The Goos and the Golden Egg
The Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris," the
mawkish love theme from City
of Angels, seemed unavoidable
this summer. The lushly
orchestrated song broke airplay
records, and its moody video,
featuring singer Johnny
Rzeznik scooting around an
observation tower, became a staple of MTV's Total Request.
But the Goos don't want to be known just for prom themes. "I
like playing [ballads]. I like writing them, but, that's only one
little facet of what we do," Rzeznik says, What many of their
newfound fans may not know is that the Buffalo, N.Y., trio
spent years bashing out power pop and, in Rzeznik's words,
"skating on the edge of the underground thing."
Rzeznik, bassist Robby Takac and drummer Mike Malinin
hope to repeat the success of "Iris" with the more rocking
"Slide." RockDaily.com spoke to the three Goo Goo Dolls
about their big hit, their videos and the trials and tribulations
of touring -- which they'll be doing extensively in the next two
years, in support of Dizzy Up the Girl. (Mark Yarm)
Disney Up the Girl
Robby Takac: The day I knew 'Iris' was big . . . was last Easter,
[when] I took my girlfriend and her kids to Disney World. We were at the
gas station outside Disney World and it was coming out of the
speakers up in the gas station, and I was like, 'OK, this is . . . yeah.'
Johnny Rzeznik: When you hear a Muzak version of your song at
the supermarket at 3 in the morning, that's when you're like, 'What?
What's going on here?' . . . I like playing [ballads]. I like writing them,
but, that's only one little facet of what we do. Hopefully on this record
we'll have more harder stuff [released as singles]. You know how record
companies are. They hear a song like that and they smell money and
they go for it.
RT: It's definitely understandable as to why those songs become
popular . . . I don't think you're going to be hearing 'Dizzy' in Wal-Mart
coming through their ceiling speakers. But 'Iris' and 'Name' fit there and
cool, it's great.
JR: It's just weird to hear that because you're this band that was
skating on the edge of the underground thing for so long. We were
'indie' man -- we lost our 'indie' cred. The truth of the matter is [joking]
my trust fund was cut off. My father is fabulously wealthy and he's been
paying for my loft in Soho for a while, but he got really angry with me
because I wouldn't go see him and Mom in the Hamptons that one
weekend. So he cut off my trust fund and I can no longer be an
independent artist. I had to go and write songs for a living.
Kiss Me, I'm Not "Iris"
JR: ['Slide' is] a Catholic, teenage sex anthem . . . [For 'Slide'] we
did a real rock video. There's a bunch of guys sitting around pretending
to play their instruments and people running around . . . [We used] the
guy we hired to play keyboards for us. His name's Dave but we call him
Duf because he was in a band called Duf in Germany. He was in this
German industrial band and then he came and played with us. He
wanted a visa.
Mattresside Man
RT: Nathan [December], who is playing guitar for us [on tour], had
played with us in the past . . . so he slipped in pretty easily. 'Sergeant'
[David] Schultz, who's playing keyboards, is pretty much a muzo guy, so
he fit in really quick, too, and is really playing much below his ability at
this point.
JR: When he [and Duf were] on tour in Germany with Rammstein
and all those guys, he was really doing a lot more than he is now.
Mike Malinin: He started a mattress on fire the other day, which
was not cool.
JR: We were having a party and everybody was there. At about
4:30 in the morning he pulled out the schnapps and everybody started
drinking too much and dancing. He thought it would be really funny to
haul the mattress into the middle of the room and light it on fire. So we
had to open up the door leading out onto the balcony and toss the
mattress off. So this burning mattress fell four floors into the parking lot
and it wasn't very cool, but it's all right.
RT: We call up Green Day for tips, man. We'll be rock yet, dude.
JR: It's amazing how fast a mattress goes up, though.
Pricks of the Trade
JR: Yeah, well [I've] popped a couple of times [on tour]. Just kind of
freaked out. But you pull it back together . . . Our manager is pretty
good about it. He's like, 'You can go back to the factory whenever you
want, man. If you don't like your job, there's lots of people that want to
do it.'
RT: And then you go, 'Oh yeah, yeah, good point. Off to [play] North
Dakota.'
JR: There's a lot of things to be happy about right now. Just enjoy it,
I suppose -- I try to. I don't always. I'm a prick sometimes. A 'miserable
prick' is when you keep your bad mood to yourself, and an 'insufferable
prick' is when you bring everybody else down with you. So I'm an
'insufferable prick,' 'cause if I'm not happy I want everybody to be
miserable. I do.
Interview by Steve Reynolds
Copyright © 1997-1998 MJI Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.
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