From the official mailing list:

“Hey Guys…thinking a lot about you!  We are baking up one of the most delicious records…your ears will hardly be able to take it…it will be so pleasurable!

It’s been so fun being together everyday.  We started writing at Tony’s studio in his house.  We just moved to a real studio in the Valley and it makes it all feel like it’s finally happening.  We’re recording the first batch of songs that we wrote now and after this we’re gonna go right back in and write some more.

Wouldn’t have gotten to this point without all of you coming out to see us on the Summer Tour.  You are so inspiring!  Gonna tweet you pictures and keep you updated.  We need your vibes!  Check out some more news down below…

Love,
Gwen & My Boys (the No Doubt ones)”

Tim Armstrong (whom I love) just released some artwork for sale featuring Gwen.  From novafm.com.au:

“Gwen Stefani has been given a make-over by punk legend Tim Armstrong.

Although, fashion icon Stefani doesn’t need any help in the style department so this new look is strictly on canvas.

Armstrong is best known for his work in Operation Ivy, Rancid and the Transplants and artwork has been a private endeavor for decades. But now the side-project has developed into a full body of work.

Armstrong has released 50 artist proof prints, each hand painted using various mediums. Prints will be shipped randomly to customers who cannot choose specific prints, nor may they be exchanged for others.

This Gwen Stefani print was originally a photo taken by Tim and then transformed into a stencil resulting in a screen-printed image of Gwen.

The work can be viewed at posterchildprints.com”

No Doubt has been tweeting up a storm again:

1. “Yes I am recording guitar tracks Saturday morning on this fine holiday weekend. Nowhere else i’d rather be! Have a great one folks. -Tomabout 1 hour ago via Twitter for iPhone
2. Right now in the studio. Friday night everyone!http://yfrog.com/0vsulaj http://yfrog.com/1rh02vjabout 18 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone
3. At the studio writing lyrics to a new ND song I am addicted to! Please send me your vibes want to finish this tonight :) Gwen xabout 18 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone
4. happy birthday eric keyes! your birthday is in 45 minutes! love – no doubt11:16 PM May 27th via web
5. To be clear: we’re in studio mode these days- NOT playing the weenie roast, just going to hang and hear some friends play :-) Tom6:36 PM May 26th via Twitter for iPhone
6. @yelyahwilliams can’t wait to see you guys at the weenie roast! – tony5:46 PM May 26th via web
7. Gwen in the studio today. http://yfrog.com/7e18486916jhttp://yfrog.com/4zp99mj http://yfrog.com/5pctij5:52 PM May 25th via Twitter for iPhone
8. driving ventura blvd listening to new no doubt – really?? this is really happening?? yum doesn’t get better than this – gwen x5:24 PM May 25th via web
9. This studio stuff is getting serious. -Tom http://yfrog.com/2gd07mj3:28 PM May 25th via Twitter for iPhone
10. Adrian is beating skins with wooden sticks right now.http://yfrog.com/jvdxyj2:55 PM May 25th via Twitter for iPhone
11. Our charity auction goes live June 1st. Tour costumes, collectible vinyl, guitars & more. http://bit.ly/9G47y81:24 PM May 25th via web
12. Tony Kanal in the studio right now. Out of picture Gwen, Adrian and I are all getting sleepy but digging it. -Tomhttp://yfrog.com/5jmocmtj11:22 PM May 24th via Twitter for iPhone
13. Check out this campaign from (RED). Gwen is in it. It’s about the power of 40cents. #lazaruseffect @joinredhttp://www.youtube.com/joinred4:19 PM May 24th via web
14. Back in the studio again this week, the vibe here reminds me of recording sessions for TK and ROS and Rock Steady. Good times! -Tom1:54 PM May 24th via Twitter for iPhone
15. just cracked the code on a chorus that has been eluding us for days! feels good!!!! – tony12:13 AM May 21st via web”

From the official:

“No Doubt’s long time friend and keyboard player Gabrial McNair is a dad! He and his wife Lene welcomed a baby girl on May 18th. The baby and her proud parents are doing well and resting comfortably.”

Yay! Congrats Gabe!!!  (May 18 is my brother’s birthday, too!)

Recent twitter updates from No Doubt:

“congratulations to our longtime friend and musical collaborator gabrial mcnair and his wife lene on the birth of their new baby girl!! -tony10:13 AM May 19th via web

write, record, write, record, eat, write, record, sleep, laugh, repeat… -Tom8:42 PM May 17th via web

The 4 of us are 2gethr in Hllywd today- 2 start recording the first batch of new ND songs! http://yfrog.com/084aqjhttp://yfrog.com/jouo3cj7:18 PM May 12th via Twitter for iPhone

My favorite bands at Coachella: muse, devo, faith no more. Curious who everyone thought was best? New bands we should know about? – Adrian11:27 AM May 3rd via web”

It sounds like they are really having fun recording!  And Adrian likes FNM!?  Sweet!  One of my favorite bands!

Tom has posted an abbreviated autobiography on his blog:

“This is a short Bio I’ve been working on. I think this sums it up nicely and without errors such as on wikipedia.

