No Doubt to premiere new music at Teen Choice Awards

No Doubt fans eager to hear samples of a long-simmering reunion album will finally get a taste when the band hits the stage at the upcoming Teen Choice Awards.

The Grammy Award-winning SoCal ska-pop band will perform together for the first time in a year-and-a-half at the awards, airing live on Fox on July 22, where they plan to debut the first single off their new project.

“I can't believe this is actually happening. The idea of playing our new music live is heaven on earth,” lead singer Gwen Stefani said in a statement. “Can't wait to share it!!”

“We're so stoked to finally start performing these new songs live,” bassist Tony Kanal added. “And to be doing the first performance of our first single here in Los Angeles makes it even more awesome.”

The band has remained mostly mum about the follow-up to 2001's multi-platinum "Rock Steady,” dropping only a few Facebook photos and cryptic tweets during the lengthy writing and recording process. In September, band members announced that they needed to delay the as-yet-untitled project.

"Ideally, our new record would be coming out this year, but it's just not ready yet. We don't want to rush this album just to get it out," they wrote. "This collection of songs means everything to us, and our only priority right now is to make sure that it's the best album we can possibly make. There is still more work for us to do."

No Doubt last performed in 2010 at the annual Kennedy Center Honors.

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-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
Twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

Photo: No Doubt, from left, Adrian Young, Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal and Tom Dumont. Credit: Los Angeles Times

No Doubt album 'just not ready yet,' delayed until next year

No Doubt fans are going to have to wait a little bit longer for the band's reunion album.

The SoCal ska-pop band were expected to release the long-awaited follow-up to 2001's multi-platinum "Rock Steady" this year, after beginning the recording process in January, but they've announced they need to delay the as-yet-untitled project.

"Ideally our new record would be coming out this year but it's just not ready yet. We don't want to rush this album just to get it out," the band wrote on their website earlier this week. "This collection of songs means everything to us and our only priority right now is to make sure that it's the best album we can possibly make. There is still more work for us to do."

The rockers also killed rumors about collaborations and producers for the album, telling fans not to
"believe anything you hear unless it comes from us."

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-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
Twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

Photo: From left, Adrian Young, Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal and Tom Dumont. Credit: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times

Gwen Stefani's Japan relief auction to run April 11-25 on EBay

 
Gwen Stefani’s auction to raise money for tsunami and earthquake relief efforts in Japan will run for two weeks starting April 11, allowing participants to bid on admission to a special tea and lunch that the No Doubt singer and songwriter will host in Los Angeles, some vintage clothing items from her personal wardrobe and custom T-shirts designed and signed by her.

As previously indicated when Stefani announced she would donate $1 million to disaster relief, proceeds from the auction also will benefit the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund set up by the Save the Children organization.  In addition to the auction items, the musician and fashion designer has created limited-edition Harajuku Lovers T-shirts being sold at No Doubt’s website, with 100% of proceeds going to the American Red Cross Japan relief and recovery efforts.

The date of the tea has not been announced, but it is described at the auction site as “a private Harajuku-themed tea party at Los Angeles' first Japanese-style cosplay cafe, Royal/T.” About 100 people are expected to be admitted through the auction.

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Gwen Stefani donates $1 million for Japanese disaster relief

--Randy Lewis

Photo of No Doubt at the start of the group's 2009 tour (from left) Adrian Young, Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal and Tom Dumont. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Gwen Stefani donates $1 million for Japanese disaster relief

 
No Doubt singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani is donating $1 million to Save the Children’s Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund to assist with the relief and recovery efforts following the recent disaster.

Stefani has been a devotee of Japanese culture and people since the band first toured the country in 1996, and has held a special affinity for the Harajuku art-fashion-music district in Tokyo. She wrote and recorded the song “Harajuku Girls” for her 2004 debut solo album, “Love.Angel.Music.Baby,” and named her fashion clothing and fragrance line Harajuku Lovers.

"I've been inspired by Japan for many years and have a true love, appreciation and respect for the Japanese people and their culture,” Stefani said in a statement issued Wednesday. “The disaster in Japan is beyond heartbreaking and I want to do anything I can to help. I would never be able to make a gesture like this without the love and support of all the fans over all these years.”

Additionally, she’s launching a charity auction next week on the band’s website, where fans can bid to join her at a fundraising event in Los Angeles. She also has designed a limited-edition Harajuku Lovers T-shirt to be sold at Nodoubt.com, with 100% of proceeds going to the Japanese relief efforts.

"Save the Children has been in Japan for 25 years,” said Charles MacCormack, the organization’s president and chief executive, “and we are working closely with our teams on the ground to address the immediate and ongoing needs of children and their families whose lives were turned upside down by this tragedy."

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of No Doubt in December at the Kennedy Center Honors saluting Paul McCartney (from left): Tom Dumont, Tony Kanal, Gwen Stefani and Adrian Young. Credit: Kris Connor / Getty Images.

Billboard Hot 100 notches 1,000th No. 1 single: From Ricky Nelson to Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has snagged a piece of pop music history in landing the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 this week with her new single “Born This Way.”

Even more significant than posting the highest first-week digital sales by a female artist, with 448,000 downloads of the song, according to Nielsen SoundScan, Gaga scored the 1,000th No. 1 single on the Billboard chart since its inception in 1958.

In recognition of the milestone among chart watchers, Billboard has posted a chronological listing of all 1,000 chart-topping songs.

