(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-29 17:31

Anyone who has seen her live during the past week will know that motherhood hasn't exactly tamed the vibrant Gwen Stefani.

The peroxide-blonde Californian, currently on a UK tour, is a showgirl.

And the arrival of a baby son, Kingston, has done little to change that.

Rock mummy: Gwen Stefani is on tour with baby son, Kingston, for the first time

Accompanied by her four flamboyantly-dressed Japanese dancers, the Harajuku Girls, Gwen uses the show to strut her stuff in a bling-festooned array of stage costumes - a leopard-print jumpsuit, hot pants and low-slung trousers - while her six-piece backing band serve up a high-octane blend of pounding hip-hop and silky electronics.

But being a yummy rock mummy is not without its complications.

Chatting in her hotel room a few hours before playing Birmingham, Stefani, who has her baby on tour with her, admits to having had plenty of "tortured nights" on the road.

"Kingston is walking now and he never sleeps," sighs the singer, who turns 38 on Wednesday. "And if he doesn't sleep, I don't sleep. Last night was insane. By this morning I thought I was going to die from the tiredness.

"It's hard to get the balance right. The touring life is hard enough as it is. Doing it with a baby can be almost impossible."

Gwen married British rocker Gavin Rossdale (once of Bush, now a solo artist) in 2002 after a long and occasionally bumpy courtship, and the couple welcomed Kingston into the world in May last year.

Despite the difficulties of balancing career and family, Stefani says that motherhood is the best thing that's ever happened to her - especially now that Rossdale is also with her on her travels.

"It's been great having my husband with me on this leg of the tour," she says.

"At first, I wasn't sure if I could handle Gavin being around all the time. I get very into the touring bubble when I am on the road, but he has been amazingly helpful.

"Motherhood isn't quite what I thought it was going to be. I thought it would change me as a person, but I still feel like my old self.

"I haven't changed. I still talk the same. I still act the same. Creatively, I feel exactly the same.

"The only difference is that life is now much better. I now have this mind-blowing little guy who is the reward for a lot of hard work. After having Kingston, I felt complete."

A short break in their busy schedule even allowed the Stefani-Rossdale clan the luxury of a trip to Twycross Zoo this week.

The singer says she has already transferred the family snaps of the unlikely visit of rock royalty to rural Warwickshire onto her laptop.

"It was incredible," she says. "We met a 44-year-old ape with five babies.

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