What Goo Goo Dolls wants to discover in Phl

There’s something that John Rzeznik, frontman and guitarist of the Goo Goo Dolls, wants to find out when the band comes for its first concert in Manila on Feb. 11 at the Araneta Coliseum. Want to find out what it is? Read on.

The Goo Goo Dolls created some of most memorable musical moments of the ’90s with such chart-topping hits as Name, Slide and acoustic ballad Iris which spent 18 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay chart and remains one of the biggest crossover hits in the history of popular music.

According to the production notes, having formed the Goo Goo Dolls in Buffalo, NY, in 1986, Rzeznik and Robby Takac spent their first decade traversing North America in a van and bringing their raucous brand of melodic punk rock to college kids and winning over small but enthusiastic crowds of fans. They released a series of albums before breaking through commercially with their fifth, 1995’s A Boy Named Goo (featuring Name), followed by 1998’s 4x-platinum Dizzy Up The Girl which produced five Top 10 singles and sold nearly six million copies worldwide.

The four-time Grammy Award-nominated band, which has sold more than 10 million albums, continued touring and released a string of Top 10 albums through the early 2000s: Gutterflower (2002), Let Love In (2006), Something for the Rest of Us (2010) and Magnetic (2013). Rzeznik has also been honored with the Songwriters Hall of Fame Hal David Starlight Award.

Their latest album is called Boxes, about which Rzeznik said in an interview, “I want people to listen to it hard. I want them to read the lyrics. I want them to be ecstatic, and then I want them to cry. I want them, at the end of it, to feel satisfied. I want them to take a little piece of it for themselves and own it. Make it theirs.”

Here’s more about Rzeznik in a phone interview with Funfare:

I’m wondering why you called yourselves Goo Goo Dolls.

“You know, it was one of the things that you do when you are 19 years old, hahahaha!!! Now it doesn’t really mean anything.”

You are celebrating your 30th anniversary this year. What comes to your mind when you look back?

“Yes, 30 years from the time we did our first record. Well, looking back, we’ve had the opportunity to do so many amazing things. We’re living pretty interesting lives, we are traveling the world, we are going everywhere…it has been pretty cool! I’m so lucky to have been able to do all of that.”

Any regrets?

“I shouldn’t have done those things. But it’s all over now.”

Did “those things” help you write better music?

“I’m gonna tell you this…In the beginning, I must admit that alcohol did help me a lot in overcoming my inhibition and shyness. But as time went on, the alcohol started to consume my creativity instead of making it better.”

Good thing that you have completely overcome your shyness.

“Yeah, hahahaha!!! And I have also overcome my drinking.”

So you are more open now?

“Yes, I am. Everything is past…except the music.”

How do you look at the next 30 years, considering the advances in technology?

“Performing with hologram in a three-dimensional world feels somewhat strange. But you know, the experience of playing live in a room full of people is most exciting, it’s something that the social media has not been able to recreate. There’s some kind of intensity about it, something that the social media doesn’t capture.”

It’s your first time to perform in the Philippines. What do you know about the country?

“Oh, interesting! What I’ve read about the Philippines is quite interesting…about the Spaniards coming in, followed by the Americans and then by the Japanese and then by the Americans again. How were the Filipinos able to deal with it? That’s what I am interested in finding out. Maybe I will get the answers when I go there.”

On that note, how was your early years like? What kind of family did you grow up in?

“I was brought up by four older sisters, so there’s trouble right there. We are Catholic, very religious, and that sort of colors my world and my music. I was dominated by my four sisters and I kind of feel like an outsider, like I was not like the rest of the people in the house. Yes, I love my family but it’s kind of strange when I look at it, that’s why Rob and I have kept the band for so long because we are like brothers…we are brothers? Neither of us has a real brother. Like me, Rob also grew up with sisters.”

Any other things that you have in common?

“We have brought a lot of influences into our music. We both like different kinds of music. We get along very well from the very start. We still have fun performing together. We look up to the same American bands such as the Rolling Stones.”

Have you tried digital platforms like the YouTube, iTunes, etc., to promote your music?

“Well, we try to go for it. Rob and I are lucky because we get the opportunity to play live, we are lucky to continue performing before a big audience. You know, it’s a bit harder to be successful now.”

Really, why?

“Because today, music is given away free.”

By the way, why did you call your latest album Boxes?

“Why? Because people keep themselves in boxes. Everything and everybody is classified, categorized and organized. There’s a box for everything!”

And do you really expect people to cry when they listen to Boxes?

“I didn’t know that, man! It’s a crazy world! It’s more fun to laugh but sometimes the music that I write seems to have that kind of effect on people even I don’t intend it that way.”

(Goo Goo Dolls Live in Manila at the Araneta Coliseum is produced by Random Minds, Inc., the same company that has brought over top-caliber acts such as the Jets, Wilson Phillips, Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg, Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth and many others. Ticket prices: VIP P7,000; Patron P6,000; Lower Box P5,000; Upper Box P3,000; and General Admission Seating P1,200. Call 911-5555.)

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