No Doubt has been waiting three hours for technicians to transfer 14 new, fresh-from-the-studio songs to a reel-to-reel master tape: the final, pre-manufacturing artifact of a labor that, at this point, has gone on for 18 months.

While No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani said she wants to let her band's next album be a "big surprise," she isn't hesitating to call the forthcoming effort the ska-pop quartet's best LP to date.

Sporting a Farrah-meets-Blondie do, Gwen Stefani made the rounds with Natalie Imbruglia at the L.A. premiere of the swinging rave flick Go

I was back in the studio with the band on Wednesday, April 28th, and I sat down to talk with everyone and see what they'd been up to. Thought you guys and gals might like it if I shared our conversation with you...

This record follows up 1996’s multi-million-seiling Tragic Kingdom, the album that bridged the gap between ska, punk and mainstream pop like nothing before it.