She's just a girly girl

Gwen Stefani is the vocalist for No Doubt, whose tongue in cheek single "Just a Girl" catapulted their album to the top of charts and as a certified million seller and one of the hottest bands going these days. The Vibe caught up with the Orange County ,California native as she was preparing to hit the road…again.

NINA: Well here you are! I specifically waned to speak with you because I think you’re terrific, I am intrigued by your talent, I think it’s pretty cool and very unique.

GWEN: Thanks (giggles) I mean you hear these compliments that people give you (giggles again) and you know yourself and what you are and what a dork you are and that, and you just go WOW!!

NINA: I was just saying yesterday you can get hundred great compliments and one negative one and that’s the one you think is the truth. Weird huh??

GWEN: That’s right.

NINA: It’s been quite a year for you hasn’t it ?

GWEN: It’s been a really incredible year. Two years before this was real downer, this year has been like amazing! The fact that we actually got on chart somewhere, it like blows our minds. We were always like the loser band from Anaheim. We never really expected it. We just opened our eyes one day and said "Oh my God its been 9 years and we’re still doing this, maybe we should think like finishing school and graduating and getting real lives. But when the record came out we thought we’d extend our childhood a little bit longer. I can’t really tell you how great it’s been.

NINA: You say the last couple of years had been tough , in what way ?

GWEN: They were very hard years, just getting the record done and made was getting to the point that it was frustrating. You know every band that opened for you ends up being a big hit somewhere and we were just standing kinda like still. I think the thing that got us through all that was our sense of humor and our live shows. Our live shows were always growing forever for some reason. It was being able to look forward to those, and now it’s like every single night is a show. Its so strange because back then you had a show maybe once a month or whatever, and you‘d be sitting in class or at work or whatever and you couldn’t stop thinking "Oh my God its ( the show ) coming up, it’ll be so fun. Now its like a daily event -- for the past year everyday of my life has been show!"

NINA: Now it’s your life and Tragic Kingdom is million seller!

GWEN: It doesn’t really register. I mean for us its like we’ve just been touring the whole time, we’ve been on the road for a year opening for bands. Today is the start of our first headling tour off this album which is extremely exciting ! We’re playing smaller venues than we possibly should be and making it a lot harder on ourselves. But its going to be an amazing tour ‘cause its going to be very personal and intimate in the smaller places and they are all sold -out ! (again the girlish giggle) It just feels so good to get the point where you don’t have to think "are people gonna show up?" We kind like that -- that whole thing for 9 years -- that kind of stress and now we can can just show up and know that it’s sold-out and just have to concentrate on having a really good time and doing a really good show. We just got back from Europe and it was the first time we were over there and it was that whole thing again. We had graduated from thinking about if people were going to come to see us, but over there we had to start over again. That whole feeling came back again .

NINA: I’m a manager and I know that kind of feeling well….

GWEN: Yea doin’ the clubs over there where 50 or 60 people show up and the shows you think are gonna be the worst turn out to be fun. Anything can happen you just never know! Or you can do a sold-out show and it could be terrible.

NINA: How did you feel when heard your had reached the million mark ?

GWEN: They (record label) send you how much you sold and you look at those and its really fun because we never had that…that… we never had a single ever! We were a garage band and we had a really a really cool following who would show up at all our shows and know all the songs…really dedicated. But to be able to play across the United States and have this one song (Just A Girl) that kind of like would bring everybody in the audience and the band together is really intense. We never got to experience that until now. It’s just very refreshing to have a little success. I think the most exciting part is that it means that we’ll probably be able to make a new record. (laughs)

NINA: The near future is a little bit more secure!

GWEN: We had gotten to the point where we were saying we didn’t want to be a bunch of losers playing in a bar at age 45 you know what I mean? We had to decide what we were gonna do here you know… and then everything kind of like worked its way out for us. I don’t know! I don’t know a million people so I don’t know who’s buying it !!!!!!!! It’s a very strange feeling but its very exciting but at the same time! It’s that same feeling… it doesn’t really register.

NINA: It’s kinda surreal…

GWEN: Yea … in some ways we’re so closed off from everything that’s going on media wise, I mean all we do is the same thing we’ve been doing for 9 years, show up to a club, sound check, have a little deli tray and play a show.

NINA: Maybe do few more interviews ……

GWEN: And a lot more interviews (laughs) and people give us free clothes and a lot of little extra things that go along with it that have been really fun.

