New Doubt.

• Author: PUNTER, JENNIE
• Position: Brief Article - Review

Once platinum, now pink, Gwen Stefani & Co. are rocking again

Gwen Stefani has gone pink. The No Doubt singer's previously platinum-blonde locks have been dyed and braided, turning her head into a field of bubble-gum-colored cornrows. They match the pastel shade of the puffy ski jacket she's wearing, if not the topic of her conversation, which is rust. As in band rust, the kind of awkwardness a group will experience when it releases a multiplatinum album (1995's Tragic Kingdom), tours for two years to promote it, and then crashes in exhaustion.

"Tragic Kingdom was made so long ago that our creative muscle hadn't been flexed in a while," she says. "We were trying to find the new No Doubt sound--what we felt reflected us after two years of touring the world and all the experiences. We had to find ourselves again."

What they found is on display in a new album, Return to Saturn, which was released this month, and a concert tour, which is already in full swing. This burst of activity should chill those fans who have been whining about the band's long hiatus. "If they only knew how hard we were working to make this record really good," says guitarist Tom Dumont.

TWO YEARS IN THE MAKING

Stefani, Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young spent most of 1998...