What started out as an Anaheim, CA garage band called Apple Core in 1986 (yes guys No Doubt dates back to the 80′s!) has become one of the best selling third wave ska bands in the world! What’s “third wave ska” you ask? Third wave ska, in the realm of subcategories, is: a combination of traditional Jamaican ska with wind instruments, 2 Tone (contemporary punk and pop from England), rock and pop music, punk rock and jazz. Sounds like a jumbled mess doesn’t it? Well third wave ska bands like No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, Fishbone, Less Than Jake and Operation Ivy made sweet sweet music in the 90′s- No Doubt being among the only bands to push through the mainstream during the third wave ska meltdown at the turn of the century.

Apple Core consisted of the late John Spence, Gwen’s brother Eric Stefani and Gwen Stefani. Over the next few years Apple Core toured with a host of guest performers to a limited local fan base in Orange County, CA. Tony Kanal joined the band after seeing them live and eventually began dating Gwen, but it was the unfortunate self-inflicted death of John Spence that marked a pivotal point for No Doubt. With Tony Kanal on board, Tom Dumont on bass, Adrian Young on drums, Eric Stefani on keyboards and Gwen Stefani as lead singer, the current lineup of No Doubt was beginning to form.

Landing a multi-album record deal with Interscope Records, who have also signed sweet bands like AFI, Brand New, Jimmy Eat World and the alt hip hop phenomenon Jurassic 5, no Doubt received limited success due to the rising trend of Seattle-based grunge groups like Nirvana. Their first self-titled album sold only 30,000 copies! For their next album, Interscope appointed producer Matthew Wilder to revamp the band’s image. With a shift in creative control, Eric decided to quit the band and take on an animation job with The Simpsons- doh!

No Doubt released two more albums to lukewarm reception under the sub licensing of Trauma Records before finally producing their breakthrough record (and breakup of Tony and Gwen)- Tragic Kingdom in 1997 (see album information in detail on the No Doubt album page). What started as a single release of “Just a Girl” turned into a 27 month tour that transformed No Doubt into a household name – the album eventually went diamond (what?!) and earned them a tick on the best selling albums of all time list. See the full US list on Wikipedia here.

Their next album, Return of Saturn, released in 2000, received good reviews but wasn’t as successful as Tragic Kingdom (again, see detailed album information on the No Doubt album page). Gwen went on marry Bush’s Gavin Rossdale and make guest appearances on Eve’s track “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” and Moby’s “South Side” before the band released another successful album- Rock Steady. Rock Steady won them two Grammy Awards for tracks “Hey Baby” and “Underneath it All.” They won another Grammy for their cover of “It’s My Life” on their 2003 compilation “The Singles 1992-2003″ album.

Between 2004 and 2008 a future for No Doubt seemed bleak as Gwen Stefani developed immensely as a solo artist. With the surge of her baby doll Harajuku fashion and new wave/dance style music, Stefani became practically unrecognizable- and fans loved it! Instead of searching for a No Doubt ticket fans were bum rushing ticket retailers for Gwen Stefani tickets during her incredibly successful Harajuku Lovers and The Sweet Escape Tour. After two pregnancies to sons Kingston James McGregor Rossdale and Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale a forthcoming tour seemed out of the question. Tom Dumont also released a solo album as Invincible Overlord and Adrian Young played drums for Bow Wow Wow’s (not the rapper, the British New Wave band) tour in 2004. Tony wrote and produced tracks on Gwen’s Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and Sweet Escape albums and collaborated with Pink, Elan Atias and Pepper during this time. All band members, excluding Gwen, backed Scott Weiland’s solo effort on the album Happy in Galoshes.

The band began recording a new album in 2007 while Gwen was still on tour and planned to finish in the studio when Gwen was available. With the birth of Zuma and band members itching to get on the road, No Doubt recently announced that they would be touring in 2009 and No Doubt concert tickets are going on sale soon! Hopefully they’ll throw some new tracks on the lineup, I can’t wait to hear what they’ll sound like this time around! What do you think they’ll sound like?

-Liv