More Goo for you

InterviewApril 8, 2010Unknown source

Ear Full
Goo Goo Dolls return to Wilkes-Barre on cusp of ninth album release
By Eric Scicchitano

It seems that with every Goo Goo Dolls record comes at least one single destined to make the mainstreamers swoon amid heavy rotation on the radio.

Let Love In saw its title track chart, as did its cover of Super Tramp’s “Give a Little Bit,” originally released as a single two years prior to the record. Gutterflower brought forth “Here Is Gone,” and the three-time platinum album Dizzy Up The Girl spawned a slew of hits — “Slide,” “Iris,” “Black Balloon,” “Broadway” and “Dizzy.” But it was on the strength of their first monster hit, “Name,” that elevated Goo Goo Dolls — a fledgling punk band from Buffalo, N.Y. that was seeking a new sound — from on the cusp to over the top.

Having just finished recording their ninth studio album, Something for the Rest of Us, Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac recalled hearing “Name” for the first time.

“Every once in a while you hear something and go, ‘wow, that’s going to work.’ I remember hearing ‘Name’ when we were kids and that was 15 years ago, and I was like, ‘holy shit, this is my band!’ I couldn’t believe it,” Takac told ec/dc of the song that would help their fourth studio album, A Boy Named Goo, sell more than 2 million copies.

As for “Iris,” Takac said, “We recorded ‘Iris’ and no one really thought too much until we’re sitting there with a 22-piece string section playing. I remember looking at each other and I remember (lead singer) John (Rzeznik) going, ‘well, we’re never going to fit this shit in the basement anymore.’”

Goo Goo Dolls begin their theatre/college tour in places anywhere but, with appearances first at the Final Four last week and later this week at Augusta National during the annual Master’s golf tournament. (Tiger’s return!) It’s a pair of appearances like many before — Super Bowl XXXVIII, the NFL Pro Bowl, Winter and Summer Olympics — and part of a strategy that seems to have the band damn near everywhere when a new record is released.

It’s certainly grating on some music lovers who see the push as a business move rather than an attempt at artistry, and no doubt it’s the former. But as Takac tells it, it’s a necessity in the music industry, whose traditional business model was obliterated a decade ago and no true blueprint for success has risen since.

“I remember in the ‘90s they were doing commercials and Lenny Kravitz had (“Fly Away”), and he got like $1 million for it. Now, people will pay a half-million dollars to get their song on a commercial because it’s the only way to get yourself in front of the general public these days.”

There’s little doubt Something For the Rest of Us will have Goo Goo Dolls front and center again. The band first began working on the album two years ago, entering the studio with nothing prepared. In the months since, some of it was recorded in Los Angeles, while other tracks were done at Takac’s and Rzeznik’s Inner Machine Studios in Buffalo. They recorded their first three albums in that building, and after it had fallen into near disrepair, the founding Goos swooped in, snatched it up and made it their own. Producers on the album include Butch Vig and John Fields, as well as Rob Cavallo and Tim Palmer, with mixing done by Mike Stent and Paul Hager.

And though the album won’t come out until June 8, fans headed out to see the band on their current tour — which includes a stop Sunday, April 11, at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre — will get a taste of some of the new material. Takac said he hopes more than a few fan videos of the concerts find their way online.

“We’re going to be able to get out there and play some new songs that are on the record and get them rolling around cyberspace because, as you know, that’s where all the promotion happens these days; get all the camera phone footage we can get, and that’s only a good thing,” Takac said.

[source]http://www.ecweekend.com/arts/story.asp?id=50819[/source]

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