The Daily News (April 11th 2000)

No Doubt about it

It’s a brand new world for the band, which comes into its own with a maturing outlook and a new slate of tunes

A battle of the belly buttons is brewing in the charts.

Four and a half years ago, when No Doubt chanteuse Gwen Stefani turned the world Day-Glo with her band's fuchsia-colored punk-pop, teen supernovas Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were still practicing their scales.

All three navel academy grads may soon find themselves in a tummy tussle, rivals for Top-40 dominance when No Doubt's infectious new album, "Return of Saturn," starts spinning out of stores today.

Of course, much has changed since the Anaheim quartet's 1995 third album, "Tragic Kingdom," joined the biggest sellers of the late '90s. A constellation of teen harmony ensembles and abrasive rock-rap bands have won the hearts and wallets of record buyers while the Dixie Chicks apparently borrowed a page from Stefani's perky girl-centric attitude and rocketed up the charts.

No Doubt's "Saturn," in other words, faces a brand-new universe.

"We don't have any idea where we fit in," says bassist Tony Kanal. "We've been aware of what's happening and what's changed while we were away. I don't think we fit into any of the categories of what's currently popular. But we didn't when `Tragic Kingdom' came out, either. I think people are looking for something a little happier. So we'll see what happens."

Stefani says the group's new songs - such as the current radio smash "Ex-Girlfriend" - represent "a transitional phase" showing a band that's come of age as writers and musicians during the two years it took to complete "Return of Saturn" (Trauma/Interscope).

That remains to be seen, but the album, which was produced by Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, Aerosmith), features lush, midtempo ballads and the danceable ska-tinged sound that helped launch No Doubt from the Orange County club scene to the world's largest stages.

"They always sound like No Doubt," Ballard says. "They could sing 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and it would still sound like them. They have this indelible sound. It's true there was growth musically and lyrically and Gwen's talking about some things she hadn't addressed on the previous record, which had some songs that were written as much as seven years ago. She had other things to talk about this time. It was a natural progression."

To introduce the new disc, No Doubt is returning to smaller venues in 10 cities, including a date Friday at the Universal Amphitheatre. They are also doing a free show Thursday at Virgin Megastore Costa Mesa.

"It's all about reconnecting with the audience and seeing how they react to the new music," Kanal says from Atlanta, the fifth stop on the trek. "The Universal is the biggest venue on this preliminary tour. We just played to 1,400 people and it's beautiful to be in such small places and see the excitement and the faces of our fans up close. That was the goal."

After the club jaunt, the band plans to tour Europe, Australia and Japan before returning to the U.S. for a tour of larger venues, if the album is a hit.

"We never imagined the band would take off the way it has," Kanal says. "We were optimistic but always very cautious. I always hope for the best and expect the worst."

It was on the strength of Stefani's likable innocence and energetic girl-power stance that No Doubt's breakout single, the new- wave tinged "Just a Girl," began turning up on radio stations 4 1/2 years ago. Formed in 1987 as a high school ska band inspired by the British Two Tone acts like Madness and the Specials, the band began playing the Anaheim party circuit.

"We were the true essence of a rock band," Kanal says. "We got together in high school, rehearsed in a garage, scraped up enough money to rent a rehearsal studio. And the most important thing is we write our own music."

No Doubt's live act began attracting regional interest and Interscope signed them in 1991; the 1992 debut album, which fused '80s pop and ska, sank without a trace in the wake of grunge. But by late 1994, the band's lineup had changed and recording began for "Tragic Kingdom."

The album documented the breakup of Stefani and Kanal, who had been dating for seven years. Thanks to constant touring, an MTV- friendly image and tuneful songs like "Don't Speak," "Spiderwebs" and "Just a Girl," the disc hit the Top 10 in 1996.

Suddenly everyone loved Stefani, even Steely Dan's normally dour Donald Fagen, who recently told Detour magazine that while he doesn't keep up with musical trends, "I like the girl in No Doubt. She's pretty cute."

Stefani, who has been dating Bush singer-guitarist Gavin Rossdale, says she had just turned 30 and was in an unashamedly romantic mood while writing lyrics for some of the songs on the new record.

"I think I am a romantic at heart, but my life in a lot of ways these days doesn't reflect that," she says. "So I have this inner conflict about it and this guilt about it. The truth is, I feel like I've been turned inside-out writing this album."

Ballard says his primary job in the studio was to suggest which 15 songs out of the 40 the band worked on would be right for the album.

"I brought some clarity and focus," he says. "Determining which songs are going to make the journey can be very emotional for the people who created the material. So they were happy to let me lead the charge in the songs we focused on. They wanted that feedback from me. Once we did that, it really unburdened them out of trying to decide which songs to do. I was able to say it's not 40, it's these 15. God bless those other ones but they won't be part of this journey. Once we were able to focus on those songs, it got much easier."

When "Tragic Kingdom" was released, No Doubt (which also includes guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young) embarked on a tour that lasted nearly three years. Toward the end of the trek, the quartet was canceling shows when the midrifaring Stefani's voice would give out.

"She's sounding great." Kanal says. "We try and preserve her voice as much as possible. Being on stage is so rewarding because that's the real reason you do this. When you start a band, you never think you'll spend a third of your day doing interviews."

The new album's title, "Return of Saturn," has astrological connotations. Stefani says friends kept telling her she was going through "this return of Saturn thing," in which the planet Saturn returns to the same position in people's charts when they turn 30 that it held at the time of their birth.

Stefani says it's a time of reckoning: "I'm not really into astrology but it was a good way of making sense of what I was going through."