CBS Sunday Morning (Sept. 23rd 2012)
No Doubt
CHARLES OSGOOD: "It's My Life" was a huge hit for the group No Doubt. Now after a long hiatus, No Doubt is poised for a re-launch. The band members spoke with our Anthony Mason for the record.
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(Crowd cheering)
ANTHONY MASON: One of the breakout rock bands of the nineties, No Doubt has sold more than thirty-three million albums worldwide.
(No Doubt singing)
ANTHONY MASON: But after ruling the charts with monster hits like "Don't Speak," and "It's my Life"--
(No Doubt singing)
ANTHONY MASON: --No Doubt went more than a decade without releasing a new record. Now the band is back.
(No Doubt singing)
ANTHONY MASON: Lead singer Gwen Stefani has reunited with her three bandmates. And this week, they'll release Push and Shove, their first album in eleven years.
GWEN STEFANI: The boys rehearse way more than me, because I kind of feel like I'll just wing it.
ANTHONY MASON: Mm-Hm.
(LAUGHTER)
GWEN STEFANI: There's so many things going on.
ANTHONY MASON: At forty-two, Stefani is still a style icon. As well as being the band's lead singer and songwriter, she's a cover girl, fashion designer, and a celebrity mom to two boys, Kingston and Zuma
GWEN STEFANI: It's just chaos now. But it's a lot of great problems. You know what I mean?
ANTHONY MASON: Mm-Hm.
In fact, since their last record, all four band members have married and become parents with eight children now between them. Bass player Tony Kanal, drummer Adrian Young and guitarist Tom Dumont, all had kids recently, which means touring ain't like it used to be.
TOM DUMONT: We'll be up there and I'll be doing "Don't Speak" and thinking, we're going to be in Dallas tomorrow, is there a children's museum in Dallas or is there-- should we go to the zoo?
(No Doubt performing)
ANTHONY MASON: It's a long way from the California club scene that gave birth to the band. No Doubt came together in Anaheim in 1986. You were sort of a quiet Catholic girl from California.
GWEN STEFANI: That's true.
ANTHONY MASON: Yeah?
GWEN STEFANI: Yeah.
ANTHONY MASON: Stefani's brother, Eric, started the group and encouraged his sister to join in.
So he's the one who told you to sing?
GWEN STEFANI: He would pound on the piano every morning and go, come on. And I'd be like, no, I'm watching Brady Bunch.
ANTHONY MASON: Did you have to pass an audition?
TONY KANAL: I auditioned at Gwen's house.
ANTHONY MASON: Tony Kanal was just sixteen when he signed on to be the bass player. His first gig was upstairs here at what was then a Los Angeles club.
I mean, what did that feel like at the time?
TONY KANAL: It was incredible. It's-- you know, like, I think with the band, I was-- when I joined the band, I-- I felt like I found my identity.
ANTHONY MASON: In those early days, money was tight. Kanal recently found these old ledgers in which the band kept track of expenses.
TONY KANAL: To actually buy this ledger was four dollars.
TOM DUMONT: And then we begin--
ANTHONY MASON: You kept record of that?
TONY KANAL: Yeah.
TOM DUMONT: Yeah.
TONY KANAL: Here's rehearsal.
ANTHONY MASON: You're paying for the rehearsal space here?
TONY KANAL: Yeah, exactly. So Tony put in five, Tom put in five, Gwen put in five, Eric put in four.
ANTHONY MASON: They all worked odd jobs to pay for that rehearsal time. Stefani was a salesgirl in a clothing store for older women.
GWEN STEFANI: And I had a whole wall of polyester pants in every color, pull-ons. But I could make some pretty cute outfits for them. And they were so grateful. And I loved that.
TONY KANAL: Think about how that was like the training ground for-- like, think about how much experience you got from the polyester pants and then the make-up counter. You know what I mean? Like it all--
GWEN STEFANI (overlapping): It all really-- it did. It did.
TONY KANAL (overlapping): --it all contributed to what-- where you are now.
GWEN STEFANI: It did. It did.
TONY KANAL: It's so crazy to think about that.
GWEN STEFANI: Yeah.
