Archive for the ‘No Doubt’ Category

Flashback: New Years Eve 1999

A decade ago, MTV played host to a slew of celebrities hanging out in Times Square to ring in the New Year. Although everyone was there to party, the big question was: Is the world going to end tonight? The Y2K bug* was plaguing the world. Would we make it to the millennium? (Spoiler alert: We did! We made it!)

Up until those final seconds of panic, Diddy performed, as did Jay-Z and Bush (which is funny because Gwen Stefani and No Doubt were also on hand to perform), Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson cuddled and Christina Aguilera chatted with Carson Daly.

As the final countdown took place, the clock struck midnight, confetti fell and the world (obviously) didn’t end. But just in case, No Doubt was on hand to ring in the New Year with the classic R.E.M. tune, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” How ironic! They then segued into their own tune, “Ex-Girlfriend.” The fact that the world didn’t end doesn’t leave us very much surprised, but you may be surprised to know that in 1999, Gwen Stefani had pink hair, blunt bangs and braces. We wonder what look she’ll use to ring in 2010 with?

*For those of you who may not be familiar with the problem, yourdictionary.com defines it as: “The predicted malfunction of some computer systems prior to or at the beginning of the year 2000 because of their inability to distinguish between dates in the 1900s and dates in the 2000s. This inability results from the coding of year dates in some software and chips with only the final two, rather than all four, digits.” Anyways, it doesn’t matter because it didn’t happen, but that’s what we were worried about ten years ago.

From MTV

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Media, No Doubt

No Doubt sues Activision over use in Band Hero game

No Doubt sues Activision over use in Band Hero game
The rock group says the Santa Monica video game maker went far beyond agreed-upon uses of members’ likenesses in Band Hero, including manipulating them to perform songs popularized by other acts.

Rock band No Doubt has filed a real-world lawsuit over its virtual role in the just-released Band Hero edition of the Guitar Hero video game series, contending that the game has “transformed No Doubt band members into a virtual karaoke circus act,” singing dozens of songs the group neither wrote, popularized nor approved for use in the game.

In a suit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the band alleges that Santa Monica-based Activision Publishing Inc., the maker of the game, far exceeded the contractually approved use of likenesses, or avatars, of band members Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young.

An Activision spokesman said the company had not seen the complaint and therefore had no comment.

“The band [members] are bitterly disappointed that their name and likeness was taken and used without their permission,” band manager Jim Guerinot said.

“They agreed to play three No Doubt songs as a band. . . . Activision then went and put them in 62 other songs and broke the band up [and] never even asked.”

The suit also charges that the game allows users to manipulate No Doubt characters to sing songs popularized by other pop music acts. No Doubt’s contract with Activision allowed the company to use the band’s music and likenesses in no more than three of the band’s own songs, the suit says. The game, which was released Tuesday, puts the group members’ images, collectively and individually, into more than 60 songs, “many of which include lyrics, contained in iconic songs, which are not appropriate for No Doubt and have not been and would not have been chosen by No Doubt for recordings or public performances.”

Specifically, the suit notes that through the game’s Character Manipulation Feature, Stefani’s image can be induced to sing the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women.”

“While No Doubt are avid fans of the Rolling Stones and even have performed in concerts with the Rolling Stones,” the complaint says, “the Character Manipulation Feature results in an unauthorized performance by the Gwen Stefani avatar in a male voice boasting about having sex with prostitutes.”

The suit says Activision executives withheld disclosure of the character-manipulation feature and refused the band’s request to remove or disable it in conjunction with the No Doubt avatars after the band learned how they were being used. The complaint says Activision officials told the band that doing so would be “too expensive.”

The suit asks for unspecified actual and punitive damages, a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction against distribution of the game and for Activision to recall existing copies.

In September, after Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain’s likeness was used in Guitar Hero 5, his widow, Courtney Love, and former bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic complained that the game placed him in front of other bands singing their hits. In that instance, Activision said the company had received written permission from Love to use Cobain’s likeness as a fully playable character. She subsequently Twittered that she had “never signed [off] on the avatar.”

From the LA Times

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News, No Doubt

Bridge benefit: No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani tears up; Neil Young wraps up

The powerfully emotional backdrop of Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Benefit Concerts is evident in the faces of the nonprofit school’s disabled students and those of their families, which were flashed on video screens throughout Saturday’s 6 1/2-hour show.

On occasion, the performers’ feelings burst to the surface as well. Event co-organizer Pegi Young’s voice cracked at the outset of the show as she introduced each of the students who watched from a riser on stage behind the performers.

Then during No Doubt’s set, singer Gwen Stefani had to reach for a tissue after singing “Simple Kind of Life,” the song she wrote shortly before having the first of her two kids with husband Gavin Rossdale, who played his own set earlier in the evening. In that song, she wrestled with conflicting drives of career and motherhood, and looking into the faces of the children for whom the yearly fundraiser was launched back in 1986 — right about the time No Doubt got started — Stefani choked up.

“This is very emotional,” she said. The acoustic arrangements the band used — including a string quartet for about half the set — brought out the sweetness and vulnerability of that song, “Don’t Speak” and even the usually feisty “Just a Girl.” Apparently big girls do cry.

Read full article at LA Times

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Gwen Stefani: Touring with No Doubt is now a family affair

GWEN STEFANI insists No Doubt is a family affair second time around with the dressing room doubling as a crèche.

