Launch (April 4th 2003)

Hit Singles Going Steady

How lucky a girl is Gwen Stefani? Let's see--the platinum-turned-pink-turned-platinum princess of ska-pop has quite a few things going for her right now: She's a style icon whose every fashion endeavor creates a nation of trends, she gets to attend a ton of high-profile and cool Hollywood glitterati events, and she's newly married to Bush's very hunky Gavin Rossdale after years of publicly declaring her desire to settle down with a nice young man. Oh yeah, and she fronts one of modern rock's hottest bands: No Doubt, the little Anaheim, California group-that-could that put out Tragic Kingdom in 1996 and found megasuperstardom shortly thereafter.

More reasons to envy Gwen and her bandmates: No Doubt currently have an explosive record, Rock Steady (the title's a nod to the band's ska roots), they got to go to Jamaica to record it, and they recently rubbed elbows with Bono while opening for U2 on tour. "A Simple Kind Of Life"? Bah--more like "Hey Baby," if you ask us!

LAUNCH's executive editor Dave DiMartino recently made a trip to Las Vegas (not too shabby, either!) to interview No Doubt's Tom Dumont, Adrian Young, Tony Kanal, and, of course, Gwen about their amazing and very UN-tragic kingdom.

LAUNCH: What was the number one thing you wanted to do when you made Rock Steady?

TOM: Let's see...I think there were two big things we wanted to accomplish with this record. One, we wanted to have the record be a little more lighthearted, a little more fun than the last one, less serious than the last. And number two, we wanted to record almost every song, as many songs as possible on the record, in such a way that they would sound really good in a dance club or at a party, so the grooves were really solid and simple and you would be able to dance to it. Those were the two goals--which were goals that we'd never had before.

GWEN: I think we wanted to make sure that we enjoyed the process and had a really good time making the record. That was one number one thing. And number two, we wanted to make a record we could dance to, like really dance to, in a club. We wanted to be in a club, and we wanted our song to come on, and we wanted to boogie down.

TONY: I think with the last record, Return Of Saturn, we had to prove to ourselves that we could improve as songwriters and as musicians, and that was our growing-pains record. It was a very tough record for us to make. It took us two years. I think going through that process prepared us or got us ready for this record, where we could let go of all the things we've done in the past and just have fun.

LAUNCH: You've made records a lot of different ways--tell me what's been different as far the recording process, compared to the last records?

TOM: The process was definitely different this time. As a lot of musicians do, I've kind of put together a home studio setup. And what we did this time is me and Gwen and Tony would just get together every afternoon at my house and write songs. And with the computer-recording stuff, we were kind of able to make demos of the songs on the spot. So on a good day, by the end of the day, we'd have a song written and a pretty good-sounding demo recorded, and it would be great. We'd burn CDs and listen to them in the cars the next day--you know what I mean? So it was like a real immediate gratification to the process, which made you feel like there were all these great accomplishments right out of the gate. And then what we ended up doing after we recorded these demos, in many of the cases, we'd take these demo tracks and bring them in the studios with the produces and add drums or add some vocals here and there, or add some keyboards, or most of the time we'd just work of some of our demos as templates, like "Hey Baby," our first single. I think most of the vocals on the album on that recording on the album are the ones done at my house on the demo. And that the case for a lot of the record--bass tracks, guitar tracks, keyboard tracks--it's a ton of the stuff that we'd used from the demo. Which I love. It was just me and Tony and Gwen. There were no engineers, no producers, when we'd conceived most of the songs. So in some ways, this was the most organic record---well, not the most, but there's definitely an organic nature to it, and that's something I'm really proud of.

GWEN: Tom got the ProTools system and set it up in his living room--in his apartment in L.A.--and I think that was the big difference. We started writing this record with beats, which is something we never have done before--we'd always used an acoustic guitar, or bass, or piano, a real small little tape recorder. The traditional way of writing. This time, we basically took beats of songs that we really were inspired by, and tried to copy or recreate them, but we're not good at it, so they came out however they did, and that's where the vibe of the song would start. It was just a whole other way of writing--not that it was better, but it was a very exciting, fresh way for us. We'd write a song in the afternoon in Tom's apartment, and I'd write the lyrics when those guys were busy doing programming or whatever, and then I'd record the song on a microphone there, and that's the actual tracks that you're hearing on the record, because we were able to take those actual tracks, bring them to Jamaica, and then add to them. And so in a lot of ways, I think we did a lot more on this record in terms of production than we've ever done, and we were able to capture the moment of when the song was written. There wasn't any demoing and all those steps that you can go through and maybe lose some of that energy.