ANTHONY MASON: Kanal and Stefani became a couple. They dated for seven years. It was their split in 1994 that changed everything for the band.
GWEN STEFANI: When he broke up with me, I was like, all of a sudden, I wrote these songs. Like it just-- I didn't even know I could write them, like, it happened. Like, I was writing one after another. Like, all these lyrics were coming out of me and--
(No Doubt singing)
GWEN STEFANI: And I remember calling him going, listen to this one. And like, on the phone and reading it to him. And it was, like, really mean about him, you know, like, horribly mean. But he's like actually, like, that's really good. You know, like, it's really good.
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TONY KANAL: That's because she put herself out there, and people could relate to it on some level and--
ANTHONY MASON: But she's putting you out there, too.
TONY KANAL: It was. It was rough.
(No Doubt singing)
ANTHONY MASON: "Don't speak," the song about their break-up, would spend sixteen weeks atop the radio air play charts and hit number one in twenty countries.
So you got to relive this thing over and over again?
TONY KANAL: We were opening this wound next to each other constantly.
ANTHONY MASON: How do you deal with that?
TONY KANAL: You would go back to the room so emotionally, physically, spiritually, like, everything was drained. It was brutal. I-- I, you know, I look back on it now. But we got through it. We wouldn't still be here if we didn't love our band so much. I mean, to go through that break-up and then stay together as a band and--
ANTHONY MASON: Did you have a conversation about that?
GWEN STEFANI: Yeah. He said what should I should do? Should I leave the band, right?
TONY KANAL: Mm-Hm.
GWEN STEFANI: And I was like, no, no.
(No Doubt singing)
ANTHONY MASON: Their record, Tragic Kingdom, would become one of the landmark albums of the decade selling sixteen million copies. But in 2004, the band decided to take a break. Kanal and Dumont would make music with other artists. Young indulged his love of golf and started playing professional tournaments.
You don't think of a lot of rock stars as being golfers.
ADRIAN YOUNG: No, they're-- they're not. And they're to-- two totally different worlds. It's part-- it's-- it's a little bit of an escapism, I think.
ANTHONY MASON: Mm-Hm.
Stefani also went into another world, fashion.
GWEN STEFANI: New collection.
ANTHONY MASON: And it's what you're wearing here as well?
GWEN STEFANI: These are-- yeah.
ANTHONY MASON: The pants are.
GWEN STEFANI: See the matching jacket? Could you imagine altogether? Wow.
ANTHONY MASON: She launched three clothing lines--
(Excerpt from L'Oreal ad)
ANTHONY MASON: --became the face of L'Oreal. And also set out on a hugely successful solo career.
(Gwen Stefani performing)
ANTHONY MASON: You have all these different identities. I mean, in a sense, right?
GWEN STEFANI: Mm-Hm.
ANTHONY MASON: You've all these--
GWEN STEFANI: But we all do, right?
ANTHONY MASON: Well, but not of that-- most people don't have them become quite as large as yours have become. I mean, how do you-- how do you manage all these different Gwen Stefanis?
GWEN STEFANI: A funny question. I don't. I don't-- it's like every day is a struggle, you know, like I feel, like, you have to prioritize what's important.
ANTHONY MASON: Stefani, who's married to Gavin Rossdale--lead singer of the band, Bush--says the hardest job of all is being a mother.
GWEN STEFANI: Like today's, I'm total failure mom day because I am, I haven't seen them yet this morning.
ANTHONY MASON: Right.
GWEN STEFANI: I woke up before they woke up, got here, call them, he was like, I just really wish you were-- you know, it's like, okay, I'm just going to get through these next couple of hours. He's going to come here and we're getting on the plane, and we're going to be together all night. You know, it's like, that's what I'm thinking in my mind, like--
ANTHONY MASON: Also as you're posing for pictures you're thinking about--
GWEN STEFANI: Of course, I am.
ANTHONY MASON: Yeah.
GWEN STEFANI: That's what you do. You're-- you're always thinking about them for the rest of your life. That's crazy.
(No Doubt singing)
ANTHONY MASON: This past week, Stefani and the band were getting ready for their new tour. They may all have children now, but No Doubt is still a family of its own.
(No Doubt performing)
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