Robby's Lobby #119

BlogJuly, 2016InRock.co.jp

Hey Hey InRockers and Welcome to the Lobby ! I've been here for over ten years giving my friends in Japan a glimpse into my world, a world full of Goo Goo Dolls, Japanese Rockers, a 4 year old half Japanese daughter and many, many different flavors of of curry. This was month was a big one for GGDS, if you visit often you may be aware that we have been working on a new CD for the past year, and on May 6th we released the GGDS 11th full length studio album ''Boxes'' on Warner Brothers Records! I almost can't believe that since John and I released our first GGDS album in 1986 this will be our 30th year making music together.

The new album has been released worldwide over a week in May and is available in Japan for all of you to enjoy, check. Tower and all of the usual suspects if you are going to be buying a physical copy of the CD to have and hold (We have vinyl being printed in the US as well) or digitally through your favorite digital provider. We've been doing a ton of press here in the US and phone interviews worldwide since the release and this will continue throughout the year as we try to spread the word about the new music. All of the early reviews and comments we've been receiving have been pretty great so far and we look forward to having you hear it as well as bringing the show on the road throughout 2016 and 2017.

The first single on the album is a song called ''So Alive'', we shot a video for the song with a video concept written by the designer that did the cover for the Boxes album, his name's Brian Grunert, a super creative guy and although not typically a ''maker of music videos'' we asked him to write up some ideas for the video. He came up with a great concept for the visuals, sort of a ''Me VS Myself'' boxing scenario featuring a young pretty girl facing her personal demons in a boxing match with herself. Of course the band is cut in with some メbadassモ rock shots while performing in the ring and we welcome our new drummer Craig, featured in his first rock video w/ the band.

The female boxers that were cast for the video were actually boxers (and super good boxers too!), so the punches thrown in the shots were actual punches, if you check it out you'll be impressed with the girls boxing skills! The ring they were boxing in (and we were performing in) was set up in the middle of an old abandoned train station in our hometown of Buffalo, NY. The entire crew, cast and production company were sourced right here in Buffalo, we are pretty proud of this video and you can check it out soon at googoodolls.com!

OK, wow that's all pretty exciting, but check this out.
I was out at dinner the other night and I met an 86-year-old man named Dick Beyer, Japanese wrestling fans may know him as ''Doctor X'' or more likely The Destroyer, probably the most famous masked wrestler in the history of Japan. My wife said growing up as a little girl in the 70s in Tokyo she was terrified of him! After a successful career in the US, The Destroyer went to Japan in the 60s to wrestle, which was an unusual move at the time wrestling Japanese legends such as Rikodozan and Shohei ''Giant'' Baba. After gaining notoriety The Destroyer and his family moved from Buffalo to Japan for over a decade in that time he became a huge star in the Japanese pop culture world of the 60s and remains a wrestling legend to this day.

His career was not limited to the wrestling ring; The Destroyer became a favorite on the Japanese variety show circuit appearing alongside actors, Enka singers and idols as the masked Destroyer, causing chaos at every appearance. He returns to Japan every year to do charity work as The Destroyer and the people of Japan are still very much in his heart.

Today Dick lives a more subdued life as the curator of Destroyer Park Golf just outside of Buffalo. Park Golf was a game he discovered while living in Japan and he decided after retiring from wrestling to bring this more compact version of golf to the US. Thanks to Dick for giving us a great afternoon and some amazing memories hanging with The Destroyer!

That's it for this month, check out the new GGDS album, I think you'll love it, and we'll see you next month right here in the pages of the mighty In Rock !

Peace, Robby

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