Q Magazine (December 2001)

Skank Girl

Gwen Stefani on body odour, the trouble with hip hop and being a “glamazon”

How do you feel about being cast as rock's Mrs Sex?

I’m sorry, but if someone thinks I’m sexy then alright, cool. I haven’t really felt comfortable with that role until now. I’m a woman. I can actually wear high heels. I don’t know if you’ve tried it before, but if you wear high heels all of a sudden, you feel sexy.

What’s wrong with being sexy?

Nothing. I’m saying that as a Catholic girl in Orange County, it wasn’t something I played on. I was in a band with all guys, and all the bands we played with were punk rock bands. I was one of the only girls, so there were a lot of assholes, shouting things like, “Show me your tits!”.

Have you found that attitude returning with the rise of bands such as Blink-182 in America?

Yeah, it’s weird how it goes in cycles if you’re a woman or a girl. Are they popular now or are they out of style? At the moment in the pop world you can’t get enough of them. In the rock world it’s pretty much illegal to be a girl.

It must have been grim when you started as the only woman in a band with three men.

I’ve probably missed out on a lot of girl stuff that I’m just getting into now. At the same time, my life is fun. Adrian [Young, No Doubt drummer] got arrested last night because he got naked and ran around in the snow. This is the kind of thing I get to see, but of course there’s times when it’s like...

Disgusting?

Yeah, the smells, the conversations and things like that.

Presumably, the smells aren’t such a part of it now.

There’s still a lot of times when were all in the same space. Plenty of opportunities to smell my friends.

I've heard you described as a "glamazon".

A glamazon? What’s that? Is that a word?

It’s two words run together - a glamorous Amazon.

A glamorous Amazonian! Well, it’s true that people used to think I was a man.

When?

When the Tragic Kingdom album came out, because the way my muscles looked on the cover. And because I was a swimmer I had big shoulders.

Does spending so much time in London with your boyfriend [Gavin Rossdale, Bush lead singer] ever make your position in No Doubt difficult?

Actually, it works really well. We recorded our album in America, and then mixed it in London, but I don’t spend loads of time there. So far it hasn’t affected the band, it’s only made it better, I think.

And you’ve always got somewhere to stay when you’re in town.

I do, yeah [laughs],

I imagine you have to be quite understanding going out with someone like Gavin.

Understanding of what?

Well, he has a reputation as being the ladies' man.

People are always going to say what they want about Gavin. It’s just shocking to me. He has some kind of way of making that happen and it’s funny because nobody really knows him, but I certainly do. This is a weird interview.

What makes you say that?

We haven’t talked about the record at all! I know you have an agenda of what you want to get out of me and I have an agenda of what I want. I’m so excited about the record but everybody wants to talk about me and my boyfriend. I understand. OK, so when we make out... [laughs] Go ahead, dude, I’m here for you.

Apparently, you’re the dream date for AJ out of the Backstreet Boys. Is that flattering?

Wow. To be honest, when anyone pays attention to you as a fan it’s flattering, so sure, that’s great.

You wouldn’t mind his rehab problems?

Oh, is he the one that had rehab? Poor thing. I feel bad for him. What do you mean, I wouldn’t mind the whole rehab thing? Like I was going to go on a date with him or something? I already have a boyfriend.

I know.

I don’t get your English humour sometimes [laughs]. You think I would, huh?

Let’s talk about the record then. Rocksteady. As well as the usual ska, there’s some fooling around with beats on your new album. Was that inspired by your collaboration with Eve [the recent single. Let Me Blow Ya Mind]?

That was just a coincidence. The Eve thing happened because I wanted to work with Dr Dre.

How was Dre?

He was hard. He had something in his head he was hearing, how he wanted me to sound, and I wasn’t hearing the same thing. But he didn’t know how to explain what he wanted to me so I had to keep doing it over and over for, like, two-and-a- half hours, the same four lines. It was exhausting.

How do you feel about the Proud To Be A Bitch school of women’s hip hop?

I’m obviously not a hip hop girl and I don’t live in that world. We’re from two different places, you know? To me, hip hop has gone from real-life gangsters talking about the place they came from, to now when they just talk about making money and it’s got boring.

OK, away from the music, what's the worst question I could ask you?

That’s a good way to get me to answer that question, whatever it is. Personal questions can be irritating after you’ve spent a year making a record. Or how come you dyed your hair pink? There’s always things I’d rather talk about, like the making of the music. That’s the stuff that really gets me off.

That’s not the stuff people are interested in though...

No, I guess... I guess... I don’t know why. People want to know, like, when was the last time you fought with your boyfriend? I understand, because when Kate Winslet broke up with her husband it was really bad and I was really interested [laughs]. We’re humans — we can’t help it.