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Ten years after Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young ushered in the 21st century with the release of the electro-bopped, dancehall-infused Rock Steady, No Doubt is back. At the forefront is a retro-new wave album called Push and Shove, which juxtaposes 80s synth pop with modern house beats and dubstep drops. What else is new? There's a more fanatical Stefani following, all new Twitter handles, and fashion icon status for model-esque frontwoman. But the biggest change is that there are more children for the band all around (eight in total). On Thursday, OC Weekly's cover story will have Anaheim's fab four talking about the challenges of making the album. Here, they talk about what it's like to be rockstars with families.
On doing it all: Gwen Stefani never imagined she would be married, in a band, own a clothing company and have two babies 10 years ago. “I could've never predicted that I would be doing so much at one time. I started the clothing line because I wanted to be creative after I did music and while I had kids. I didn't know I would be doing everything at once! [Sometimes] I feel like it's impossible, and I think I wrote a lot about that on this record.”
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On their kids dealing with rockstar parents: Stefani says her kids [Kingston, 6 and Zuma, 4] definitely get into No Doubt's music. “They're really into their dad's music and they love music — especially the little guy… It's kind of fun to see them but I think it's quite confusing and weird for them to see me perform. They don't like to share me, but that's just a natural thing for a child to not want to share their mom.”
Drummer Adrian Young says his kids think his job is cool — “But that's all they know, too. That's what they've seen from day one. So they don't go, wow, you are so this or that. In fact when people at school say, 'Oh your dad is a huge rock star,' my son feels like that's weird that people are talking about his dad like that.”
On No Doubt as a family: There's something to be said for 26 years of togetherness, says guitarist Tom Dumont. “We've had ups and downs and we're still together, we still have fun and we're still friends. And we get to share this incredible thing that we've built together and we're forever bonded by that.” He adds, “We've grown up together. In that sense getting back together was really comfortable and it's almost comfortable the way siblings are, like coming home for Christmas….”
On the extended No Doubt family: According to the band, their kids all get along. In fact, guitarist Tom Dumont's older boy is Stefani's sons' best friend. When she has to go to rehearsal, she says, “I have to make all these plans and tell them you're going to [the Dumonts'] to play and I have to draw a picture of them on the trampoline having the time of their life!”
On being a mom: Stefani says, “When I had my first baby I felt I was a mom and the word didn't feel right. It just was odd to take on that role. I think being a mom is another amazing role to play and it's definitely is the hardest one.”
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