NINA: Just a little bit different. You guys have been together almost 10 years…

GWEN: It’s embarrassing…in some ways we’re proud of it because we can say that we really did pay our dues and it wasn’t handed to us on a silver platter or anything, we really worked hard and we went through a lot and it was hard to make a record. For along time we were just a live band and we were good at it for some reason, maybe because we did it so much. We never had enough money or enough experience in the studio to make a record that didn’t sound like a demo tape. With Tragic Kingdom we came back from our tour in 92 and built a studio in our garage which is directly across the street from Disneyland where could hear the Matterhorn and fire works every night (laughs) and we just sat in there and demoed and demoed and kinda learned how to make a record. For some reason all the different influences, of all our styles and mixing it all up, people don’t mind it this time around and people like it , it’s working and I don’t know why. ( giggles )

NINA: You started working on this album in ’92 ???!!

GWEN: Yea we started writing in ’92. We were writing and demoing forever and we just kept going on an on and on…It was very frustrating for us because we wanted to put music out but we could never get to the point where we were able to do that. So a year and half ago we put an album out called the Beacon Street Collection , almost like an appetizer to the Tragic Kingdom , we kinda just snuck it out. It was like we have these songs and we know they’re not going to make the record and for our own sanity we had to put something out. So we had this idea and a month later we had shrink wraped CD’s that we were selling out of our car. We kinda had to get that out of the way because we never really put stuff out like we probably should have. I mean to be band for over 9 years and only have 3 CDs is kind of embarrassing you know?

NINA: Well 9 years ago CDs weren’t as popular… Don’t feel bad, you can justify it…

GWEN: (lauughs) Ok. We’re really proud of Tragic Kingdom! I think that there’s nothing like playing and having everybody sing along , who know the words and you know that they’ve really gotten into the album. You can’t ask for more than that. It really is satisfying.

NINA: Talk a little about when No Doubt go together. It was basically you and your brother Eric right?

GWEN: For me…I was sitting on the couch watching the Brady Bunch. My brother was the one that was born with way too much talent and way too much energy, he would wake me up every morning by pounding on the piano and forcing me to come in sing with him. But I never really sang before I was in No Doubt or never even thought about bein’ a "rock chick" or anything like that. The closest thing that I was into was the soundtrack to the Sound of the Music, that movie kind of moved me and made a big dent in my life -- and the Annie soundtrack which I used to sing every night before I went to sleep.

NINA: Oh no… Not "Tomorrow, Tomorrow"!!!!!!

GWEN: Yes..

NINA: Oh no…..I’m glad that I wasn’t your sister …….

GWEN: Oh yea me and my sister would play the tape all night, we even memorized some of the like, there was a part of the tape that was fucked up or whatever and would sing that part too! (just an a side from the writer, but I think that living across the street from Disneyland had some what an effect on young Gwen’s youth . Don’t you agree?) John Spence (original vocalist) is the one who really wanted to be in a band, so he got my brother to buy a keyboard and the next thing you know we were playing covers of some ska music because that’s what we were into. It was kinda underground and we thought it was really cool and nobody else was really into it. We worshipped a band called Madness and tried to be like them. That was so long ago…Then Tony Kanal (bass player) joined and he came from completely different background, he was into purple hair and the punk thing . Then a few years later Tom , our guitar player, joined us and he was a heavy metal guy, really into Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, which I thought was Satan worship, he had his long hair and that. I remember one day when he showed up for rehearsal and he cut his bangs and had a total poodle haircut. It was like AAAHHHhhh!!!! (screams) So we had him and he kind ruined our whole ska thing . Then Adrian (drummer ) was actually a fan and he would come to ours shows when he was in high school. We were losing our drummer and Adrian practiced really hard with our tapes. He lied to us and said he’d been playing since he was in Jr. High and it actually hadn’t even been a year. (laughs) We picked him, then found but out and it was too late, so he played catch up with the rest of us. We made the first record together. We’ve been through a lot of tragedies, John committed suicide the first year that the band was together. Then we had another singer, Keith who was actually a trumpet player and was very young , and got his girlfriend pregnant at age 17 and got married, so then he was gone. That’s why it became just me, for like the longest time it was a two-thing with girl and a guy singing and I was kind of like the side-kick. After those guys were gone I become the lead singer.

NINA: Also your brother Eric did the record and then he left?

GWEN: Well , what happened with that, I think, was that Eric was the one who was born knowing how to write songs, he was the leader and had all the creative vision for the longest time in the early days, kinda like the Dad. He kinda taught all of us how to write songs and he guided us for the longest time. But he is one of those people who are really satisfied sitting in his room playing his Casio keyboard and making it fun for himself. So it was monotonous to play the same things over and over and be on tour, it’s just not what he’s into. So he finished the record and decided to do his art full time, that’s his true love—his art.

