The Herald Sun (Aug. 18th 2005)
Gwen Commandments
Style-setter and all-round sassy chick Gwen Stefani on why there's no doubt her 80s-inspired pop tunes are addictive
It wasn’t the sale of millions of albums that made Gwen Stefani realise her solo career had gone way into the stratosphere. Nor was it reaching No.1 in the US, or being stalked by paparazzi.
It was when she said she wanted her new line of merchandise to include banana-scented erasers -- and everyone said yes.
Right now Stefani could suggest a line of signature ashtrays for motorbikes and no one would question her.
Her solo career, always planned as a way to explore the kind of poppy '80s-tinged dance songs she couldn't get away with as one quarter of No Doubt, has gone better than anyone could have imagined -- including herself.
She recalls getting into a limo in LA, flicking through a music- industry magazine and noticing her solo album, Love Angel Music Baby, was No.5 in the US.
"And this is eight months after it was released," Stefani says. "This record is crazy."
Few solo records attract the kind of scrutiny that Stefani's did. She admits her big mouth was the problem. As soon as she went into the studio with a list of unlikely suspects from Linda Perry to Pharrell Williams, word started to spread -- from Stefani herself.
Plenty has been written about Stefani pushing herself creatively on her solo debut -- a multi-producer, multi-risk record that she actually pulled off.
"The whole experience of this record was outrageous the more I think about it," Stefani says.
"To work with the people I worked with, to put myself in that vulnerable position as a songwriter, collaborate with some talented people and still be free is really challenging. That was the hard part.
"Everything after that is fun. All the visuals are my reward after the hard work of making the music. But I never knew it'd be so well received.
"I knew the record was exactly what I wanted it to be and more. I knew it was an easy, upbeat album which, even if you hated me, you couldn't help but like some of the songs because they were meant to be these addictive songs.
"That was the goal -- to make a record where picking the singles would be a big issue because every song could be a single. That was the intention. But it's evolved into something more than I expected. And it's still growing. I don't want it to end."
The album isn't going anywhere. The fourth single, Cool, was chosen by Stefani to show the more laidback aspects of the record. She also wants her New Order pastiche, The Real Thing, to be a single.
They follow on from the genre-skipping singles so far: What You Waiting For, Rich Girl (another collaboration with hip hop hitmaker Dr Dre and rapper Eve) and Hollaback Girl, from which the line "This s--- is bananas" inspired the potassium-scented stationery.
Each song has opened Stefani to a new, wider -- indeed, younger - - audience. She's now sharing stages with Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff.
"I've been in this business for 18 years, they're 18!" Stefani says. "But you can't compare some 18-year-old on their first album to an 18-year career. I feel really proud of my history. I'm totally aware I'm not at the beginning of my career.
"It feels really good to get to a point where you have a history, and no matter what people say about you, they can't erase your history. That's what I did and that's why I've ended up here."
Stefani is enjoying the view from here. In the midst of promoting her solo career, she's finished her sixth collection in her L.A.M.B (Love Angel Music Baby) fashion line -- her designers fly to meet her on video sets and in hotel rooms so they can fit work on plans into her schedule -- and has launched Harajuku Lovers -- yet more fashion and accessories -- through her website.
"I'm really passionate about designing," she says. "It fulfils me in a creative way, and it's not as much pressure as writing songs. It's something I want to do for the rest of my life."
L.A.M.B has its first fashion show next month.
"It's real now. I spend most of my time designing. Harajuku Lovers is more for the fans. L.A.M.B is a very selfish project. If I want to do 100-per-cent cashmere, I do it. Harajuku Lovers is a little more creative. It's based on the Love Angel Music Baby characters and is very logo-driven. I teamed with the people who do Hello Kitty, so it's everything from banana-scented erasers to clothes for girls, guys, kids, babies . . . more of an accessories, novelty line.
"It has everything to do with the lyrics of the record. We've just made some fabrics with all the lyrics to Cool on it. I think the fans will be excited because (a) they can probably afford it and (b) it has so much to do with the album. It's another visual layer to the record."
And that -- getting to do whatever the hell she wants -- is what Stefani is relishing.
"It's actually my favourite part of success. It's not that I'm not grateful for everything about it, but there's nothing better than being creative and convincing everyone around me that my ideas are good.
"I'm totally aware of where I'm at. I just wish it would go in slow motion because it's going too fast."
