The Goo Goo Dolls are at the Borgata Saturday, July 3.
The Goo Goo Dolls (lead singer/guitarist Johnny Rzeznik, bassist/singer Robby Takac, drummer Mike Malinin) proved that Buffalo, N.Y. rocks. Formed there in 1986, the band made its commercial breakthrough in 1995 with its fifth album, A Boy Named Goo, and the hit single “Name.” In 1998 Rzeznik penned what has become the band’s signature song, “Iris.” Originally on the soundtrack of the movie City of Angels and later on the band’s album, Dizzy Up The Girl, the song spent 17 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. Other hit songs from the band include “Slide,” “Sympathy,” “Here Is Gone” and “Black Balloon.”
The Goo Goo Dolls headline at the Borgata on Saturday, July 3.
I can’t believe the Goo Goo Dolls have been around 24 years … can you?
I feel a little old. Really until around 1995 it was sort of a side thing that we did, we traveled around in the van a lot, and then we would go back to our day jobs. It was around 1995 that we really started making a living as full time musicians — that’s 15 yeas ago and it feels like a long time.
Your new album, coming out in August, is called Something For the Rest of Us. What are the themes in this album and what inspired you as a songwriter?
It hit me about half way through the writing process what I was writing about. For me the album is about trying to stay in contact with your own humanity at a time when it is getting more and more difficult to be human.
Any songs on the album you are really happy about?
The song “Something For the Rest of Us,” which is a song about feeling alienated and left out of your own life, reassessing where your priorities are and understanding where you belong.
How have audiences been reacting to your new material?
Surprisingly, really really well. I think that’s one of the good parts about the Internet, like YouTube, where people can make videos of the new material that’s not even released yet. As the tour has been progressing, we’ve seen people singing the words to the new songs. The feedback has been positive but I don’t know how many people would actually tell me to my face, ‘The new stuff sucks!’ Hopefully they dig it, and the response at radio has been really good.
As a band that has seen the business change radically in the way the songs get out there, how do you feel about the download/social network generation and how much do you engage in the new technology?
Well, I’ve been forced into the world of Twitter, which I don’t like. The new technology is really a double-edged sword. There is something like iTunes that is incredible; I can literally find almost anything I’m looking for on there. But, when you are dealing with the peer to peer file sharing, ultimately it is the artist that gets hurt [from lost revenue]. It killed the record companies. I think it’s harder for new artists to get noticed and make a living making music. The record companies don’t have money to put into band [promotion] and nurture a career. We’re an established band. We can go out on the road; it’s the only place you can make money these days.
"Yeah, we are a rock band and I love getting the whole band together and cranking up the Marshalls as loud as they’ll go and doing that whole thing. But ultimately, it is about the songs and can I sit down with an acoustic guitar and play that song and convey the same message? That’s important. And if I can’t do that, what’s the point?"
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1. Notbroken said... on Jun 30, 2010 at 12:42AM
“The songs are about trying to stay in contact with your own humanity at a time when it is getting more and more difficult to be human? They sound more like love songs about his girlfriend.
Poor Johnny, he's been forced into the world of twitter...Has he been forced to do the meet and greets too, because sometimes it sure looks like it.
”
2. Goo Goo Dolls said... on Aug 10, 2010 at 07:03AM
“All I can say,
About the performance,
I saw that day.
It was simply marvelous.
I wish you may,
have a real chance,
to watch and you’ll reply,
That it’s just fabulous.
If y worry about Goo Goo Dolls tickets ,
You can check Ticketsinvetory.com
”