NINA: Is he still working on the Simpsons?

GWEN: Yea, he’s still working on the Simpsons and he’ll eventually start his own business. He’s amazing and he’s my biggest influence as far as music goes and everything. He’s that one that brought home the first Madness record and the one who made me sing. I owe everything to him.

NINA: He’s gotta be real proud of you.

GWEN: Yes, and you know everybody asks "Oh, doesn’t he regret it now ?" But it’s not like that at all, not even close. He’s just as excited as all of us except he doesn’t have to do all the work! (laughs) I think he really is very proud. When that whole thing happened and he left the band it was a huge, huge, disturbance--especially for me because I could never picture No Doubt without him . But I think in some ways it worked out good because a lot of creative space opened up and that’s where I fit in.

NINA: All has not been as rosy as your music might indicate. There is more inside your music then one might first think.

GWEN: Yea as far as lyrics go …I haven’t always been a writer and that’s something that I have to learn to do. I think I’m just kinda coming into like now. I’ve gotten to the point where I can say "Oh yea I’m a writer." ( giggles ) It’s funny but with every song I write, I can look back and say, " Oh my God…look I wrote that one. And all of a sudden there’s like a collection of them…and suddenly there was an album. I just kinda pride myself with these songs. It feels really good to sing a song like "Just a Girl", whereas in the past I was singing songs which would be like about getting wisdom teeth pulled. It’s just like a little bit more real these days, a little bit deeper you know. It just comes directly from life experience, so its a lot more meaningful for me to be up there singing .

NINA: Along with your brother leaving, and then before that John’s death, you had to deal with a relationship break-up with Tony who’s in the band.

GWEN: Me and Tony were best friends forever. I kind of forced him to make out with me when I was 17 (giggles sheepishly) like behind the bands back. We hid it for like 6 months because we knew it was not the right thing to be doing. We were together for 7 years, and being in the band and having identical lives with identical friends. We both worked at the Broadway Department store together, we did everything together. For awhile it was a benefit to have your boyfriend in the band. I think for him it got a little claustrophobic. We grew up so much… we grew up together from kids to…well I don’t consider my self an adult quite yet but…(giggles)

NINA: (a question I never ask but had to…) And how old are you?

GWEN: I’m 26

NINA: Oh you’re my age! (that’s just for you K.C)

GWEN: You think what its going to be like to be a certain age, like when I get to that age I’ll have 4 kids or something. It’s not like that. You never feel like you’re getting old. Actually, I look in the mirror and I can see a difference from last year, that’s for sure!! ( laughs)

NINA: How you can describe the dynamics of the band ?

GWEN: For now it’s been like the day to day, we kinda of have to take it one day at a time, otherwise it would be just overwhelming. That Tony thing, and the Eric thing all happened in the same week. It was unbelievable. I think for some reason I have a talent for not being able to accept the realities of life and just live in my little fantasy world. I think that’s how I kind got through it. (ed. Note, this girl drinks nothing stronger than Shirley Temples, I kid you not!!!! ) Considering that we have been living on a bus--all of us, and playing shows together every night for an entire year, we are doing amazing! We all have our head on our shoulders, and we never thought this could happen--and we know that it could be gone tomorrow. We’re just trying to enjoy every second of it. This is like our 5 minutes. We may not have even get that. Most people don’t even get the 5 minutes. We’re like grateful, it’s like WOW. (giggles) It’s like thanks …thanks for paying attention to me. It’s kinda like being the popular flavor of the month, really ..it’s fun!

NINA: And you are not "just the girl", you are "theee girl" in the band. Do you have any other females traveling with you or is it just you and the guys ?

GWEN: It was just me and the guys forever. When we went on the European tour we took a girl guitar tech and was really fun. We’d go jogging together which was fun. But still, she drove a Harley and was kinda tom-boyish . I don’t know, I‘m kind of used to being the only girl. I think the hardest thing on the last tour where we were opening—it wasn’t our show, and there were lot of jocks and meathead type guys in the audience and every night I would have to deal with these guys being rude. It like got old after awhile. I started feeling like "what am I even doing here?" I thought maybe I should just go home. I feel like I was in a strip contest or something because of the way that they were treating me. Those types of things get kind hard. But its changed so much over the years. I remember when we started playing as a garage band in Orange County, and you did not find girls in bands in 1987, at least in my little scene you didn’t. If there were, they’d be the background singers. I’d be mesmerized by them when they’d sing their few little words, I’d stare at them the whole set and want to try to do it like that. It’s like they’d automatically assume that you were one of the band’s girlfriends and ask to see your wrist bands and stuff like that. These days it’s so much different and there are so many female artists, it’s really nice to think that we’re being taken seriously and people can enjoy the music. And that girls can go to shows and see other girls up there and be able to relate. I know when I was younger I didn’t have that. I automatically had to be in love with lead singer of the band you know.

