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Members of the band No Doubt watched the Los Angeles Lakers play against the New York Knicks March 10 in Los Angeles. Below, Gwen Stefani looked out at the crowd during a performance for the group's tour for their platinum-selling album "Rock Steady."
Rockin’ It's No Doubt in Hawaii, Part V. Let's call it "No, Really, We're Rock Stars!"
the fast track
No Doubt will rock steady
with a sold-out show
By Gary C. W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.comEven though the indomitable, street-glam Gwen Stefani is the main focus of the band, there's no attitude here. You couldn't find a more down-to-earth, approachable and realistic bunch of musicians frolicking in the spotlight.
And they certainly love visiting the islands! The band's been trickling in to Honolulu, one by one, and, having last toured in Europe about a month ago, they're rehearsing today at some secret location to prepare for tomorrow night's sold-out concert.
From here, the band heads to Asia and Australia for tour dates in Singapore, Hong Kong, Osaka, Tokyo, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, up to the 25th of the month. The question after that is whether they'll bother to board a red-eye flight to New York City for the following day's MTV Music Awards show, where the holler-out "Hey Baby" single from their latest album, "Rock Steady," is up for Best Group Video and Best Pop Video awards.
October will be their next busy month, opening for three dates on the Rolling Stones' U.S. tour, then later that month headlining their own U.S. tour with Garbage.
COURTESY OF ETHAN MILLER / LAS VEGAS SUN
But back to the Hawaii visits. Local audiences have been lucky enough to see the band develop from a promising opening band for 311 at the now-defunct After Dark nightclub, to the big-buzz band at the 1996 Big Mele at Kualoa Ranch. That appearance followed the release of the phenomenal, multimillion-selling "Tragic Kingdom" album. Next came a gig with the No Doubt's British 2-Tone ska heroes Madness at Richardson Field in 1998.
No Doubt was on the superstar fast track by the time of a 2000 appearance at Andrews Outdoor Theater, putting on a particularly enthusiastic show in support of the "Return of Saturn" album. Now, two years later, the band's playing the big hall, Blaisdell Arena, and everything's looking, well, just ducky!
Stefani's really a big star now, having made career-savvy moves by guesting with Moby on "South Side" and Eve on "Let Me Blow Ya Mind." And she's the classically glamorous focus of the band's latest video for their lovers-rock "Underneath It All." Director Sophie Muller gives us a long, luxurious and gauzy-lensed look at Stefani. On top of all that, she's finally engaged to her longtime beau, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, thereby putting to a halt all that feminine angst that fueled most of the songs on "Return to Saturn."
In an interview in January's Pulse! magazine, Stefani commented on her favorite look by saying she just gets "so inspired by that whole starlet period of Hollywood."
Where: Blaisdell Arena NO DOUBT
With Go Jimmy Go
When: 7 p.m. tomorrow, doors open at 6
This is a sold-out show
"I'm fascinated by all that stuff; Julie Andrews and the whole 'Sound of Music' thing, and musicals," she says. "And I definitely felt weird when 'Tragic Kingdom' was coming out and the only girls that were around were the country or folkier style -- the no-makeup singer/songwriters -- or the really hard L7 or Hole-type rock bands. I didn't feel comfortable in either one of those areas, so I just decided to be myself. And it turned out all right."
To paraphrase a famous deodorant commercial, Stefani is strong enough for women and gentle enough for men.
AFTER "Return to Saturn," drummer Adrian Young said the band had nothing to prove, so the musicians just followed their collective muse, wholly inspired by dancing and grooving to the dance-hall reggae played at after-show parties on the 2000 tour.
The resulting album, "Rock Steady," is both an affirmation of their love of Jamaican groove and a return to new-wave roots. "Hey Baby" was the first single off the album, followed by the '80s funk feel of "Hella Good," produced by noted Britisher Nellee Hooper. The band used an all-star lineup of producers on the album -- Hooper (including the new-waveish "In My Head" and the ballad "Running," probably a potential single), Prince ("Waiting Room," originally from a 1998 session with His Purpleness), reggae master producers Sly & Robbie and Steely & Clevie (the stretched-out groove of "Start the Fire"), dance track producer William Orbit ("Making Out") and, most happily for the band, former Cars leader and Weezer producer Ric Ocasek ("Don't Let Me Down" and "Platinum Blonde Life.")
COURTESY OF INTERSCOPE RECORDS
No Doubt members are, from left, guitarist Tom Dumont, lead singer Gwen Stefani, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young.
"We found a balance on this album," says bassist Tony Kanal in that same Pulse! interview. "All of it came from a very organic place, it was super-spontaneous, but it was just fun. Every single song on it was fun to write; every time we sat down together to work on music, it was fun. And it's brought certain things to the band that we didn't have before, like a feeling that we're gonna be around a little longer. Whereas on 'Tragic Kingdom,' I think people really thought we were gonna be one-hit wonders."
Combining these new songs with ultra-favorites from the first album as "Spiderwebs," "Just A Girl" and "Don't Speak" in concert tomorrow night, No Doubt should leave no doubt about the band's popular longevity.
COURTESY OF ETHAN MILLER / LAS VEGAS SUN
No Doubt's lead singer Gwen Stefani performed at the band's March 30 sold-out performance at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.
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