LAUNCH: You worked with a lot of producers on this album--tell me about how that came about.

ADRIAN: I think we had seven producers. There was a wish list of producers that the band wanted to work with, and also there was time constraints. For example, Ric Ocasek was only available to do two songs, so we got him for two songs. And that was the case for many of the producers.

GWEN: It wasn't an intentional thing. We had done four tracks, and next thing we know, we're in Jamaica for like, two weeks, and that was kind of what set the whole vibe up for the album. But after that, we were always intending on trying on finding somebody, but as we were writing and going into the studio, nobody was really available to do the whole album, and we had a wish list of people, as you do every time you ]make an album], and this time people were only available to do like one or two tracks at a time, and we said, "Shoot, if Rick Ocasek is wanting to work with us, let's go in and do it right now!" It was really spontaneous. We also knew that we'd be working with this mixer, [Mark] "Spike" Stent out of London, someone I had met early on, that I wanted to produce the album, but he wasn't available--he was doing Oasis. And he said, "I'll mix the album, and that way I'll be the safety net, so go out there and do what you do and we'll make sure it all comes together in the end." The whole idea was to kind of experiment on this record, and if any amazing thing would come along, like someone like Dave Stewart will work with you, then do it--it doesn't mean it will make the record, doesn't mean it might not be sh-t or might be the most amazing song you wrote or whatever. It was just about doing it. Experience it, learn, and see what happens. There was a sense of freedom that we've never had in the band before, because we were able to work with all these incredible people, but also because we let ourselves take on anything that came our way. It was really a lot of fun.

LAUNCH: How did going to Jamaica affect the finished product?

GWEN: I think Tony was the spark and the fire for this album. He was very inspired. He had gone to Jamaica about a year ago. We had written only four tracks, and Tony was like, "We're going to go to Jamaica and we're going to record with Sly & Robbie," these legendary producers who we grew up with their music, and there was these other guys, Steely & Clevie who we'd been listening to a lot--they were this modern dancehall guys, the hardcore dancehall guys, and Tony worked it out so that we could go there, almost like an excuse. I think what surprised me the most and was the most magical part, was just how supportive those producers were of what we were doing, and they put their stamp on it...

TONY: Stamp of approval.

GWEN: Their stamp of approval--they were very much excited about the kind of music we were making, and I think for them it was very fresh as well. First of all, we were in Port Antonio, which is like the countryside, a gorgeous area, and these producers are from Kingston--they'd never been to Port Antonio, and for them to actually get out of Kingston, meet us there and actually do a record in this compound, it was just a magical experience, and something that I don't think any of us expected would be so intense.

TONY: They're used to a different pace of working there. We come from L.A., and we go to the studio and you're on the clock and it's like, "Get things done, we got a lot of work to do!" And those guys showed up a day late. They were supposed to show up on Saturday and they showed up on Sunday, or maybe it was Monday, and we're just waiting around. And when they got there, it was just a completely different way of working. Every morning we'd spend at a place called the Blue Lagoon--a beautiful fresh water lagoon and it meets the ocean so swimming in there is amazing--drinking Red Stripes and eating jerk chicken, and we'd finally roll into the studio around 4 in the afternoon, and it was just like, "No problem, man, everything's gonna be fine."

LAUNCH: Considering you went all over the place to record, the locals certainly must've injected something into the album.

TOM: Yeah, definitely. It's something that we discovered when we were doing Return Of Saturn, when we were writing that album: Every time we moved locations, we'd have a spurt of writing. And somehow we tried to use that fact to our advantage. Like when we did record Return Of Saturn, we were recording for three months, and there was a point where it had become like, work. It's like we were punching a clock every day, going to the studio every day, and this way [with Rock Steady], it was broken up into such small chunks of work that it never got boring and it never became a routine. So we'd spend two weeks in Jamaica and then we were done and those four songs were done, and then a week in London and then a week in San Francisco and couple weeks back in L.A. And it was broken up in such a way that it always felt fresh and always felt like we were moving forward constantly, and it was a really positive vibe, because it never got boring. "We wanted to make a record we could dance to in a club. We wanted our song to come on, and we wanted to boogie down." -- Gwen


LAUNCH: How do you feel about the overall unity of the sound on the album?

