In the half-hour E! special where they premiered their new video for ‘Settle Down,’ all four members of No Doubt sat down for a chat with Ryan Seacrest, he of the Jennifer Lopez-is-leaving-’American Idolscoop. The band spoke about having lots of children — their progeny equals nine at this point — and remaining in one another’s personal lives, despite their musical moratorium.

The foursome confirmed that they still saw one another socially at their kids’ birthday parties, and the hiatus was necessary, but it went on longer than they planned. They had never taken a break and had been going full throttle since they were 17, so to avoid burn out, they took some time to just breathe. And procreate. And have mega successful solo careers, at least in their frontwoman’s case.

“It was never going to not happen,” Gwen Stefani said. “It always was going to happen.” She just knew that after ‘Rock Steady,’ she wanted to make a dance record, and she did that with ‘Love.Angel.Music.Baby.’ Her single ‘Hollaback Girl’ went on to be the first U.S. digital single to cross the million copies sold mark. Even with her insane level of solo success, she knew she wanted to go back to her band and once stated that her solo sojourn was over.

Stefani speaks about being pregnant during her solo period and going through a nasty bout of writer’s block, not knowing what she would write about and struggling to want to be with her family. But she worked her way through it, calling ‘Push and Shove,’ which drops Sept. 25, “really upbeat. It has that ’80s feel, but a bit of the ska thing, which is the DNA of who were are, but it feels very ‘now.’” The singer also shared that ‘Settle Down’ is about feeling overwhelmed and trying to strike a balance in life, while her bandmates spoke about the writing process, as well.

She also thanked the No Doubt faithful for their patience, saying, “Those people who have been waiting are in for some special ear candy.”

Watch the No Doubt ‘Settle Down’ Video

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