The Goo Goo Dolls have cemented their place as one of the most influential bands worldwide, boasting millions of streams on Spotify and timeless hits like “Slide” and “Iris” a song so iconic it’s been covered by artists ranging from Beyoncé to Taylor Swift. With a career spanning decades and a legacy of unforgettable anthems, the band continues to inspire fans across generations.

As they prepare to head Down Under for their 2025 Australian “Summer Anthem” tour, we caught up with John Rzeznik and Robby Takac for a relaxed and hilarious chat about their music, touring with Matchbox 20, contributing to the Deadpool and Wolverine soundtrack, their thoughts on Aussie wildlife, and much more.

SR: How are you both, are you both doing alright? We’re taking time out to have a chat coz you guys are coming back to Australia for the Summer Anthem tour

JR: Yeah, good thank you, back to Australia beginning of this year and beginning of next year

SR: You toured earlier this year with Matchbox Twenty, that’s the gold standard 90s nostalgia lineup, were you guys stoked with the reception you got?

JR: Yeah it was great, it was a great reception we got, and we got asked to come back and that means something

RT: Yeah it’s amazing, when you go “hey man we’ll be back soon”, and you actually come back y’know because it doesn’t always happen

JR: Last time we said that it took us twenty years to come back

SR: (laughing) Don’t get me started I had to fly over the ocean twice to come see you guys in that twenty years

RT: I knew that was you, I was sure that was you

JR: You looked familiar!

RT: We appreciate it

SR: With touring with a band like Matchbox Twenty who you guys have known for forever, did you guys have any funny, crazy, shareable stories, especially whilst you’re here in Australia because it’s not your home turf so you can get up to shenanigans?

JR: (laughs) I’ll leave that up to Robby

RT: (laughs) Quite honestly, little by little everybody was fighting colds and sicknesses the entire time we were in Australia last time. But I did go out to see Dinosaur Jr with Matt Back from Matchbox one night, that was fun.

It’s funny though, you come overseas, it’s show, show, show, show, day off, show, show, show, show, day off, go home. It’s really fast, because it’s just so expensive to have your whole gang there and stuff, so we don’t get a long time to hang, but it’s always nice to see those guys y’know

SR: It must be nice that when you do go somewhere else, something like that lines up that you get to see a band you like, and you admire, while out on tour. It’s nice that it’s a coincidence

It was a surprise for us that you came back, and we love that, but another surprise that came out of the blue this year was “Iris” ending up on the Deadpool & Wolverine soundtrack, “Iris” is massive and originally from “City of Angels” and now it ends up on another iconic soundtrack

JR: It’s completely out of my hands, y’know when they said Deadpool & Wolverine movie, I didn’t even know what the movie was called, but yeah they said the movie was gonna be huge, do it, but I had to ask in what context was it going to be used, and then once they explained it, y’know it’s like yeah that’s fine.

I have a friend who is a stand-up comedian, he does this show dressed up as Dr Phil, I’m not sure if you guys know who Dr Phil is down there, a bullshit self-help guru, but he does this show dressed up as Dr Phil. So that movie American Pie, they had the actor Jason Biggs, he was interviewing Jason Biggs, and in the movie Jason Biggs, had sex with the pie. So Dr Phil reunited the pie with Jason Biggs and they had sex onstage while I was singing “Iris” to them.

RT: Stimulating I assume? (Laughing)

JR: Uhhh yeah, well let’s just say, in that situation, yeah yeah the pie went all the way. So it was ridiculous and surreal and really hilarious and it’s good to just not take yourself way too seriously, But I’m very careful about where I and what I expose that song (“Iris”) to y’know. Apparently a man having sex with a lifesize pie is okay, it’s totally good, who am I to judge?

RT: My daughter is twelve, and the music I hear coming out of her bedroom because of these Marvel soundtracks is unbelievable. She’s listening to Rainbow and Space Hog and all these bands, and I ask where did you even find this? And she’d name some movie it was in, that’s a pretty amazing thing.

SR: I think to a degree these new soundtracks are incorporating some of these cool rock acts from 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, a director like James Gunn incorporates those into his films. And these younger generations are only hearing it through pop culture or TikTok

The music industry landscape has changed a lot with social media and Covid. How are you guys managing the challenge of touring regularly and still releasing albums every few years?

JR: That’s the thing I make a record for myself first, and the second thing on my mind is our fans or our audience. Then you sort of have to forget about radio, and all that kinda stuff y’know. Radio plays what the shiniest newest object is, at least pop radio does. Music has changed. There’s more hip hop and r&b culture, at least in the States, that is now more mainstream than anything else. I think putting music out for our audience is what it’s all about at this stage of the game.

