History
John Spence, Eric Stefani, and Eric's sister Gwen Stefani formed the band as Apple Corps in 1986, having worked together at a local Dairy Queen. Eric, who had taught himself songs by 2 Tone band Madness on the piano, played keyboards for the band, and Spence was the lead vocalist with Gwen, who Eric had previously used to test out ideas for vocals, as a co-vocalist. The trio recruited several more members within the month and had an unsteady line-up for several years. It played small gigs around the Orange County area, with Spence's on-stage antics carrying its performances. Tony Kanal went to one of these early shows and soon joined the band as its bassist. After initially rejecting her advances, he began dating Gwen, but they kept their relationship secret for a year, feeling that it was an unspoken rule that nobody date her.
In December 1987, Spence committed suicide several days before the band was to play a gig at The Roxy Theatre for record industry employees. No Doubt disbanded but decided to regroup after several weekswith Alan Meade taking over vocals. When Meade left the band, Gwen replaced him as lead singer, while No Doubt continued to develop a live following in California. In early 1988, Tom Dumont left Rising, a heavy metal band of which he was a member with his sister, stating that local metal bands "were into drinking, wearing Spandex" but that he wanted to focus on music. He joined No Doubt and replaced Jerry McMahon as the band's guitarist, adding a metal influence to its sound. Adrian Young replaced Chris Webb as the drummer the following year.Impressed by the presence of stage diving at ska concerts and Gwen's on-stage presence, Tony Ferguson signed the band to a multi-album deal with the newly created Interscope Records in 1990. No Doubt's self-titled debut album was released in 1992 and featured the single "Trapped in a Box." The album's distinctly pop sound sharply contrasted with the grunge movement, and the album was a commercial failure, selling only 30,000 copies. The band embarked on a national tour in support of the album, though Interscope had lost faith in the band and refused to support the tour. The band failed to bring the audiences that it had attracted in Orange County, and it often found that No Doubt was not available in the cities where it was playing.
The band began work on its next album the next year, but Interscope rejected much of its material, and the band was paired with producer Matthew Wilder. Eric did not like to relinquish creative control to someone outside the band and eventually stopped recording or rehearsing. He left No Doubt in 1994 to pursue an animation career on the cartoon TV series The Simpsons. Kanal then ended his seven-year relationship with Gwen, saying that he needed "space." Unsure of what to do with the band, Interscope sublicensed the project to Trauma Records in 1995. No Doubt released The Beacon Street Collection, consisting of outtakes from its previous recording sessions, that year on its own label, Sea Creature Records. Mixing 1980s punk rock and some grunge influences into the band's sound, the album contains a rawer sound than No Doubt, and it sold more than three times as many copies as its predecessor. Later that year, the label released Tragic Kingdom, much of which dealt with the relationship between Tony Kanal and Gwen Stefani.
Rock Steady production
Every night on the tour to support its 2000 album Return of Saturn, No Doubt would throw aftershow parties where people would dance to Jamacian dancehall music. During a discussion over dinner in late 2000, the band members decided they wanted to explore dancehall grooves for their next album. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Bounty Killer, Cutty Ranks, and Mr. Vegas, the band began work on the album in January 2001 by creating beats on Pro Tools at guitarist Tom Dumont's apartment. The group often tried recreating beats from other songs on the computer, which resulted in modified versions of the original rhythms. It worked with producer Philip Steir at Toast Studios in San Francisco during this time, where the beginnings of "Hey Baby" emerged. When writing lyrics for previous albums, Stefani typically read works by Sylvia Plath that would make her depressed "or find different words that inspire me." In contrast, for Rock Steady she wrote the lyrics quicker and on the spot to meet the goal of writing a song a day. Many of the demos recorded during these early sessions were used in the final tracks, rather than completely reworking the songs. The band saw this as a way to preserve the "initial spark" from when the songs were conceived.
The next month, Stefani left Los Angeles for London to visit boyfriend Gavin Rossdale, and the band traveled with her to finish recording "Detective". There, they worked with Eurythmics member David A. Stewart and wrote the song "Underneath It All" in only ten minutes. In March No Doubt traveled to Jamaica, staying at the Blue Lagoon in Port Antonio. The band "spent most of the time swimming and getting sunburned and drinking and smoking and recording a little music", according to Dumont. The group would often have Red Stripe beers or rum and cokes with jerk food for breakfast; on one occasion Dumont passed out from heavy drinking while recording a track. They began work in the mid-afternoon and worked into the night, with an after-party following the session. The group collaborated with Sly & Robbie, who produced "Underneath It All" and "Hey Baby" and brought in dancehall toasters Lady Saw and Bounty Killer, and Steely & Clevie, who produced "Start the Fire".
The band returned from Jamaica and resumed work in June, collaborating with producers Nellee Hooper and Timbaland. The Timbaland track, titled "It's a Fight", and a Dr. Dre-produced song titled "Wicked Day" were excluded from the album because their hip hop sounds did not work well on the album. The band then worked with producer and former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek in late June. Stefani commented that No Doubt worked with so many people for the record because none were available for the time needed to make an LP, but that she would have liked to work with Ocasek longer. The band and its A&R manager Mark Williams chose collaborators based on how well they thought the person would fit the personality of the song that No Doubt had written. In late August, the band returned to London for Mark "Spike" Stent to polish off the songs with audio mixing.Get MySpace Layouts from nUCLEArcENTURy .COM OR create your own using MySpace profile editor !!!
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