ADRIAN: The album is all over the place in some regards. But that pretty much keeps up with the tradition of this band. Our records have always been scattered and there hasn't always been one sound or one style, and so we weren't afraid of that at all. Using different producers and different engineers...it's still us playing our instruments and still Gwen signing the parts, and variety's good. We always welcome that.

LAUNCH: Since so much has happened with Gwen doing different duets, what's the dynamic like with the group now?

TOM: It's a weird thing and a cool thing. We did go through a lot of weird times when we were first getting success with Tragic Kingdom, where I think everyone was trying to figure out what their role was in the band, where we had gone from four friends in a garage making this record together to something completely different, and it took us a while to adjust to that. But here we are, so many years later and so many records...well, two records later, and I think we've really adjusted to this weird new lifestyle gracefully. Our friendship, I think, is stronger than ever. Like, I think we really enjoy each other's company, we're best friends, and whatever it is about us, the chemistry, we've been able to make it through all the stressful stuff and come out stronger. Like, a great example is last night we had gone to Las Vegas; a lot of bands would have gone their own way and done their own thing. We just hung out--we went out to dinner and went out to a nightclub and partied together. And that's just what we do; we're our best friends and we love hanging out together. So that's probably why we're still here and still enjoying what we get to do.

GWEN: I'm jealous of Tony, because he looks so good. Look at him! And that's after a night of drinking!

TONY: And no sleeping, either. I'm telling you, you should try it--drink and no sleep. I think those are issues that are gone now. It's unbelievable the chemistry we have as a band now. This year has been the best it's ever been. Sixteen years into being a band, and we're getting along better now than ever before.

LAUNCH: Adrian, while we're still at it, do you want to relate that story now about losing money in Vegas?

ADRIAN: Yeah, I'd like to. So last night we were at the Maxim party at the Rio [hotel], it's an outdoor party around a pool. Lotta people, lotta liquor. There's also a waterfall with a rock formation. And I was in the bathroom and this guy says, "You're the naked guy in the ["Hey Baby"] video! How much money would it take for you to go naked in that pool" And I said, "If you give me a thousand dollars, I'll go naked from the top of that waterfall and jump in." And 10 minutes later, he walks up with $1,000 and I'm on the spot, and I'm like, "Oh sh-t!" And it's time to go, so I got to the top, took my clothes off, people started cheering, and I jumped off and dried off and he gave me the $1,000...and I went into the casino and parlayed it into $3,000!

TOM: You're the f--king man.

ADRIAN: Good times, in Vegas.

TOM: You know what? You're going to make a lot of money this year, now that you've established in the video that you'll strip for money. You're going to make extra cash.

ADRIAN: I don't know...I gotta stay outta jail.

TOM: As long as you're not offending underage minors, you all right.

LAUNCH: If you look back what two career milestones made No Doubt great, what turning points can you point to?

ADRIAN: I think the biggest highlight was in the summer of '97, when we were touring around arenas. That was the first time we were doing our own arenas. That was cool. I'll never forget that summer. That was great.

TOM: I was going to say the same thing. That tour was fantastic, and it's just so crazy to go from playing clubs. And we had toured for almost a year and a half before that summer arena tour, and we went from playing for 300 people to playing for 20,000 people--it was incredible and intense and an amazing experience. And last year we had another great tour--it wasn't as many people, but I think in some ways it was even more fun. We were able to enjoy the same thing last year.

LAUNCH: Are you comfortable with the way the press writes about you? About your personal relationships and such?

ADRIAN: With Tragic Kingdom, the press was often a little bit harsh with us, and with Return Of Saturn the press got way more favorable, and that felt really good, obviously. As far as the personal stuff, we don't get really talked about on personal levels very much at all. I think that Gwen is the only one who really has to deal with all that stuff, because she's so much more exposed, in so many ways.

GWEN: We're really used to it. I think there were times when it was really painful for us. When [Tony and I] split up, and I wrote that record [Tragic Kingdom, the lyrics of that record...that record wasn't going to be heard by anyone, that record was a record that took three years to make. Sixty songs later, we're on a different label at a certain point--who would think that album would come out, let alone sell 16 million copies about our life? It was crazy that it happened. We were really open about it, because we didn't know any better--we really used our sense of humor to get through it, but it really was painful, and I think we have a few regrets about being very touchable about our relationship, and we learned about that. But I think that also it is a weird situation where you got, like, two and a half years touring with that album and two and a half years of sitting in a room and people picking at our wounds. That's why Return Of Saturn was so hard to make, because it was coming off of that psychology of that tour and that craziness.

