The Herald Sun (Aug. 15th 2002)

Q&A: Gwen Stefani

Cameron Adams talks with No Doubt's Gwen Stefani about her teen idols and being a video-game star

What are your memories of your last Australian tour?

We played a festival (Livid) with The Cure, who are one of my all- time favourites. I just remember weeping by the side of the stage when I was watching them play. Robert Smith's parents were there as well, watching. I was standing next to them. That was a surreal moment.

You're obviously a big Cure fan.

Oh God. They had a really big impact on me and my friends and my life -- it was the backdrop music of my life, so it was emotional. And I fricking loved that last record of theirs (Bloodflowers), so it was right in the middle of all that.

You seem to be quite an '80s kid musically.

Yeah, I graduated in '87, so that was the music in the important years of my life, when I first discovered music. You go back and rediscover stuff. When you're a songwriter you get inspired by things you were emotionally moved by, so you go back and listen to it again and you hear it totally differently.

When I go back and listen to some of the Cure's music I hear these basslines that are so melodic. You don't pay attention to that when you're 15. This new No Doubt record (Rock Steady) definitely had inspiration from the '80s. Some of the simplicity of songwriting in this record, experimenting with keyboard sounds, all that was very intentional.

You're into Duran Duran at the moment. What's your favourite song of theirs?

Aw, that's like asking a parent to choose their favourite child. I'm the hits girl. I'm the singles girl. I love greatest-hits albums, I don't collect records. I have everyone around me who does that. Tony (No Doubt's Tony Kanal) is the DJ, he's the one who brings out the new music. Gavin (Rossdale) is the same with me; my older brother was the same.

The new No Doubt single, Underneath it All, was written with Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics. What was it like working with someone you were listening to when you were growing up?

Working with an idol you loved when growing up was pretty exciting for us. He called us and said, "Do you want to write a song?" So I was going to go to London myself and write it with him. The guys were so pissed I was leaving them, they packed up the equipment and came with me.

We went in one afternoon and wrote the song in 10 minutes, quite literally. We were doing a lot of dancehall (reggae) that was a big motivation for this record. Dave had this string line from an old reggae record. He strummed a few chords and before we knew it we had a song. I love how it turned out.

You wear no make-up later on in the video. Was that brave?

Well, obviously, I don't wear make-up all the time. It's quite a literal video. It's just me singing the song to the camera. I'm totally overly made up and I strip it all away until at the very end, it's ultra natural -- no make up. For me make-up is part of the show, it's part of the day. I love taking that hour to get myself made up to go on stage, it's all part of the process.

You've just provided the voice for a PlayStation game, Malice. What was that like?

It was cool. Sometimes it's a little bit scary being a musician. We've settled ourselves now. If it all got taken away tomorrow we'd be like, "Damn, we got a long f…ing run, we were lucky." But people are discovering music through video games these days. That's the future.

It's wild for me. I'm 32. I discovered music because my brother bought home that big fat vinyl Madness album and put it on my dad's stereo with the needle. That was the dinosaur age. Nowawadays 12- year-old boys might hear No Doubt for the first time when playing Malice and relating to it.

So PlayStation approached you?

Yeah, it was quite interesting. They said they did research on the character and everyone said it reminded them of Gwen Stefani, so apparently I have something in common with this girl. So they asked me to do the voice. At the time it was a great idea and when I did it on my one day off in six months, I thought it'd take two hours. It took ten. I complained so much. Hopefully it'll turn out good. I'm not a video-game person, but I look forward to trying it out. Maybe it'll be lame, maybe it'll be awesome, but it's a cool concept. There are not a lot of girl characters in video games. If I can be one of the first, that's cool.

What do you think about The Osbournes?

I don't get to watch much TV. That's one of the downsides of being in a band, you miss a lot of the new shows. I remember writing Tragic Kingdom watching Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place when those shows were the shit. I've seen a few episodes of The Osbournes, it's hilarious. I've seen Kelly (Osbourne) out before she was famous. I'm scared for her. I was lucky enough to be an adult when I got famous, which is a help. It's such a weird thing.