Gwen – back with the band she found fame with prior to a massively successful solo career – has become mum to two kids, Kingston, three, and Zuma, one, with Scots husband Gavin Rossdale since taking time out.

And, having arrived in Singapore with Zuma for the band’s F1 Rocks concert tonight, Gwen admitted parenthood played a large part in it taking her so long to get the band back together.

“I had two babies,” she explained. “There’s nothing you can do to rush that. It just takes as long as it is going to take.

“During that time off I did my own records and toured a little bit but we got No Doubt back together as fast as we could.

“When I got pregnant with Zuma, we started writing again and went into the studio for six months.

“We tried to write a record and it wasn’t really coming out, so, after I had the baby, I suggested going out on tour.”

Founded in 1986, No Doubt became known for hits such as Don’t Speak and Just A Girl before Gwen went solo in 2004.

Her own albums, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and The Sweet Escape, delivered up mammoth hits such as What You Waiting For?, Hollaback Girl and Wind It Up.

This time around the No Doubt dressing room is dramatically different since three of the band members have children – the exception being bassist Tony Kanal. So they certainly aren’t the hellraisers they used to be.

Guitarist Tom Dumont said: “It is a little mellower, it’s a different kind of wild. It’s three-year-olds running around and screaming and fighting.

“Our kids are an extension of us.

“It’s weird to see them playing together as friends. It’s fun actually.

“Like Gwen I have two boys – a one-year-old and a three-year-old.”

Tony added: “We just finished a tour of the States. Normally we have a backstage room for after-show parties. Now that’s a room for the kids to hang out with the nannies.”

I caught up with No Doubt in the Presidential Suite of the Swisshotel in the centre of Singapore, where Sunday’s Formula One race is the centre of attention.

Everywhere you look F1 Rocks, which is sponsored by LG, is in action. The F1 Rocks team have pitted racing drivers such as Jensen Button, Lewis Hamilton and Australian driver MarkWebber, against rock, pop and film stars to add some spice to the run-up to the Grand Prix.

Mark spent Wednesday afternoon learning how to kickbox with Ninja Assassin actor Rain, who has become Hollywood’s hottest martial arts star since Jackie Chan.

Jack Osbourne is here too and has been seen whizzing around in an F1 car as part of a challenge set down by Button. And free runners have been scaling Singapore landmarks, dressed in F1 race gear.

Singapore has also been invaded by rock and pop stars for three F1 Rocks shows that lead up to the race. Last night, the big names of Asian pop music played in Singapore’s Fort Canning Park to 10,000 people.

Tonight, it’s No Doubt’s turn to play, sharing the billing with Simple Minds and ZZ Top before Beyonce and Black Eyed Peas share the stage tomorrow. Scot Paul Morrison, who dreamed up F1 Rocks and founded T in the Park 16 years ago, has sold the TV rights to F1 Rocks to 147 countries, with Channel 4 broadcasting the shows at midnight on Sunday.

Paul, who has been working round the clock for the first of what is planned as a series of shows at Formula One destinations, said: “I thought we would get 40 countries, but it is going out to more places than the MTV awards and The Grammys.

“The TV deals are on a par with the World Cup and Olympics. I can’t believe it is this massive.”

Meanwhile Gwen, 39, admits the long flight back to the States with a teething baby could prove gruelling.

She said: “It was a 17-hour plane ride here. Zuma was amazing on the way over, but I think the flight back is going to be torture.

“Kingston has started school so I couldn’t bring him, but he is having special daddy time. It works out well to have just Zuma with me because now it is one-on-one for him, which is really special.

“He has really blossomed in the last few days. It has been perfect. I knew I couldn’t be without him.”

She added: “He loves music and I sing to him, lullabies and that kind of thing. The band’s kids would watch our shows on the US tour every night and they enjoyed it.”

Asked what tips she can give to working mothers, Gwen said: “I’m not good at advice or tips but somehow it just works out. Some days I am spread so thin that I think, how am I going to do all this? But it works out somehow.”

(more…)

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No Doubt about their show

The last time we saw No Doubt perform here in 1997, we were left breathless by their energetic show. This time round, although the band said they have mellowed somewhat, they’ll still bring it on when they take to the stage tonight at Fort Canning Park.

The foursome say they are excited about their first big gig outside of the United States in 10 years. The band completed a 58-show nationwide tour that ended in August, and say they can’t wait to rock out.

“We’re probably not going to play as many songs,” said singer Gwen Stefani at a press event on Thursday. “Because the set is much shorter. And we’re not going to have as many costume changes, because I didn’t want to waste time changing clothes. That’s about the only difference between this show and the (ones in the US).”

“But we’ll be fresh, because we just did 58 shows and by the last eight shows, we were pretty burned out,” said bassist Tony Kanal. “But after having a month off now – we rehearsed last night and the rehearsals were really, really good. Surprisingly great. It’s like we should come here to rehearse all the time. It was like, ‘Wow, the band is really good!’”

After this show, the band say they want to work on a new record. “That’s the goal right now – to write some new music,” said Kanal. “But the tour was so much fun, we just want to keep playing. But we have to find that balance between playing live and recording.”

Just what kind of new music, Stefani said they had no idea. “It’s all a bit mystery.

It’s been this crazy thing trying to write the record, because I had a baby and it wasn’t working,” she said. “That’s why we went on the tour, to try to get inspired.”

And what can fans expect from their show on Friday? “Awesome-ness!” exclaimed drummer Adrian Young.

We’re definitely going to be there then.

From Channel News Asia

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Articles, No Doubt
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