    “… I make a record for myself first, and the second thing on my mind is our fans or our audience…”

You gotta think about this, we’ve been doing this band coming up on 40 years, we’re in the Goo Goo Dolls business, we’re not in the music business. And that’s the way I want to keep it. It helps keep things in perspective. And we have amazing amazing fans, our audiences have been amazing. Our live business is growing still, which is amazing. AND I get to go to Australia two years in a row, which is pretty cool.

SR: That is cool. And I have heard that you’re releasing a new album next year?

JR:  Yes definitely

SR: So can you give us a bit of a teaser or a bit of a description of how you think it might sound?

JR:  It’s friggin awesome! That’s all I can say

RT: hahahahaha

SR: That’s not really a description hahaha they’re just adjectives

RT: That’s pretty good

JR: The only word, the only descriptive word I can use is “fucking awesome”

SR: That’s two words (laughing).

JR: OK, my praise, my apologies

RT: Not if you don’t put a space between ‘em it’s not

JR: That’s right, it’s one word

SR: Okay fair if we squash it all together fuckinawesome it’s one word

JR: Yeah fuckinawesome

SR: Do you reckon you’re gonna spin any of those new songs on this upcoming tour for us Aussies? Do we get a preview, a sneak peak?

JR: Yeah well I don’t think the album is going to be out by the time we come down there

SR: But that doesn’t stop you from playing a song live laughs

JR: (Laughing) No but it also doesn’t stop half the audience from recording it and killing the record sales before hand

SR: Alright fair you got me there, us Aussies have been deprived we haven’t had you around for 20 years we gotta get one up on the Americans once in a while somehow

JR: I apologise for that

RT: The good thing about this time compared to last time, is we’re actually gonna get to play a whole set this time. Last time it felt like as soon as we were getting rolling we had to stop. So it’ll be nice to play some more songs.

SR: From that point of view, are there challenges with differing your set when you’re playing in the support slot versus playing as a headliner?

JR: In the support slot, you go out there, you play every song that you know everybody’s gonna know, and basically you try to steal some of the headliner’s audience. That’s the goal. Get out there, and punch everyone in the face with every song that you think they’ll know, play your ass off, get off that stage, and hopefully you come away with an invitation to come back. Which is what we got, so mission accomplished.

RT: After all these years it’s tough to do a 40 minute set for us, we can barely fit everything we know we gotta play into a 40 minute set so it’s great that we’ll be doing 90 minutes this time, it will be great.

SR: So on that note, besides playing your must play hits, are there songs that you guys like putting into the set  because you enjoy playing them? Have you got individual songs that you enjoy playing for the sake of playing?

JR: Yeah, that’s the good thing when you’re headlining you can dig a little deeper into your catalogue and play some stuff that’s a bit more obscure

SR: Pick one each, Robby, you got one?

RT: Well I only did one song during that 40 minute set, so I’ll probably do four songs during the 90 minute set, which means I get to stretch my wings a little more which is fun for me

JR: For me a song like “NotBroken” maybe would be good

RT: Yeah that’s a great one

JR: There’s a song on Chaos In Bloom called “Superstar” which I think is a really cool song, so we’re going to try to get together and do some of those.

The problem is we have to rehearse and everybody lives about 3,000 miles away from each other, so we have to get it together, and get into rehearsals before we come, pick some songs. I don’t know, is there any suggestions from you?

SR: For me personally, ‘Going Crazy’ off Chaos In Bloom is one of my faves

JR: Oh OK, Alright, I’ll do that, that’s it, that’s done.

SR: Thank you, yeah that song there’s something about it, it really resonates with me from an energy perspective so I was glad I got to hear that once whilst you were playing with Matchbox, I wasn’t expecting it

JR: (Laughs) Yeah you know for you, I’ll do it, nobody else .

SR: I do want to end on a fun note, what Aussie animal would you say are your favourite animals and if you say koala I’m disqualifying you both coz that’s such a generic answer

JR: How about a kookaburra?

SR: Now that’s a good choice, Robby, what are you gonna pick?

JR: Or perhaps a wombat!!

RT: I met a platypus last time I was there, yeah

SR: Again, see platypus is a great choice. They are one of my favourites. John did you know that they poop out cube shaped poo?

JR: Y’know, ….. I’m not gonna say what I was gonna say (laughing), I’m just gonna say Oh really that’s incredibly interesting, I had no idea, it must be very easy to clean up with like tongs

RT: (laughing) No, no, stop stop stop!

 

Goo Goo Dolls will tour Australia in February and March 2025 on the “Summer Anthem” tour alongside Australian artist Thirsty Merc.

20 February – Canberra – AIS Arena

21 February – Sydney – Hordern Pavilion

23 February – Newcastle – Newcastle Entertainment Centre

25 February – Brisbane – Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre

27 February – Adelaide – AEC Theatre

1 March – Wollongong – Yours & Owls Festival (Saturday only)

2 March – Melbourne – Margaret Court Arena

For all ticketing and tour information, head to: www.tegvanegmond.com