NINA: What’s the reaction from your female fans?? What’s a typical comment ???

GWEN: Mostly the biggest quote I get was "You kicked ass!!" (giggles) It’s amazing because I would never consider myself to be any type of role model or a strong woman .I remember being intimidated because I was the lead singer in the band and growing up in Orange County with whole punk thing. It was like I was never going to be cool enough or hard enough or tough enough. I was always felt that I was the Shirley Temple of the Orange County scene and just a dork. It AMAZES me when girls see us and get so pumped they get this like power after they see the show. If I can make someone feel like that, then oh my God …..that’s like really exciting for me, because I would never think that I would have any effect on anyone.

NINA: You call yourself a "girly-girl "….

GWEN: I am! Like I told you about the Sound of the Music, and we used to see the Ice Capades and those types of things. I was memorized by anyone who had a pink tutu on. I still am! I’ve kind of become the grunge version of myself. When I was on tour I was very much like curling my hair the first half of the year but nowadays I’m kind like " Well maybe I wouldn’t wash my hair today (laughs) or maybe I won’t put that eyeliner on. But I love all that stuff, I love fashion I think that’s an important part.

NINA: Talk about your look a little bit .

GWEN: I think I’ve gone through a lot of changes this year because of being on the road. When you’re at home you have time to pick up an outfit, and it’s not wrinkled and it doesn’t smell. It’s so much different when you’re at home. You have all the hair sprays and everything ready to go. On tour its really like "Oh my God I can reach that pair of pants so I think I’ll put them on ." I love all that stuff and I’ve actually started my own line for myself with this other girl , we make a lot of my clothes for stage together , we design them . I haven’t done much recently being on tour and all that .

NINA: So you make your own clothes ?

GWEN: Yea, I always have done that, even before I hooked up with this girl I would sit in my room the night before and make something. I remember we were playing Irvine Meadows a long time ago and we were opening for Ziggy Marley, I don’t know how we got so lucky, but it was festival. I stayed up all night, well all week I went shopping for material, and stayed up all night trying to make this little dress that I didn’t even have a pattern for. I was making it up out of my head. It was 5:00 in morning and I was trying it on and I was like crying saying " Oh my God I can’t wear this !!" So I ended up wearing some outfit from the Broadway. It was so funny …it worked out fine. But when I got off stage and put my jeans on and some guy goes " Man , you should worn those jeans. Those look better than what you had on !" (both laughing) I was like Oh my God you don’t EVEN know…..!!!! This time around though its been a lot easier, she just goes out and shops for material and makes the pattern and sends them out to me and I just go "Oh I think I want this color on this thing" and she just sends them out to me.

NINA: You just make up the patterns ??

GWEN: We made a few patterns for pants and tank tops and stuff like that and we have a jacket (snickers..)

NINA: You are a "girly -girl, " I tell you… Tell us about your live shows--which are very energetic!

GWEN: Its always been our specialty and I think that we’re really influenced by Fishbone, and Chili Peppers. They don’t just stand there, they really use the stage and try to entertain. That’s whet we try to do. We try to have good time, and we don’t take ourselves seriously when we’re up there. I do to a point where there have been times when I have had some very bad experiences on stage. I’ve been doing "Just a Girl" and there’d be all these jocks in the audience and there’d be a break and I’d hear them chanting something , and I’d think " Wow they’re really getting into it !" And they’d be chanting "show me your tits" (she says with disgust) I went "Oh my God, it just went totally over their heads, they just didn’t even get it ". This (Just a Girl) is totally about that. Those kind of things are when I take myself seriously enough to "go-_ _ _ _ you!" But we really try to have a good time. If people can walk away and say "Oh my God that was so much fun !!" That’s what’s great.

NINA: What’s up for your future ?

GWEN: Let’s see ….we’re going to do this U.S. tour which begins tonight and after that I think we go to Hawaii, Australia ,England , Japan and than back to Europe. Then ….I think we have time off for the first time. We’re going to maybe do three week tour in November, maybe another US tour if we can, depending on if people want us. December I know we have off !!!!

NINA: I’m going to let you go and I’m so glad that we touched base. Best of luck to you .

GWEN: Thanks I’m going to keep your compliment in my pocket and if I’m really down I’ll take it out. (more giggles)

BOTH: Bye …..Bye

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