The Orange County Register (Sept. 27th 1991)

No Doubt is sure about uncertainty

Gwen Stefani just might have to make a big decision in the near future. The band with which she sings, Anaheim-based No Doubt, has just been signed to Interscope Records, the home of Gerardo. A debut album is expected in early 1992, perhaps accompanied by a national tour.

Yet Stefani, 22, and the rest of the band are insisting on finishing college while juggling a major-label career.

"We would like to finish school after all the time and money we've put into it," said Stefani, a student at Fullerton Junior College. Most of the other members attend California State University, Fullerton.

"Besides, we've got to get educated. What are we going to do if we're not educated? Everyone's going to try and finish."

Yet she's not immune from the siren song of show business. "If a tour comes up that's totally great, we'll take a semester off," she said. "But the record company was understanding. They want us to finish. The band is what we want to do, but school is our backup plan."

The Interscope deal came at a time when No Doubt -- which also includes keyboardist Eric Stefani (Gwen's brother), bassist Tony Kanal, drummer Adrian Young and guitarist Tom Dumont, supplemented by saxophonist Eric Carpenter -- was planning to put out an album on its own. The album has been recorded, but, with national distribution in the offing, several tracks are being re-recorded.

Since forming five years ago while attending Loara and Anaheim high schools, No Doubt has become one of the most popular local bands. They did it by tapping into the continued local fascination with ska, the predecessor to reggae that was revived in England in the late '70s. Although only a cult taste in most of the United States, ska became a major trend in Southern California thanks to airplay on KROQ-FM/106.7 and constant touring by bands such as Madness, the English Beat, General Public and the Untouchables.

In the beginning, No Doubt was a much larger congregation _ including a horn section.

"We've been through a lot of changes," Stefani said. "We had four horns, and it was a duet type thing. We had a guy lead singer, and I was backing him up. But the other singer passed away, and then I was (doing duets) with one of the trumpet players. And then he was gone.

Then "it was just me, and we tried people out, but it evolved with just me, and I got comfortable with it."

Stefani, influenced by her older brother, Eric, was a complete ska fan in high school. "My biggest influence was Madness, not so much the scene. It was Madness, and then I got into the scene," she said.

No Doubt is no longer so faithful to its ska origins.

"Ska is our roots, but we're not a straight ska band," she said. "We want to play everything we can. Ska is always going to be there -- that's what gives us the energy. But we're not a ska band. We don't mind if we're called a ska band, but we're really not.

"The record company saw us as being really unique, and that we're upbeat with a female lead is kind of unusual. I look around to see a band like ours, and I don't see it."

The shift away from ska began when new members began replacing originals.

"Ska is a simple style of music. That can get old. I think it's better used as an element than as a whole song," she said. "Tony (Kanal) was totally into funk and Prince. Tom (Dumont) grew up as a heavy metal, head-banger guy. Plus, as you get older, you listen to so much more. I would probably have never listened to heavy metal before. Now, I want to hear all types of music."

The band's popularity can be seen even when it's an opening act, as with last year's Irvine Meadows date with Ziggy Marley. Many No Doubt fans were in the audience, giving the group the kind of reception foreign to most fourth-billed acts.

"We take care of our audience," Stefani explained of the appeal. "We get offered a lot of shows, and we don't take a lot of them. We make sure there's a good sound system, and we don't like to play 21-and-over places because a lot of our fans are really young. And we have lots of different T-shirts. We think about what would please them. And we like to entertain; we're a performing band."