“Stand and Deliver,” the first song recorded by the reunited No Doubt, leaked yesterday, nearly a month before the band was due to perform the song on a flashback episode of Gossip Girl. Like No Doubt’s cover of Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life,” Gwen Stefani and her bandmates manage to take Adam & The Ants’ Prince Charming hit and skew it both more modern and more new wave. Stefani replaces Ant’s thick British vocals from the original with her own valley girl cadence, befitting of the band’s role as early ’80s Los Angeles rockers on Gossip Girl. That episode, a “backdoor pilot” for a GG spin-off series, will air May 11th.
We applaud No Doubt for going a more obscure route with their comeback single, picking this track over more popular new wave hits and even more famous Adam Ant songs like “Goody Two Shoes” or “Don’t Be Square (Be There.)” Now if only No Doubt will film an equally ridiculous music video for “Stand and Deliver” like Adam and his Ants did.
As Rock Daily previously reported, No Doubt will kick off their reunion tour with a May 2nd show at Atlantic City, New Jersey’s Borgata before heading north on the next day to play the Bamboozle Festival at the Garden State’s Meadowlands. From there, the band head out to California, work back toward the East Coast, and finally conclude their reunion tour with a four-night stand at Irvine, California’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater from July 31st to August 4th. Fans who purchase tickets for any of the shows will also receive the band’s full digital catalog as a free download. Following their tour, No Doubt anticipate continuing work on their new album, their first since 2001’s Rock Steady.
To hear the new jam, click here. Then tell us what you think!
