NW (Jan. 29th 2007)

‘I want more children’

She may be busy promoting album number two, but the singer reveals she'd far rather be gearing up for another baby

Forget winning a Grammy -- Gwen Stefani fulfilled her lifelong dream when she found out she was pregnant with her first child while touring her debut solo album Love.Angel.Music Baby in 2005. So it's no surprise that, as she talks about her latest album, The Sweet Escape, she raves even more about how much her love of baby Kingston and husband Gavin Rossdale have changed her life for the better.

How does it feel to be a mother for the first time? 

There's nothing else that really matters to me. Every day, Kingston gets more of an attitude and shows more of his character, and I'm just fixated on watching his face and seeing how he's evolving every day. It's the most incredible thing for me. I feel blessed about having Kingston.

What was giving birth like?

It's incredible to have a baby come out of your body. In my case, I had a caesarean because he was a breech birth. But when he came out of me, and I was holding him, I was wondering who this baby was because he didn't exactly look like me, which is normal when they're literally just minutes out of your body! And then I felt tired again from the anaesthetic, so I asked if someone could take him because I was, like, about to pass out.

Do you want more children? 

Oh yeah! I always wondered what it would be like to talk about being a mom. It's such a bizarre feeling now that it's happened and I'm talking about my baby boy. But Kingston is so great. I'm greedy. I would like to have more and I hope I’ll be blessed with having more children. I have this dream about just spending time in my house with my kids.

In the meantime, though, you have a US tour coming up … 

Yeah, it's freaky What's so strange is that I found out I was pregnant just while I was starting my last tour. I was wondering what the hell was wrong with me. I didn't have the same energy So I'd be in tears moments before I was ready to go on. I also had trouble breathing with the corset on -- and when you're pregnant you tend to get short of breath anyway -- so it was very tough. And what was worse is that we had nine costume changes during the show and I was feeling sick a lot of the time. But what kept me going was all these really happy young girls in the front row. It was probably their first concert and they were looking at me like I was Cinderella.

So how did you come up with a new album so quickly after the last tour? 

It's so bizarre, but The Sweet Escape wasn't even something I was really planning on doing. But there were some interesting backing tracks and songs left over from the previous album that I wanted to explore. And then, of course, when I was sitting in the studio working on it I was having a hard time at first getting those ideas out. When you work on an album, there's always this feeling that you never have any ideas and then, suddenly, it just comes to you and you start building on that.

Is it tough exposing your emotions in your music? 

No, I just write and the emotions just flow. I have nothing to hide. I'm not afraid of revealing any deep secrets and when I do talk about problems or concerns it's actually comforting and a relief to talk about those things in my music. I never think about censoring myself. I just write about what is on my mind or in my heart.

Do you and your husband, [Bush frontman] Gavin Rossdale, try out your musical ideas on each other? 

Sure we do. We'll play each other's songs and sometimes it's the case that we're in each other's songs. I don't even mind if he's writing a song and I'm in it and it seems like he's angry with me. That's okay. I just love being in someone else's song. I feel honoured in a way that someone would want to talk about me or my life with them.

How does Gavin feel about being the subject of your songs? 

He doesn't mind at all. The lyrics are usually vague enough that no-one really knows exactly what I'd be talking about or referring to anyway. And even though the lyrics and emotions in The Sweet Escape are much more autobiographical than in my first solo CD, a lot of my thinking about relationships is as general as it is specific. I mean, all couples have the same kinds of issues to deal with So why shouldn't I talk about those things? It's healthy. You shouldn't hide your feelings or bury your problems or they'll just surface in a bad way later on That's the beauty of being able to express yourself in a song For me, that's what it's all about.

Do you ever feel you might go too far in revealing things about your private life? 

No, I don't worry about that. Gavin and I have been together for over 10 years and we've had our difficult moments like any couple. But what's so wonderful is that we've been able to work things out, and now we have a beautiful baby and life's great. So our journey together continues and Ill be writing about that in future albums. I need to be able to share my experiences in my music

Do you ever look back and get shocked by your own success? 

As a teenager, I was pretty lazy and I didn't really have anything in my life that I was passionate about. And suddenly I kind of discovered that I was good at writing songs and that was it. That set me on my way. I couldn't stop after that because I'd finally found my passion in life, and that feeling has never left me. My journey in life is about my passion for singing.

Did you ever dream about success as a teenager? 

No. The only thing I really dreamed about was becoming a mother one day. And now that's come true, it makes me feel that my life has finally come together.

When you started No Doubt, did you ever imagine becoming famous? 

No, I was never thinking about money or fame. We just loved ska music and we kept together for nine years, even though it was tough at times. Finally, we got on the radio and our world changed overnight. It was like a miracle. When we were starting out and developing our style, we just tried to play at clubs. We drove around in vans. Our first nine years were great, but we had no commercial success. We had a lot of fun doing that and then we became successful and that's been great because I've been able to travel around the world and experience things I never would have been able to otherwise.

You've also got a clothing line called L.A.M.B. -- how did that come about? 

I learnt how to sew when I was young and I was always fooling around with patterns and things, and coming up with different ideas for outfits when I would go on tour or prepare for a music video.

Is designing clothes something you're going to get more heavily involved in? 

No. I'm having a hard time as it is keeping up. I didn't expect my line to take off the way it did and, suddenly, I had to come up with all these new designs last year after getting feedback about what kinds of clothes had been selling after four years of being on the market. So I was touring and pregnant and feeling very stressed by everything Now, with Kingston a major part of my life, I'm wondering how I'm going to manage.

Do you still look forward to touring even though you have a baby now? 

Oh yeah, Kingston will always travel with me. I love touring because your music and your record doesn't seem as real unless you're actually performing on stage and having the contact with the audience, or meeting your fans on the street and talking to them about the music. For me, touring has never been an ordeal, except towards the end when you're physically and emotionally drained. I love the contact with the audience and it keeps me pumped. I've actually got depressed after finishing tours and suddenly being at home and wondering what the hell I'm supposed to do Suddenly, all that energy and excitement is missing and it takes a while to recover and get back into a normal life again.

Any musical collaborations you'd like to take on? 

I'd love to do a duet with Björk. That would be rad! I mean, I don't want Gavin and I to start singing Endless Love together or something like that!