The first? Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool,” which beat all comers on that first Hot 100 chart dated Aug. 4, 1958. With that in mind, some might consider it a shame that America’s latest teen idol, Justin Bieber, didn’t land the No. 1 slot this week to bookend the half-century-plus period that began with pop music’s original teen idol. (Life magazine is credited with coining the phrase in a feature story on Nelson’s rise to stardom.)

Pop & Hiss thought we’d take the opportunity to scan through the years for some of the chart’s other high- and lowlights.

Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger gets thumbs up from No Doubt/Nine Inch Nails' manager

Jim Guerinot, the manager of No Doubt, Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, the Band’s Robbie Robertson and the Offspring, was initially as skeptical as anyone in the concert business that the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger would clear the Justice Department.  But during the last year, as the two companies began working together more closely in hopes of uniting, he’s seen significant gains, both for his artists and their fans.

"I’ve gotten a tremendous amount of cooperation from them on fan-oriented programs to prevent scalping and lower ticket prices,” he told The Times on Monday.

He noted that anti-scalping measures that Reznor wanted for Nine Inch Nails’ farewell tour last year were implemented without resistance from Live Nation or Ticketmaster, and that both also fell in line with No Doubt’s wish to offer significant numbers of seats on the group’s 2009 reunion tour for $10.

“I can see where there would be concern from independent promoters, but on all my tours, I’ve been able to  lean into indies where I wanted to and where it’s more effective for the fans,” Guerinot said.

He believes the state of the economy nationally had a “tremendous amount” of influence in the approval from the Obama administration, which had been widely expected to exert far tougher scrutiny on corporate mergers than the Bush administration that preceded it.

No Doubt sues Activision over Band Hero [Updated]

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, claiming 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 today in Los Angeles Superior Court, the band alleges that Santa Monica-based Activision, the maker of the game, has far exceeded the contractually approved use of likenesses, or avatars, of band members Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young.

[Updated at 1:04 p.m.: “The band [members] are bitterly disappointed that their name and likeness was taken and used without their permission,” manager Jim Guerinot said today. “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.”]

[Updated at 2:25 p.m.: In a statement issued this afternoon, the company said: “Activision believes it is within its legal rights with respect to the use and portrayal of the band members in the game and that this lawsuit is without merit.”]

The suit also charges that the game allows users to manipulate their 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 states. 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.”

Live review: Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit

Neil Young and Co. give the kids a great show, and Young gives his fellow performers a great example.

Reporting from Mountain View, Calif. - The direct impact of Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit Concerts is as plain as the joyful faces of the special-needs school's students, many of whom watch each year from an onstage riser placed right behind the performers.

Those faces were often captured by the video cameras that were otherwise trained on the stars of this year's shows, which got underway Saturday at Shoreline Amphitheatre just north of San Jose with unplugged sets by No Doubt, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Jimmy Buffett, Sheryl Crow, Monsters of Folk, Fleet Foxes, Wolfmother and Gavin Rossdale. Adam Sandler was scheduled to take over Buffett's slot as the only change on Sunday's lineup.

In a fairly understated way, Young and his wife, Pegi, the event's co-organizer, have a school of their own going in this show, one that trains newcomers in service to a cause higher than merely entertaining fans, and how to go about it with class and humility.

"Thanks for being here," Neil said when he finally took the Shoreline stage just before midnight on Saturday. His succinct statement applied as much to the other musicians as to the crowd, which appeared close to filling the 22,000-capacity amphitheater.

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.

Young brought things to a close with a strong set, accompanied by Pegi Young, bassist Rick Rosas, pianist Spooner Oldham, lap-steel and dobro player Ben Keith and drummer Karl Himmel. Just before midnight, he offered a solo reading of "I Am a Child," the Buffalo Springfield song he wrote in his early 20s that has taken on added richness and levels of resonance with each passing decade.

With the Bridge School students looking on, the line "You can't conceive of the pleasure in my smile" also gained an extra measure of potency. "I gave to you, now you give to me" became less a plea as in the original than practically a demand to acknowledge the responsibility inherent in parenthood.

Bridge benefit: There 'comes a time' for Neil Young

Neil Young just kicked off the 23rd Bridge School Benefit this weekend in Mountain View, just north of San Jose.

After Young's wife, Pegi, introduced the Bridge School students, including their son, Ben, Neil Young offered the title number from his 1978 album "Comes a Time." He was joined by three members of the Dennis Alley Wisdom Dancers, a Native American troupe that provided a brief cleansing ceremony to set a spiritual tone for the evening.

On a balmy night with the sun setting behind the hill at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Young played acoustic guitar and harmonica for the event that traditionally runs 100% unplugged.

This year's lineup also includes No Doubt, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Sheryl Crow, Jimmy Buffett, Adam Sandler, Fleet Foxes, Monsters of Folk and Wolfmother.

It was the start of what figures to be six hours of music for what's become one of the pop music community's most respected benefits. Proceeds from the two-day event benefit the Bay Area school for special needs children.

--Randy Lewis

Related: Bridge benefit: No Doubt's Gwen Stefani tears up; Neil Young wraps up
Related: Bridge benefit: Sheryl Crow's 'favorite gig in the world'
Related: Bridge benefit: Gavin Rossdale, Wolfmother, Fleet Foxes go unplugged
Related: Bridge benefit: Chris Martin goes Coldplay-ful

Photo credit: Randi Lynn Beach / For The Times