No Doubt to Return With New Album, Tour in 2009

No Doubt will end their five-year hiatus for a tour in 2009, the band revealed in an instant message conversation on their official Website. The band, sans Gwen Stefani, started work on their first album since 2001's Rock Steady earlier this year, crafting songs while Stefani was pregnant with her second child. "I think if we go out on tour it will inspire us to write," Stefani says in the chat. "I need to see the fans out there." The band will hit the road "soon," and continue writing and recording the album as they tour (they've already confirmed one date at Bamboozle). "I think playing the shows would make the studio time even better," writes bassist Tony Kanal. No other details regarding exact tour dates were revealed. The band is reportedly working with producer Mark "Spike" Stent, who previously helmed tracks on the band's last album Rock Steady and on Stefani's first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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