New Band Interview Addressing The Tensions, Writing, And Going On Tour
Gwen gave a new interview with the people from straight.com about how some of her quotes were taken out of context in the recent interview with Elle magazine. The magazine’s article calls the “reunion” drama filled and full of fights, while Gwen tells them there is only a little truth to it. Apparently, the fight between her and Tony was over a keyboard line in the studio recording “Stand and Deliver” for Gossip Girl — which was thrown on them on top of other things. The fight was apparently over the phone, very heated, and Gwen says that it was really odd since they haven’t fought in a long time, they didn’t know how to end the argument. “It was just one of those things where there was a lot of pressure. And there was a lot of pressure.” Also to add on even more pressure, how the media and fans were looking at “Stand and Deliver” as a comeback single — which it was not. Gwen was planning on getting pregnant after The Sweet Escape tour, and was planning on writing the new album during the time. Didn’t happen like that. They needed to focus on getting to know each other again, since they have, for better words, drifted apart over the last couple years. Tom went on saying, “Although we’d been in touch during the time apart, we weren’t together like we used to be. In the old days, we lived together in a bus for months on end.”
And, Tom also says something about her solo career that is actually kind of refreshing to hear. We all know that yes, the boys were all very happy for her, but we need to understand that there were probably a lot of mixed feelings as well. “When the break came, and it was a number of years ago now, it was time. We had worked so hard for so many years, and toured so hard, everyone really did need the time off. Although the idea of our singer going off and doing a solo tour… Umm, that wasn’t the most exciting thing.” He does then go on about how happy he is for her, and he should be. She deserved all the success and happiness everything brought to her. She works hard. Anyways, I know I’m making this too long, it’s a great article, and I’ll just post the more important parts of it, and you can click the link above for the full thing.
On the morning Stefani calls the Georgia Straight, high-profile fashion glossy Elle has been all over the Internet pimping its upcoming story on the band’s decision to end a five-year hiatus. The angle the magazine is using is that the reconvening of No Doubt has been loaded with drama, with band members battling it out with “heated conversations” in the studio.
This time, there was a small hitch in the recording process, with Stefani and Kanal briefly disagreeing on the direction they wanted to take things. The squabble was over before it began, which is why Stefani isn’t thrilled to have Elle suggesting that things devolved to the level of a battle royal.
“When a magazine has an article coming out, they put these weird quotes out there which are totally out of context,” the forthcoming singer says, on the line from a Philadelphia tour stop. “They’re trying to get people talking, and I totally get that. When we were in the studio, there was a fight that Tony and I had about a keyboard line in a song that we didn’t even write. Clearly, we were having a fight, even though we haven’t had a fight in I don’t remember how long. It was so foreign to us that we were on the phone going, ‘We don’t even know how we’re going to end this conversation.’ It was just one of those things where there was a lot of pressure. And there was a lot of pressure.”
“All of a sudden we were doing this song that we never even intended to do,” Stefani says. “You think it’s easy to just go in and do a cover, but it’s not. You’re competing against the perfection of the original song. There was that, and then everyone thinking that this was going to be our first comeback single, which it’s not. I think once we got in the studio we realized how much pressure there really was, and that there was this bubble that needed to be popped. It was like, ‘Whoa, where did all this come from?’ We just wanted to go on tour and have fun.”
With everything that was going on in their lives, it was perhaps no surprise that the bandmates, who started out as kids playing third-wave ska in an Orange County garage, had drifted apart.
“There was a little bit of getting to know each other again,” Dumont notes. “Although we’d been in touch during the time apart, we weren’t together like we used to be. In the old days, we lived together in a bus for months on end.”
“We were having dinner, I think in November of last year,” Dumont remembers. “She said, ‘Guys, you know what would really help me? Let’s just go out and play some shows. I want to get back into shape, and back into the mode of being the singer of this band and all that that entails.’ As an idea, it was kind of naughty. We would get to go out on the road and have all the fun of touring without putting in the effort of making a record. That’s how it all came down. We were all excited because playing live is what we’ve always been about. Before we ever made records, we played shows—there’s a big camaraderie that goes along with that.”
“When the break came, and it was a number of years ago now, it was time,” Dumont offers. “We had worked so hard for so many years, and toured so hard, everyone really did need the time off.”
Pausing, he adds: “Although the idea of our singer going off and doing a solo tour… Umm, that wasn’t the most exciting thing.”
Stefani also acknowledges that her solo success was probably harder on the other members of No Doubt than they let on.
“When I did The Sweet Escape, there was this kind of thing where it was ‘Oh no, how am I going to tell these guys that I want to do another [solo] record?’ ” she notes. “But it’s one of those things where you have to follow the inspiration when it hits. We’re experiencing that right now—it’s like the inspiration [for a new No Doubt album] wasn’t there. I couldn’t write. I could sit in a room with those guys every day and spend the time, but if the songs aren’t going to come out, they aren’t going to come out. It’s not like there’s a magic button you press. I had to write those songs [on The Sweet Escape] when they were coming to me, and, because these guys are my best friends, they got that.”
Indeed, Dumont is quick to add that he couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out for Stefani.
“Gwen had grown up in the band, in a way,” he says. “At the point when we took that break, she was an adult on her own. I think for her to get out from under the band and make her own decisions and follow her own inspiration was an important thing. A band is like a marriage in that it’s always a compromise for all the parties involved. That can be hard, getting married when you’re 17, and then finding yourself in your 30s and going, ‘Hey, I want to do my own thing for a few minutes.’ ”
