ND's early gigs were learning experiences, but never took on an aura of tedium- rather, they were outrageously energetic, kinetic, affairs. The budding band rehearsed twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays, and all chipped in for the studio rental fees. The spring and summer of 1987 they were playing in venues like Fender's in Long Beach; Gino's, Roxy, and Whisky in Hollywood; and a fair share of house parties.

    It was then, right as the band was starting to gel and gain momentum, that a tragic event took place. On December 21, 1987, John Spence committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. "When your friend dies like that and it's so unexpected it's very traumatic," Gwen tell Axcess magazine in April/May of 1996, "I think it taught us all a big lesson in how much one person can influence so many different people.

     ND did not disband, but carried on, enlisting the services of another vocalist to accompany Gwen in seventeen-year-old Alan Meade, whose brief tenure with the band ended before it had really begun when he left to become a husband and father. By this time Gwen had earned her stripes and gained enough confidence to take the reins as the one and only lead singer of the band.

    It was 1988, and ND practiced in a rehearsal complex in Anaheim where little sound proofed rooms with windows in the doors could be rented by the hour. Among the many local bands that also used the space was a heavy metal band called Rising, and it's guitarist Tom Dumont did a peeping Tom routine through the window of ND's room now and then. After several years in the competitive Orange county hard rock crowd, Dumont was becoming disillusioned. Dumont just had to get out, and quit Rising, only to discover a notice on the rehearsal complex bulletin board: No Doubt Looking for Guitarist. He did his first ND show after the first week of rehearsing with them.

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