Associated Press (Feb. 23rd 2002)

No Doubt writes for band, not fans

When No Doubt writes a song, it's for the band, not the fans.

“Writing a song with the fans in mind would “be the biggest sellout hoax thing that we could do,'' singer Gwen Stefani told Associated Press Television News. “First of all, we're not talented enough to do that. We don't have the skills to write a calculated song.

“But second of all, I think that would just be like backwards. We're in the band for ourselves, we're really selfish. We do it for us, then we share it with you.''

Stefani, 32, said No Doubt, which has a new album, Rock Steady, is trying to simplify its sound.

“We always like to play like a million beats and have a hundred chords and 10 bridges,'' she said. “Trying to simplify our sound a little bit more is something we always are trying to do. We tried to do it on our last record, it didn't happen. This record, we really think we did it.''