Goo Goo Dolls will headline their first Australian tour in over twenty years, with special guest Thirsty Merc next month through March tour performing in Canberra, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne. Formed by John Rzeznik and Robby Takac in Buffalo, NY in 1986, Goo Goo Dolls have quietly broken records, contributed a string of staples to the American songbook, connected to millions of fans, and indelibly impacted popular music for over three decades.

Beyond selling fifteen million records worldwide, the group has garnered four GRAMMY® Award nominations and nearly a dozen platinum and gold singles combined and seized a page in the history books by achieving sixteen #1 and Top 10 hits. As a result, they hold the all-time radio record for “Most Top 10 Singles.”

Their music continues to reach new audiences around the world and rack up platinum and gold statuses – including the three-times platinum Slide, platinum-certified Black Balloon and Better Days – and has been covered by everyone from Taylor Swift to Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers. Thus far, A Boy Named Goo has gone double-platinum, Dizzy Up The Girl five-times-platinum and Gutterflower and Let Love In both went gold as Something for the Rest of Us and Magnetic bowed in the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200.

Among a string of hits, Iris clutched #1 on the Hot 100 for eighteen straight weeks and would be named “#1 Top 40 Song of the Last 20 Years.” On the heels of going viral on TikTok, the track recently achieved eight-times-platinum status and re-entered the Billboard charts, yet again proving the timelessness of Goo Goo Dolls’ illustrious catalogue. John Rzeznik talks to Hi Fi Way about the tour and plans for new music.

Another Australian headline tour, you must be really excited about returning so soon?
I am really excited about coming back and the chance to get to headline too, if we can play a longer show and dig into some older material.

What is that about Australia that keeps you coming back?
Well, we actually didn’t come down there for almost twenty years, um, when we thought about it, it just seemed insane. Like, why, why haven’t we been here in so long? No one had a good answer, so it was like, well, we got to get back and then we had the opportunity to come down and play with Matchbox Twenty down there and rather than let ten more years go by we decided that it was time to come back and do it again. We just had so much fun when we were down there early last year, so it’s been about a year.

Were those shows up there as some of your best?
Oh, it was awesome. It was so much fun. We tour mostly in the United States, mostly North America and it’s a different kind of experience playing in front of Australians than it is like Americans or Canadians. It’s a different thing you know and it’s full, it’s like people really love music and the whole vibe of the country was so much fun.

Do you remember your first Australian and does it bring back some memories?
Well, it definitely brought back some memories, but I haven’t had a drink in about ten years, our first Australian tour was way off the rails because we decided to embrace that entire part of Australian culture that likes to party. It was pretty crazy!

Is it a tight squeeze fitting an entire career in two hours on this tour?
We’re playing all of them, so, you know, we’re going to be able to play all the hits that everybody knows. Then you look around on your social media and you see if people are requesting something a little bit more or whatever and then you dig back in the catalogue, you play stuff that’s maybe lesser known. I like to dig into the harder material, like a little more rocking sort of songs and get that going too.

I noticed there’s been a few covers that have made it into the set. Are you looking to try and do that again here in Australia?
Yeah, we used to do Don’t Change by INXS. Now let me ask you your advice about this one. We used to do that song. I mean, would that be considered bad form to do that in Australia? I mean, the original version is just one of the best rock songs ever and I always loved it, but it’s like to do that in Australia, it might, I don’t know if it would be perceived as pandering or in bad taste, but I just love that song.

Absolutely not. It’s one of those quintessential Australian songs. I think all you’d be doing is paying homage to a great song. So many other great Australian bands as well including Hoodoo Gurus and Midnight Oil.
I was just going to say the Hoodoo Gurus. Yeah, we love those guys, man. They were great and the Lime Spiders.

Is it a buzz seeing your music transcend to another generation of fans who are coming out to the shows now?
I’m definitely seeing younger people at the shows. I think that’s all sort of based on “Iris’ which just became one of those songs that sort of transcended a generation, it kind of leapt into the next generation, which is great. I’m grateful for that and it’s nice to be able to play it after all these years.

Does the power of that legacy still continue to astound you?
You know what, I’m not questioning anything good. I’m just going to roll with this. I’m going to ride this horse until it dies!

I hear that there’s a new album in the works as well. How’s that sounding?
Yeah, it’s like the fifteenth one, I can’t believe it. Wow! I’m still in the writing process and like the preliminary kind of making demos and experimenting with different stuff. I’m not quite sure how it’s going to work out, but I mean, I chose my guy, Gregg Wattenberg to produce it, and he’s collaborating with me, it’s cool. I’m happy with what I’m writing. I don’t know quite how to describe it, but it’s like us, I, I have no idea!

Do you have an idea of the direction you want it to take, or do you just have to let it come?
Yeah, I mean, you mostly let it come, and I know I hear it in my head one way and then it never comes out exactly the way I heard it in my head. So, it is what it is, and then you go out and play it live three or four hundred times and it morphs into something completely different.

Do you still enjoy the whole being in the studio and being creative?
I got to say those are my happiest times are just being in the studio and having the ability to have a studio to sit in and not worry about the clock ticking all the time and hanging out. That was always where I found my inspiration was being in the studio and just having the freedom to play around. That’s where I think the best stuff comes from.

Is there pressure there to come up with Iris part two?
No, because it’s like there’d be no way to do it. If I made a conscious effort to write the sequel to Iris or whatever, it would be terrible, it would be awful. I’m grateful that that song came into my life, but I’ve written a lot of songs that I actually like better. I love that song and I’m grateful for it, and it makes me feel really, really proud of us that I can turn the microphone around and then the whole audience sings that song. That’s an incredible feeling or when people come up to me and say, you know, it’s not even just about the song Iris, but other songs that I’ve written when they said that song helped me get through that time in my life, or that song brings me back to my first girlfriend in college or whatever, I love being able to share those little moments with people. It’s nice when people share those memories with you because it proves that you had some sort of emotional impact.

Do you take a lot from your own musical heroes and influences? Do they help shape the music that you’re writing?
Yeah, definitely. I was a big fan of The Replacements, also a huge fan of Hüsker Dü and The Clash, The Who, The Kinks and The Beatles. It all gets mashed together and somehow gets shot out the other end sounding nothing like any of those bands!

What does the holiday break look like for you?
My wife and I are taking my seven year old daughter up to Lapland up by the North Pole and we’re going to go see the Northern Lights. I never thought in my life, that I would ever have a kid, and never thought I would be able to go to go to Finland and go watch the Northern Lights for Christmas. It’s pretty amazing thing to do.

It’s definitely one of those bucket list experiences for sure.
Oh yeah. My neighbours told me about this cool thing and I was like, get out of here, you guys are crazy. Then we looked it up and we were like, wow, we got to do this but while she still believes! Keep the dream alive!

Interview By Rob Lyon