The Globe and Mail (Nov. 12th 2002)

Stefani’s ideal girl’s night out

It's been a man's, man's, man's world way too long for No Doubt, so it's understandable that singer Gwen Stefani is happy that her most recent tour has turned into a girls' night out. After all, she's paid her dues. She wrote the band's breakthrough hit, "Just a Girl," as a reaction to the testosterone-fueled Orange County punk-rock scene, where she'd end up walking home from gigs along dark streets late at night.

"I'm just a girl/because that's all you'll let me be," she sang.

So, it's only fitting that the women call the shots this time around.

"Backstage it's crazy," Stefani says. "I've never toured with so many girls. Not only do I have (Shirley Manson of Garbage and Brody Armstrong of The Distillers), but I have my assistant, and Nina (drummer Adrian Young's wife) and two other girls. More girls out than we've ever had before! Cool for me because I've missed out on that."

Stefani and Manson met in the mid-'90s when their bands were breaking big and playing radio shows together.

"There were more girls back then, first of all," Stefani says. "It was a really fun time."

She bristles at the notion that the No Doubt-Garbage tour is a theme tour - two bands fronted by strong, striking women.

"If you look at it from a showbusiness perspective, the best way to do it is have a guy. You'd get the contrast. That's probably what they'd teach you if you went to school," she says.

Actually, what No Doubt and Garbage have in common more than "Y" chromosomes is survival. Both bands burst out big, and both have continued to follow their own paths. The 1995 release "Tragic Kingdom" made stars of No Doubt, which also includes guitarist Tom Dumont, Young and bassist Tony Kanal. Many other bands of that era have died off, and critics - who have never been kind to No Doubt - have had to acknowledge the band's talent.

"I look at the bands coming out during that time period when we had our first success, and where they went. Some of them went away. ... And others survived and actually proved that they're worth something - they're more than what you thought of them then," Stefanisays.

That pretty much sums up No Doubt's current status.

"This is a magical time for us. We've been together so many years and we have had so much fun making this album. This record for us was so easy, so fun, such a surprise. We sat down and said, 'Let's write a few songs,' and all of a sudden we're working with all these incredible people. It was so spontaneous," Stefani says. "The next call we get is, 'Do you wanna tour with U2?' This just has been a really crazy, spectacular year for us."

Indeed, No Doubt just opened a handful of dates for the Rolling Stones, a role it also played for U2 last year.

"That was magical," Stefani says of the U2 dates. "The album wasn't out yet and we get a call from them saying, 'Do you want to open for us?' I mean, we love them. They're legends. It was also right after Sept. 11, so, emotionally, to be able to be on a tour like that and seeing them bring so much happiness ..."

U2 went drinking with the band almost every night and let them fly on their private jet. The Stones have been the same way, with Mick Jagger popping in every night and chatting up their parents.

"They're all saying 'hi' to him and going, 'I've been listening to you for so long,' " Stefani says, half-embarrassed. The tour ended in Atlanta, with No Doubt taking the stage in a bar and playing some songs while the Stones, their moms and their dads partied around them.

On 2000's "Return of Saturn," Stefani got serious about songwriting. The band was proud of the album and the tour, but it was a grueling process.

For last year's "Rock Steady," they hadn't even been planning on recording an album, just having fun instead: "Before we knew it, we had this record."

Success threw her at first. After being dismissed as "bubblegum pop, ... this alternative to the alternative for all these years, this quirky little band that has this following, all of a sudden you sell 14 million copies," she says. "You come home and you don't know who you are."