Earlier this week, Gwen Stefani announced that she’ll be making her first solo comeback in a decade with the upcoming release of her brand spanking new album titled, “This Is What The Truth Feels Like”. She last released music through 2006’s “Sweet Escape” (solo works) and 2012’s “Push and Shove” (with No Doubt).
Now that Gwen is relaunching her solo career, her focus may not be solely concentrated on working on new material with No Doubt, a band that she has been with since 1986. Furthermore, from 2013 – 2015, despite performing at several events, the group was more or less on hiatus as they didn’t release any new material:
@JoohnUK Hey John, we're on hiatus for a while, perhaps we'll have more news about ND next year?
ADVERTISEMENT— Tom Dumont (@TomDumont) October 30, 2013
Thus, it was only part of a natural progression that No Doubt members Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont, and Adrian Young would recruit someone else in her place. Because they ain’t gonna sit around and wait for her to come back.
According to Billboard, AFI (A Fire Inside) frontman Davey Havok has joined forces with the remaining No Doubt members to form an as-yet-unnamed band. This wouldn’t be the first time that Davey is focusing on projects outside of AFI. He has previously worked on electronic music duo group Blaqk Audio and hardcore band XTRMST with fellow AFI member Jade Puget.
Davey, who has been with AFI since the beginning of time i.e. 1991, will act as lead singer, filling in Gwen’s spot. The quartet, which sources say is managed by Pat Magnarella (Green Day), already has completed an album and is seeking a label deal.
It would be an interesting take, nevertheless, considering the fact that No Doubt was known for their alternative rock ska-punk hybrid style whilst AFI is more tuned to the emo-goth sound’s side of things. The new group also brings with it quite a reputation as both No Doubt and AFI are commercially successful American bands with formidable sales histories – No Doubt has sold a whopping total of 16.3 million albums in the US since 1992 and AFI 4.1 million since 1995, according to Nielsen Music.
It’s good to know that the No Doubt members are no longer in limbo, as Adrian previously said. Let’s hope that the marriage of these two groups will result in some great music with a lot of No Doubt awesomeness 🙂
Sources: Billboard, Rolling Stone / Featured image from Billboard.
