Entertainment Weekly (March 17th 2009)
No Doubt on 'Gossip Girl' spin-off, album, and tour: An exclusive Q&A
On March 12, inside a damp, musty warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, No Doubt did one of their first gigs in years. Well actually, "Snowed Out" performed. That's the name of the punk band No Doubt is playing in the Gossip Girl spin-off that's due to air May 11th. Set in LA in the early '80s and focusing on young Lily Van Der Woodsen (played by Hairspray's Brittany Snow), the special episode features Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Adrian Young, and Tom Dumont rocking a cover of Adam and the Ants' "Stand and Deliver." EW got an exclusive sit down with band, whose reunion tour kicks off May 2 in Atlantic City, before they took the stage.
EW: Why the Adam and the Ants song?
Adrian: Because that song rules!
Tony: We just went through a bunch of songs and that was one that we all agreed on. We all loved it.
Gwen: It took us like five minutes to pick that.
Tony: Because we're quick like that now! As you get older, you're just smarter.
Gwen: We normally just email, but we got on the phone for that one.
Tom: It's like, should we do "Stairway to Heaven" or" Stand and Deliver"?
Tony: Or "I'm Too Sexy"?
EW: Tell me about your tour. Are you guys in rehearsal right now?
Gwen: We haven't even gone into rehearsals yet.
Tony: We kind of have.
Gwen: Those guys went to the mountains together!
Tony: Idyllwild [in California]. The three of us. We rented a cabin. Three men. One van. Lots of equipment. One cabin. Five days and Five crazy nights!
EW: Did you bring eyeliner?
Tony: We didn't. But we had a good time up there. And we played some music. We got our calluses ready again.
Tom: And we dusted off the cobwebs.
EW: What about an album? Are you thinking that?
Gwen: We were making an album and I was pregnant for a super long time. I kept trying to write the record when I was pregnant and it didn't work. We did a lot of work, though. We did a lot of talking and hanging out and eating which was really fun. I was like, "You guys, let's go. Let's just go tour." I think that's going to point me personally in the right direction for what I need. I mean, these guys are already writing, like, so much music. I take the blame. It's all my fault! I think the chemistry up there is going to really make us feel like able to make modern music.
Tony: The interesting thing is that as soon as Gwen said, "Let's go on the road," we were all like, "Let's go on the road!" Four adults turned into four giggly children.
EW: Fans who purchase a ticket for the tour are getting your entire back catalog of songs for free. What was the thinking behind doing that?
Gwen: Was that your idea? [Points to Tom]
Tom: Yeah. We have a lot of music and we just wanted everybody to hear it. And technology is such that it's just very easy to do. Let everybody download everything we've recorded and throw it in with a ticket.