Blender (February 2002)
33 Things You Should Know About No Doubt
Why does their drummer repeatedly strip naked? Why is their bassist deathly afraid of fish? And is their singer really related to Madonna? No Doubt drop their guard and dish all to Blender
1. BORN IN ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, ON OCTOBER 3, 1969, GWENDOLYN RENEE STEFANI IS RELATED TO MADONNA. KIND OF.
“OK, are you ready for this?” she begins. “Before ending up in Anaheim, my grandpa first moved to Detroit from Rome. And my dad’s mom’s younger sister’s husband's mother is a Ciccone. That’s true.”
2. DADDY WAS A FOLKIE.
Dennis Stefani performed in a group called the Innertubes at LA’s Troubadour club. Gwen recalls hearing Bob Dylan in the station wagon and groaning, “Not this guy again!"
3. THEIR OSHKOSH OVERALLS AND BOB HAIRCUTS LOOK, CIRCA 1990, IS BEST FORGOTTEN.
"It was so painful,” cringes drummer Adrian Young. “After about eight months, I went, This hair is stupid; and shaved it all off’
4. STING WAS ONCE NASTY TO TEENAGE POLICE FAN STEFANI.
The “fat eighth-grader” approached her hero for an autograph while he was doing a promotional poster
shoot for her father's employer, Yamaha. “He signed it all mean and snarly,” she winces. “When I met him years later, he said, ‘Oh, I was a real asshole back then! ”
5. "NO DOUBT” WAS A FREQUENT EXPRESSION OF ORIGINAL SINGER JOHN SPENCE, WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE SOON AFTER THE GROUP FORMED IN 1986.
“We always meant to change the name,” says bassist Tony Kanal. “But somebody would always have just printed up some stickers for $50 or something. So it just stuck’
6. DISNEYLAND USED TO BE THEIR PLAYGROUND.
Stefani remembers sneaking around the Disneyland Hotel, her brother Eric, who founded No Doubt, pounding out Madness tunes on the ballroom piano. At the club inside the gates, same-sex dancing was strictly prohibited. “Girls would grind each other to Prince and get kicked out,” Stefani snickers.
7. KANAL ALMOST LOST THE USE OF HIS LEFT HAND IN A BIZARRE FISHBOWL-CLEANING ACCIDENT.
Just after his family arrived in California from England, the 11- year-old future bassist severely sliced his palm after breaking a fishbowl in the sink and trying to rescue the fish. “I cut a tendon, and at first they told me I wouldn’t be able to use my hand again,” he says. It required 28 stitches. He still bears the scars today.
8. TOM DUMONT: SECRETLY METAL!
The teenage guitarist played in a failed hair-metal band called Rising, named after an album by bloated metal outfit Rainbow. “The other guys were just interested in chasing chicks,” he shrugs.
9. DRUMMER LIKES TO GET NAKED, PART 1.
The band’s “Hey Baby” video re-creates a scene from a New York record company party. “These gymnastics rings were hanging above a table,” Young says. “I kept looking at them, thinking, ‘I’m gonna get up on those! People ponied up money, so I hung upside down, nude, for 10 seconds”
10. THE HILLS WERE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF TWO-TONE.
“My first performance was for a school talent show, in a band called Apple Corps,” says Stefani, “with John Spence and Eric. We did a cover of ‘On My Radio’ by the Selecter. My mom made me a copy of the dress Julie Andrews wore in The Sound of Music when she sang 'I Have Confidence! I didn’t know the words, but the outfit did give me confidence," she smiles.
11. PUNK CROWDS WERE TOUGH ON A GIRL-LED SKA BAND.
“We were this fun cartoon band supporting hardcore punks in San Francisco, so it was, ‘Show me your tits,’” Stefani says. “But as I got more comfortable, the girls started coming up front, and the 'Show me your tits’ guys thinned out!”
12. THE NICKNAME OF ULTRA-METICULOUS TONY KANAL, PRONOUNCED CANAL, IS TONY KANAL, RHYMING WITH ANAL
“Yeah, that’s funny,” he mutters. “I just like my shit to be organized. Does it irritate the others? That might have happened.”
13. IN 1991, THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR POWERFUL L.A. RADIO STATION KROQ SAID IT WOULD TAKE AN ACT OF GOD TO GET THE GROUP ON THE RADIO
“That was shitty,” Young says. “But, you know, maybe we just sucked!’ Notes Kanal, “Now they've promoted our last, like, 11 singles!’
14. YOUNG ONCE IMPLORED A CROWD TO COVER HIM IN SPIT.
Young and Dumont began spitting at each other onstage in Europe. Young demanded that the audience follow suit “The crowd came around the drum riser and totally tagged me with spit!’ he grins. “No, I didn’t catch anything!’
15. LAST YEAR, AN ANIMATED NO DOUBT APPEARED ON FOX’S KING OF THE HILL
The episode was called “Kidney Boy and Hamster Girl: A Love Story.” And if Matt Stone and Trey Parker are reading this, Adrian Young has a message for you: “I'd love to be on South Park!"
16. STEFANI'S '50S STARLET-CUM-CHOLA LOOK HAS WOWED THE FASHION WORLD.
After she tore off aJohn Galliano dress in the “Simple Kind of Life” video, the designer custom-made her an outfit for last year's Grammys. “I said, 'I wanna look like I'm going to a '50s prom — and I’m not a fan of anything below my waist. So make it happen!’ ” she beams. “It was a total Cinderella moment.”
17. AFTER SPLITTING WITH LONGTIME GIRLFRIEND STEFANI IN 1994, KANAL REALIZED HE'D HAVE TO GET USED TO HEARING SONGS ABOUT HIMSELF.