Stefani won't be putting her foot on the brakes any time soon. Love Angel Music Baby was such an extended creative process that she has enough material for several albums. She's compiling the best of the unreleased songs and plans to release them as a companion album at Christmas. One song, the poignant Wonderful Life for Him, features Depeche Mode's Martin Gore on guitar. The song was written about the first boy Stefani kissed, who has since died.
"He was a huge Depeche Mode fan. He actually turned me on to them. I was really into Madness. I was like, `Depeche Mode? That's electronic weirdo music'. At the time it was. We'd never heard that s--- before.
"My friend would not believe Martin Gore is playing on this song I wrote about him. And Martin was awesome.
"It was early on in the album and I was singing him some of the demos. It was a really weird experience to write songs with people, hard and intense. But I feel now I could write a song with anybody if I had to -- not that I'd want to, but it was a good learning experience. It tamed my ego."
Last month Stefani joined Pharrell Williams again to work on more songs for the Christmas album. They first met when No Doubt worked with the Neptunes on Hella Good.
"That was the first time we'd worked outside the group with songwriters, and it was really awkward. That's what defines us as a band, writing, so it was a brave and crazy experiment. It was uncomfortable in the studio, but Hella Good has become one of our staple songs.
"I love working with him. I'm always scared s---less because he's so talented it's crazy -- he makes me feel like I don't know what I'm doing."
After Pharrell, Stefani will do more solo writing with No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal, just for fun.
"I don't want to put pressure on myself with this album. If it's meant to be, it'll be. But there are so many leftover songs I want to put out.
"I'm going to start writing with No Doubt in January and we'd never use this kind of music in No Doubt, so I don't want to waste them."
Of course, a string of hits means Stefani has been all over the charts this year. Her record company may have something to say about not milking Love Angel Music Baby further by putting out a new album; others say she may overkill herself.
"I understand the whole `Oh God, not her again' theory, but I'm trying to enjoy it. I don't want to burn everyone out, but I won't be running around promoting the hell out of this album. It's leftover tracks and something more, a little present for Christmas! I don't even know if it'll happen yet. I always planned to finish this year, finish this solo thing, then ride the wave and enjoy it."
Stefani has already broken one rule: she hadn't planned to tour as a solo act. However, playing at some radio festivals whet her appetite. When she was contracted to do one live show, she thought: "If I'm gonna do one, I may as well do 19". And so she will tour in the US in October.
Cool is an interesting single, yet another lyrical exploration of her relationship with Tony Kanal, originally one of her first boyfriends. Their intense break-up inspired No Doubt's classic ballad Don't Speak.
Since then the two have become the poster kids for former partners who become close friends. They're in the band together and Kanal co-wrote several of her solo songs.
"We're really blessed," Stefani says. "It's pretty obvious what the song's about. We're really good friends. I don't know how that happened, but it's awesome."
No Doubt reactivate in January -- an album is expected late next year.
"I did miss the band at the beginning," Stefani says. "It was weird to do interviews or shows without them. But I'm around Tony so much I don't feel totally away from them. It'll feel really good to come home and write with the band. It'll be exciting to see how we've all grown separately and what happens when we get back together.
"Writing with No Doubt is like my comfort zone. Stylistically I feel a little burnt out making the kind of music I listened to in high school for this (solo) album, but I don't know what my inspiration will be for No Doubt. I'm waiting to see what will charge me."
In her lyrics, Stefani has been brutally honest about her marriage to ex-Bush singer Gavin Rossdale.
This year has been tricky for the pair. The British press revealed he had fathered a daughter, 15-year-old Daisy Lowe, with designer Pearl Lowe. Rossdale had always thought he was Daisy's godfather, not her actual father, but DNA tests this year showed otherwise.
Stefani won't comment on the matter, but says married life is "good, thanks for asking".
She's singing on Rossdale's new project, Institute ("I don't think there's any competition out there for him. It's wide open") and was the first to admit that What You Waiting For's ticking clock was also biological, reminding her she had to start thinking about motherhood.
"I ask myself about it all the time," she says. "As soon as I got my period I wanted kids, and that was when I was, what, nine or something . . . I've been wanting to have a kid for a long time.
"But I feel like I'm on a journey and I don't think it's up to me. I never thought I wouldn't have a kid by now, but at the same time it'd seem so surreal and amazing to have a kid. It'll happen when it's meant to be and I'm sure I'll let everyone know, because I'll be so excited.
"But I never thought any of this would happen. All of it's crazy!"