No Doubt - Just A Girl

Interview with Tony Kanal of No Doubt

It was always a matter of time, but it became a matter of when. The long-awaited reunion of Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Adrian Young and Tom Dumont, who last toured in 2004 before an extended hiatus, has finally arrived, almost 15 years after No Doubt’s landmark release Tragic Kingdom and a bewildering 22 years into the band’s eternally youthful career.

Even now, with all of No Doubt sans Kanal married with children, the vivacious foursome embody a wide-eyed and innocent spirit that has perhaps more than anything endeared them to an incredibly wide range of followers. Well, that and one of the most beloved and enduring albums of the ‘90s. There’s always that.

And the approach is just as honest and heartfelt as it was when No Doubt was struggling in the late ‘80s with endless lineup changes. The reason for being in a band and creating art has always remained the same, and it’s taken them across genres and continents to please the fans that have grown up with them.

Bassist Kanal took some time to talk about the band’s reunion, their forthcoming album and their current frame of mind as they embark on this latest chapter in their history.

The question I have to start with is: Why now and what took so long?

When we went on a break, I don’t think we ever thought it was going to end up being five years—it’s actually a little more than that, but we did the Greatest Hits tour in 2004—I really don’t have an answer, it just kind of ended up being that long. Gwen did some projects and we all went off and did our own thing. We started writing last year and it felt like the right time, but it felt like we were just jumping into writing a little prematurely, and that’s when the whole idea of doing the tour came up, the whole idea of reconnecting with ourselves and reconnecting with everybody who supported us for all these years, so it was just like, ‘Let’s go play shows.’

Every time we’ve made a record in the past, we’ve always been playing shows at the same time. We started off as a live band, and we always had that live component going on and we haven’t had that for so many years now, it was time to do some shows and get on stage together because that’s how we started 22 years ago, and it’s just such a big part of our band. And it was missing.

The last album came out so quickly after Return Of Saturn; it was all done basically while you were touring that record (Saturn).

Making Rock Steady it was incredibly—I don’t want to say easy. It just kind of came naturally. Every day was like a new adventure. We take a long time to make records and Rock Steady we started in January 2001, and it came out in December 2001. That was kind of groundbreaking for us to be able to write a record and release it in that same year.

I’m curious as to why you chose the Bamboozle festival as the first show to announce your return, considering you’re a West Coast band.

You know, it just worked out that way. We looked at all the options, and that was one of the good ones, and we decided to do it. Playing in front of that many people is always an incredible thrill. I guess when we do stuff, we jump in big, and when we start talking about the tour, we’re talking about, ‘Yeah, let’s do a few dates,’ and here we are now with I think 55 shows announced and on sale. It’s kind of the nature of our band; when we do something, we go big with it. Might as well start off big, go big with this festival and make it the first big show.

No Doubt - It's My Life

Biography

Formed in 1986 in Anaheim, California, United States as a ska punk band inspired by Madness, the lineup of No Doubt initially comprised John Spence as lead vocal, Gwen Stefani on back-up vocal, and Eric Stefani on keyboards. While playing the party-band circuit around Anaheim, the trio picked up bassist Tony Kanal. Hardened by the suicide of Spence in December 1987, No Doubt nevertheless continued; Gwen became the lone vocalist and the group added guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young. During their early years on the party scene, they played with Sublime, and Brad Nowell sang on No Doubt’s Total Hate 95. Gwen Stefani returned the favour on Saw Red.
No Doubt’s live act began to attract regional interest, and Interscope Records signed them in 1991. The band’s debut a year later, an odd fusion of ‘80s and ska, sank without a trace in the wake of the grunge movement. As a result, Interscope refused to support No Doubt’s tour or further recordings. The band responded by recording on their own during 1993-94; the result was the self-released The Beacon Street Collection, much rawer and more punk-inspired than the debut. Eric Stefani left just after its release, later working as an animator for The Simpsons. By late 1994, Interscope allowed recordings to resume, and Tragic Kingdom was released in October 1995. The album’s third single, Don’t Speak, which although originally written by Eric was later altered by Gwen to document her breakup with bassist Tony Kanal. Tragic Kingdom went platinum and has sold over 15 million copies to date. As Tragic Kingdom obtained success, the band toured furiously until late ‘97.

After a long break, the band had prepared a more mellow, and powerfully dramatic album entitled Return Of Saturn. It emphasized Gwen’s encounters with men, her biological clock, and miscellaneous topics. Although the album had a completely different approach to it, the band was making rock music with less of a punk/ska flare. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts in early April of 2000, and then declined to a flop. The public never did justice to the album, and it serves as a favorite for many die-hard fans.

While touring in Jamaica for Return of Saturn, the band wanted to try adding reggae to their music, and making more of a dance rock record. 20 months after Return of Saturn debuted, the band was quick to jump on the creation of Rock Steady, relased in December of ‘01. The singles Underneath It All and Hey Baby became international dance club symbols as top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. This album proved that No Doubt had not lost their potential with the public, and that they could appeal to various groups of people.

In 2004, No Doubt announced they would be going on hiatus after the release of the singles compilation The Singles 1992–2003, which contained one new song, a cover of experimental rock band Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life”. Tony Kanal did several projects with Gwen and other artists. Adrian Young married and had a child; Tom Dumont formed a new band, Invincible Overlord, often plays with Matt Costa’s band. Gwen embarked on a sucessful solo career which consisted of two albums - “Love. Angel. Music. Baby.” and “The Sweet Escape”. The first of these albums contains the single “Hollaback Girl”, a song which was inescapable for most of 2005 and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won her a Billboard Award for first track to reach 1 Million legal downloads ever. The self titled track off “The Sweet Escape” went on to become her most notorious calling card.

With the hiatus officially over in late 2008 No Doubt announced tour plans for 2009, kicking it off in Atlantic City. The tour concluded with four dates in Irvine, CA. In May, 2009, the band was featured as a fictional 80’s band, “Snowed Out”, on CW Network’s “Gossip Girl” The band performed their cover of Adam and the Ants ‘Stand and Deliver.’

No Doubt - Don't Speak