TOM: Around the time of Tragic Kingdom, when "Don't Speak" came out, we had an article in Rolling Stone magazine. I think that the three of us guys got portrayed in a negative light, as being maybe jealous of Gwen's success and all this kind of stuff. I think that was a bit blown out of proportion and a bit inaccurate, because we still get asked about that today. When we made the "Don't Speak" video we created this fictional aspect of the band--we fictionalized it certainly in the video to the point that people certainly bought into it and believed it, which certainly shows you the power of television. I think over the years we've been nothing but proud of Gwen and proud of ourselves. I regret that people have had that image of us, but maybe by now it's kind of faded a bit, which is good.

GWEN: We feel really blessed. All those issues were issues at one point, like you said, six years ago, which was kind of a long time ago. And I think for the most part, one thing that has really happened is that everybody feels they have a role that they play. And the thing is, the roles are always changing. Like I said, Tony was the inspirer on this record, he was the one with most creative energy, he was the new Tony, like, "I'm not going to worry about things and just be creative and let my creativeside out," and that fueled my fire. The roles are always changing, and we all have roles, and obviously understand what they are. I'm obviously the singer and the lyricist, so I'm the one with the mouth, and so obviously people are going to be looking at me when I'm speaking, but the truth about it is that on this album, Tony was the one that made me get excited. So we all really play important roles and feed off each other, and we wouldn't be No Doubt if one of us was gone.

LAUNCH: How do you guys manage to hang out so much, after 10-plus years being together? Do you guys lead separate lives?

TONY: It's so interesting. We'll go on tour and we'll come home, and instead of going our separate ways, the next night we'll all go out again to a party, drinking and having fun together. It's kind of a special thing--we're getting along so well, so we might as well enjoy it.

ADRIAN: We don't take vacations away from each other--if we're off and we're home, we go hang out. There's always parties to get together for, or dinners, or just good times in general. One thing is interesting is that when you experience something in a band, as four people, with all the success and the rollercoaster that creates, we can't tell our friends or our families really what it's like--there's no way to convey that. Only we know, and it's something that only we have to look back on, it's something we all did together, and only we really know what it feels like. I think that creates a pretty special bond as well.

GWEN: We like each other. I like hanging out with the guys. Who knows how long it's going to last--we don't really think about those kind of things anymore, we just kind of live day-to-day and record-to-record, and try not to think about the future too much. We don't really need to anymore. It's like, "Wow, can you believe it? We're still doing this!" Our parents are like, "Wow, I can't believe you're still doing that." My mom is like, "Wow, you're still doing that--that's crazy, Gwen!" I know, I know!

LAUNCH: How do you fit into the Orange County scene?

ADRIAN: We feel the love in Orange County, I think.

TOM: Definitely. Even all over L.A. as well, just because of the influence of the local radio station there that supported the song. We definitely feel like a bit of a hometown-band thing, which is nice. At the same time, the Orange County Weekly rips us apart quite on a regular basis! [laughs] It's good for people to be healthily critical. It's a good thing. It's the kind of thing too where we're a little bit spoiled being from L.A. and Orange County--when we go out to clubs or hang out there, it's fun to be recognized and be able to get in and get special treatment. It's fun. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy that stuff. And that special treatment we get in L.A. and other cities we don't necessarily get in other cities...so thanks, L.A. and Orange County! We love the support.

ADRIAN: It's really good not having to wait in lines for things. Waiting in lines sucks.

TOM: It's really good to get killer VIP booth and table and free drinks and food.

ADRIAN: It's one of the best parts.

TOM: Tell me about it!

LAUNCH: Are you still capable of being impressed by people you encounter?

ADRIAN: We were impressed every night on the tour with U2. We watched the show every single night, because they're so good and they have so many great songs. Frankly, meeting popular guys like that, I still get really nervous and uncomfortable. I just can't be relaxed and comfortable. I just look at them and I feel like I'm 13 or something. We get really impressed by stars.

TOM: Movie stars are fun. When movie stars come to hang out in your dressing room, it's really weird but fun. [Laughs] They're just normal people too, probably. I imagine they're just the same. The U2 guys, they're really normal and really sweet and nice, but they're definitely up on this higher-level plateau and stuff, and they definitely get my respect.

