AceShowbiz -

With numerous songs bubbling over the edge and waiting to be worked up, No Doubt get on full gear for a new album this year. Starting from next week, the band that went to hiatus in 2004 will enter the studio to accumulate new materials minus lead singer Gwen Stefani.

"The three of us are going to lay down some songs with music only," said drummer Adrian Young in understanding to Gwen Stefani's hectic solo schedule. "When she gets done with the tour we'll all be able to do it. We've probably got four albums worth of ideas demoed. We've been together since 1987 and we never took a break until three summers ago. Now the break's been pretty long, so I think we're not burning anymore. It's kind of nice to be hungry again."

They also reveal that the break was actually necessary for "normal life". Guitarist Tom Dumont said, "This break has been good for everyone. We had been together as a band nonstop for so long that it was healthy for us to all stand on our own two feet, so to speak. In the past four years, I bought a house, got married and made a baby, so (I) pretty much grew up and returned to normal life outside of the rock stardom which dominated my 20s."

Gwen Stefani who is now busy promoting latest album "The Sweet Escape" will finish her tour on October 20 and soon join her fellow bandmates. The album is expected to be completed in fall 2008.

The actual work of the band has begun since 2006. Dumont told MTV News, "Tony, Adrian and I have been busy preparing material for the album since this time last year. So we have a lot of instrumentals looking for words. We've written so much stuff that covers so much ground that it's hard to say what sounds will win out in the end."