Came across an in-depth LA Times interview with Eric from October 1996;in it he discusses his reasons for leaving No Doubt and his multi-faceted creativity,with careers as both a musician and cartoonist for The Simpsons(a job he has since left).Some highlights:
Sometimes, he says, he will emerge from the No Doubt house to chat with those pilgrims who come by to scream and gawk. “They’ll say, ‘Hey, you’re the guy who used to play with them. Why’d you quit?’ ” He says he answers with the simple, factual truth: “I wanted to go back to drawing, and all the musical juices were sucked out of me at that point.”…..”That whole passage of my life is unclear,” he begins in a soft, halting voice, his mouth remaining open during long pauses, as if waiting for his feelings and thoughts to shape themselves into words. “I was messed up inside. I was troubled. I didn’t know what direction to go.”
With others able to handle the writing–the part he loved–he felt free to leave the band and avoid the touring and promotion that always seemed a distraction from the hands-on creative work he cherished.
“It was like being the father of a kid, and it was time to let go,” he says now. “For the long run it worked out for the best for everyone, including myself.”
“When I first heard ‘Just a Girl’ [the band’s first hit] on the radio, I had tears rolling down my face,” he says. “After eight years, it was such a rush just to see we were making some impact on the world.”
Most important for his musical future, Stefani is co-author of a top 20 hit on the airplay charts–No Doubt’s new single, “Don’t Speak.” He started the ballad, as is his habit, in the middle of the night. He says he came up with the melody, title and preliminary lyrics; Gwen gave it a new, romantic slant the following day, softening its tone from the decidedly unromantic self-indictment Eric originally had in mind.
Just to mention it,there are other archived No Doubt articles from the LA Times listed here