TONY: I think we're starstruck every night watching those guys onstage. That tour was such an amazing experience for us--we're such huge fans of U2, and I think that they set the standard for being in a rock band. They raise the bar every time by constantly keeping their music fresh and showing that these four musicians can create something bigger than the sum of their parts. And watching them get onstage every night was really inspiring for us. We learned a lot from them on tour. So I'd say we were definitely starstruck every night by those guys, and hanging out with them--it's definitely been a good experience.

GWEN: We're flying on their plane...OK, it says "Elevation Tour" on the side, and we get free food when we go on there and we get free drinks!

LAUNCH: So, what are your goals now, in 2003?

GWEN: Human beings are so weird like that--they always want more and they're never completely satisfied and they're always so hopeful. I don't know why we're like that. It's our breed, I guess. I think that for us, the last record was all about getting better as songwriters; I think that this record was all about having fun and just trying to enjoy the process, and I think that we achieved that. When we write music, we write very selfishly, for ourselves--we're in a room, and we don't even consider someone else. Then after it's all done and you have this little thing, then it's like, "Oh my God, I can't wait to share this with everyone!" I guess that's the creative process. You create to share it with people, and now we have Rock Steady and we just want to go around the world and play it live for everyone and have this extended childhood extend even longer and longer.

TOM: That's really funny. I want the same thing. It definitely feels great to have a hit song and it's definitely great to retain some level of popularity, and I'm sure that's something we'd like to continue. But that's something we have no control over--I mean, the honest truth is we have no control over whether people will like the songs that we do, or like anything we do. So although it's nice to wish for success, the thing we can control is the records we make. And if we can make records that we're really proud of, by the end of the day if it fails or if it succeeds, at least we can feel that we did something good. And I think that's a certain confidence we definitely had coming out of Return Of Saturn. Obviously it wasn't as successful as Tragic Kingdom, but we feel proud of what we did and we knew that we approached that with the right spirit and heart, and going forward, we feel really good about what we've done. And whether or not we actually get all the good stuff like success, at least we feel like we did a good job and didn't cheese out.

LAUNCH: What's the single most overlooked fact about No Doubt?

ADRIAN: That's a really good question, because we don't know the answer.

TONY: I think that we've gotten to the point where we don't care anymore. We feel that we've done so much as a band and people have seen so many sides of us with Tragic Kingdom and Return To Saturn and now Rock Steady that I think we've just gotten to the point where we've stopped worrying about that and are just having fun. And it's like Gwen said earlier, doing music for music's sake, and just enjoying the process and every part of it.

GWEN: I go online to our fans a lot, because I'm stuck in my hotel room a lot. They never believe it's me. And it pisses me off so bad, and like, I had to say the F-word to this girl because she was so rude to me. And I'm like, "Why do I have to take this from these kids?" It's weird when a 15-year-old kid is saying you're selling out. We sold 16 million records and had the biggest song in the world at one point--is that selling out? That just happened. And now I think that people are ignorant--that they don't know what dancehall is on this record is really frustrating. I think that we just have to make clear to people that No Doubt started off because we found this Jamaican music called ska, and ska is this Jamaican music...ska, reggae, dancehall. Dancehall is just an evolved version of that. And dancehall has been inspiring us for the last year and a half, and our single "Hey Baby" is pretty much directly our version of trying to do dancehall, and our excitement about trying to do dancehall--reggae, and when people say, "Oh, that's techno" or they don't get it, I think that for me, honestly, that's a little frustrating. Because they're just ignorant about the kind of music that it really is, and so I have to just speak my mind on that because that frustrates me sometimes. Right. And when I'm online, late at night by myself in my room, I mean it, kids--it's me! It's such an amazing music, it's such a cool, sexy, driving music, and we're very much in love with it, so we wanted to share it with people.

TOM: Hmm...what's the thing that people don't know about us? That everyone in the band but Gwen farts a lot.

ADRIAN: That's definitely true.

TOM: It's something that you might not think of as important, but it really is, because farting provides lots of laughter, and it's always good times between us. Tony has amazing powers of really loud and trumpet-like farts, whereas mine are really silent but deadly, and whereas Adrian's are both. So we have a special talent that keeps us laughing.

ADRIAN: It's helped us out of a lot of tense situations.

TOM: Whereas Gwen hasn't, at least not the best of my knowledge, ever farted. She's just the audience.

ADRIAN: I'm just waiting.