends who live there and we just wanted to work with some producers who were based there (Sly and Robbie and another team named Steely and Clevie). We spent two weeks there at a studio in Port Antonio. We would spend every morning going to the beach and swimming at this place called the Blue Lagoon and then we would record in the afternoon.

I read that Bounty Killer did something over there?

Bounty Killer came in and did some guest vocals on a track.

What CDs are in your player right now?

I’ve been listening to the new Travis and Coldplay records. Also, tons of Jamaican music.

As far as pressure. How is the pressure on this album?

There is way less pressure now. I think we already went through that trying to follow up Tragic Kingdom. And I think we did the right thing by making the record that we wanted to make instead of making the record the industry asked for. This is our long-term career and I want to just be able to keep adding new chapters to the story.

You said you go to clubs a lot. Do you have a favorite DJ?

My favorite DJ right now that spins at some of the clubs I go to is named David Orlando he’s awesome. He spins hip hop/80s/dancehall and alternative.

Did you have anything interesting happen in Jamaica? 

We had a great time. The cool thing about it was that we were all staying at the same place in this one big house. And then we also had these private villas in this whole compound. So it was just good to spend time with each other like that and record and you know like I said it was a really fun experience.

Is there a release date we should say?

December 18th is the tentative date. We’re still going to record with William Orbit, Dre and probably another track with Nellee Hooper and we’re going to England to mix the record with Spike Stent. We’re going to be there for a month in September mixing the record.

I read that you guys did something with Madness in England a while back?

There’s a song that Eric and Gwen wrote called Everything In Time that we had originally recorded for Return Of Saturn but it was never released. Gwen wanted to do more of an orchestral piece with strings so when she was in England she got together with Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley who’ve done a bunch of Madness stuff. They re-recorded the song and the keyboard player Mike Parsons from Madness came in and played on it.

Is there anyone you guys wanted to work with on this album that you haven’t worked with?

We got everybody we wanted to work with and it’s been amazing.

What was it like doing the Bathwater video and having choreography?

It’s definitely tongue in cheek – we’re kind of having fun with the dancing rather than doing a whole serious choreography thing. We wanted to go with a cabaret kind of vibe and just have fun with it. We had a really good time making it. And I think that song is one of the few songs on Return of Saturn that’s a little bit happier and had that old school kind of vibe and that’s why we wanted to go with that kind of video. Sophie Muller, who’s done tons of our videos, directed it, and Fatima choreographed it.

Was it hard to do all the dancing?

The thing with videos is that you get to pretend you are an actor for a second and you get to just have fun like we always have fun in our videos there’s no pressure and it was just like lets do some choreographed stuff just to have fun with it and not take ourselves seriously.

We still read about Gwen’s possible future in movies. Does she still want to pursue this?

I think she kind of realized that she just wants to focus on the music for now. I think she will do something in the future but right now we’re all concentrating on this record and we’re so excited about it and we think it’s one of the best things we ever done. We can’t wait to get out and play these songs live.

Do you guys start thinking about what your stage design will be like before you tour since it comes up quickly after the recording process is done?

We haven’t talked about that yet. And I think we’re going to start off real small again like just do clubs and stuff first.

To test things out?

Oh yeah. Not even to test it out but just to get used to playing live as it’s been so long. But no we haven’t talked about stage design yet.