“I really didn’t have a choice,” he says. “Gwen writes sincere, honest lyrics. None of us, not even me, was going to tell her that she couldn’t do that”
18. DO THE NO DOUBT FELLAS RESENT THE MEDIA'S LOVE AFFAIR WITH GWEN?
Not anymore, says Dumont: “That tag still haunts us because of Tragic Kingdom's 'Don’t Speak’ video,” in which the guys fumed about being scissored from a magazine cover. To some, that seemed like sour grapes coming from a band that had just sold 8 million records. "That video bugs me!’ agrees Dumont in retrospect, “because we come off like dicks.”
19. STEFANI ONCE NEARLY WALKED OUT ON DR. DRE.
Recording last year's collaboration with Eve, “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” Dre, the producer, kept Stefani repeating lines for hours. “Afterward, he said, ‘You did good; I've had people walk out! ” she chuckles. “I said, 'Dude, I was this close! He goes, 'You should have seen Eve. She was in tears!’”
20. THE RELATIVE COMMERCIAL FAILURE OF 2000'S RETURN OF SATURN TURNED OUT TO BE A BLESSING IN DISGUISE.
“The payday was less!' says Dumont, “but we still had a good time. The pressure was off. It was like, 'This isn’t so bad. Enough people are listening to make it worthwhile! It meant we were less precious about Rock Steady."
21. PRINCE TO GUYS IN NO DOUBT: "DROP DEAD."
Starting work at Paisley Park in 1999 on Rocksteady’s “Waiting Room,” the Purple One decided only Stefani was needed. "For some reason, when we arrived, he decided we should go home,” says Young. “That was disappointing, because we wanted to play.”
22. STEFANI GOT GROSSED OUT BY THE LAST TOUR'S BACKSTAGE BUMP 'N' GRIND SESSIONS.
The lyrics of “Hey Baby" record the nightly debauchery that saw the band’s trainer performing naked lap dances for visiting girls. The “boys get the girls in the back” line? “That's about the guys bringing girls backstage,” Stefani explains. “At times, finding the right girls felt more important than the show. I was like, 'You guys, I don't want to be a part of this.’ ”
23. DURING THE ROCK STEADY SESSIONS IN JAMAICA, LOCAL MUSICIANS VISITED THE STUDIO WITH HOMEGROWN GIFTS.
“One night, I had five cookies,” Dumont laughs. “My head was just spinning!’
24. STEFANI AND BOYFRIEND GAVIN ROSSDALE OF BUSH HAVE TAKEN A SMALL STEP TOWARD A PERMANENT COLLABORATION.
“It’s weird having this long-distance thing,” she admits. “It's not like we really live together, but he does now have stuff in my closet!'
25. KANAL THROWS LEGENDARY PARTIES.
“I’m a single guy in Hollywood, it's 2 o’clock and the bars are closing, but the night's just started,” he says. “So there are a lot of bad judgments: ‘Everybody back to my place!' You realize your mistake the next day when you’re cleaning up the puke in the bathtub.”
26. NO DOUBT FOUNDER ERIC STEFANI LEFT IN 1994 TO BECOME AN ANIMATOR ON THE SIMPSONS.
“He doesn’t need to work ever again,” his sister says. “He wrote ‘Don’t Speak! you know?"
27. WHEN ERIC LEFT, HIS SIS HAD TO FILL THE CREATIVE VOID.
“It hurt Gwen a lot,” remembers Dumont, “but it forced her to stand on her own. And as soon as she started writing her own songs, people responded. She’s changed completely. She just has this glow.”
28. ALICE COOPER, BEWARE.
Young is a five handicap in golf. “I don’t go anywhere without my clubs!’ he says. "It’s my passion. I can turn my brain off from No Doubt-land for a few hours. What’s the name of our album again?"
29. YOUNG LIKES TO HAVE A DRINK DOWN AT THE PUB.
Conveniently, it’s located in his home. “I had it built. It’s English-style," he says. “We even rolled brown, dingy paint onto the ceiling so it looked heavily smoked in.”
30. TOURING WITH U2 LAST NOVEMBER WAS AN INSPIRATION FOR THE BAND.
“Even cooler than opening for them was being able to watch them every night,” says Kanal. “We hung out with Bono pretty much all the time; he has a party every night. That guy has so much energy. It’s great to meet someone who’s politically conscious, such a humanitarian, a great vocalist and songwriter, but also... he parties! It’s cool to see that balance”
31. DRUMMER LIKES TO GET NAKED, PART 2.
After playing in snowy Denver with U2 in November, No Doubt were gridlocked in traffic leaving the arena. “People started putting up money for me to run around the van nude,” Young reminisces. “After 20 seconds, I got blindsided by a cop who got me face-down naked on the snowy grass and handcuffs me. After our tour manager starts pleading, the guy lets me go. It was cold. But it was funny.”
32. YOUNG’S WIFE IS EXPECTING THE FIRST NO DOUBT BABY SOMETIME IN FEBRUARY.
"People are surprised I’m the one who’s married and having a baby,” he admits. “I’ve had probably a wilder life than the others — maybe I got it out of my system.”
33. ROCKSTEADY IS MOSTLY ABOUT HAPPINESS - PLUS MAYBE SOME DOUBT.
“Yeah, I’m in a good mood,” Stefani agrees. “But there’s a few lingering complaints there. Because there always are. Because I’m a girl! If the jealousy and trusting issues get out of control, it’s just horrible. But they're all pretty normal problems. I hope.”