I was born Jan 11, 1968 in Los Angeles, California and mostly grew up in the city of Irvine, about 40 miles just south of L.A. in Orange County. I remember having an early fondness for music, my first musical memories coming from my Disney 45’s and my Dad playing classical and pop standards on the piano at home.
Around age eight I got my first hi-fi system and quickly became an avid rock aficionado, listening endlessly to my Kiss, Rush, Pink Floyd, UFO, Black Sabbath, and Barry Manilow records. Around age twelve my Dad hooked up some private guitar lessons at the local music store, and I quickly started learning songs of the Beatles, James Taylor and Neil Young on the acoustic guitar. An electric guitar ( a black Les Paul copy) followed as a Christmas gift, and from then on I spent hours locked in my bedroom jamming along to my growing record collection. My older sister Gina was already a skilled rock guitarist, and she taught me scales and chords which helped me advance quickly.
I started a band called “Northeast” in 7th grade (age 13 I think) with a couple of friends and we ambitiously covered songs by Rush, Judas Priest, and Scorpions. After that around age 15 I joined my older sister’s original Heavy Metal band “Rising”, forming a rather unique brother and sister dual lead guitar team.
I was a distracted student in High School- preferring music, fiction, boogie-boarding and D&D over my homework. After High School I studied music theory and composition at Orange Coast College and at Cal State University Fullerton for 4+ years.
During my college years my musical tastes began to broaden to new wave and reggae music, and in 1988 I answered a flyer to play guitar for local OC band called “No Doubt”. I helped to add a rock edge to No Doubt’s ska sound, and after a number of excellent years playing club shows all around California, the band signed with Interscope Records in 1991. We released our “self-titled” debut CD in 1992, and toured clubs in the United States in vans that summer. After which founding member and primary songwriter Eric Stefani began the process of splitting from the band. This left more of the songwriting efforts to myself, bassist Tony Kanal and singer Gwen Stefani, and in the following years we all co-wrote, recorded and finally released our 1995 commercial breakthrough album entitled “Tragic Kingdom”. The album gave birth to a number of international hit singles and went on to sell over 15 million copies worldwide. We toured the North America, Europe and Asia repeatedly for a whirlwind two years before taking a break in late 1997 to write and record the follow up. “Return of Saturn” was released in 2000 followed by more world touring. The next album was “Rock Steady”, released in 2001, and produced more hit songs, two Grammy awards and more world touring. In 2003 we performed alongside Sting at the 2003 Superbowl halftime show and released a greatest hits CD entitled “The Singles Collection”. About that time we began a well deserved multi-year break from No Doubt’s primary activities of recording and touring.
During the break, I produced two albums by singer-songwriter Matt Costa and also toured the United States in 2005 as his bass player, enjoying the opening slot on Jack Johnson’s sold-out summer amphitheater tour. I also worked with Ted Matson to score a feature documentary film; “The Providence Effect” released in 2009 . When not doing music I also spent my free time traveling and surfing, hanging in Australia, Indonesia, Mexico and New England with my girlfriend Mieke. We were married in 2004 and started a family right away becoming parents to two incredible boys; Ace born in 2006 and Rio born in 2008.
In 2009 No Doubt returned from hiatus for our biggest concert tour ever in the United States. Presently in 2010, Tony, Gwen, Adrian and I are working together to write and record songs for a forthcoming No Doubt album.”

Hello!

Tom updated his guitar blog recently:

“Today I have some studio gear for you to look at. With the arrival of computer-based music recording and production, the old rack mount outboard audio gear has become somewhat of a luxury now. You can effect your audio in a thousand ways with software plug-ins. Software sounds good and gives you the potential to make great sounding recordings at a tiny fraction of the cost of a real studio. However real hardware audio still sounds better than software to me, you are adding gain and distortion and overtones that make everything sound punchy just like back in the golden days of real recording studios.

You are looking at four items in the photo:
The two silver ones with black knobs are Pultec equalizers. This is a pair of mono units and I use them to pass my stereo mixes through. The design is from the 1950’s and they are pretty simple to use. Select a frequency, and then boost or cut it. If you are not an audio person, it’s kind of like a fancy set of Bass/Treble controls. These Pultec’s use tubes, audio people love the sound of tubes, but it’s beyond me to describe how they work. They do get hot and if something goes wrong in the unit, you can usually just replace a tube and you’re all fixed up.

Next is the Manley Variable-MU in black with the two big white meters. This is a stereo compressor, and I put my mixes through this in-line behind the Pultec’s. A compressor’s role it hard to describe, but it basically smooths out the rough audio edges. Proper use of compression can make amateur recordings sound much more professional.

The last unit on the right is the Fulltone Tube Tape Echo. This is actually a guitar effect I covered in my last post. This unit has a tube and makes echo effects using a tape loop. The basic design is based on the old Echo-plex units, and this one is improved in many ways, while still giving that sound that we grew up hearing on countless records.

Okay that’s it for today, take care until next time.”

From Tonic.com:

“Gwen Stefani Helps Promote HIV/AIDS Treatment in Africa

BY DARRAGH WORLAND | FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2010 4:43 PM ET
All it takes is 40 cents a day to save life.