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Examiner interview with Robby
« on: Aug 24th, 2010, 11:50am » |
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Goo Goo Dolls interview: on Broadway with bassist Robby Takac
August 23rd, 2010 12:40 pm MT
It’s a safe bet that there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of struggling musicians out there that are getting a little sick of riding on the musical merry-go-round and ready to pack it in. But, don’t give up just yet because there is a surefire remedy.
All it takes is a little concert-house call from the good doctors from Buffalo. The Goo Goo Dolls prescription for melodic success is good for what ails you.
I recently caught up with brilliant bassist and founding member Robby Takac to talk about the band’s amazing success, the current “Something for the Rest of Us Tour”, and their songwriting secrets.
The Goos are rolling through the Grand Canyon State for the second time on this tour, following a June stop in Tucson (see a review of the show at Goo Goo Dolls bring better days to AVA Amphitheater).
With a laugh, Robby told me that the band has a particular “fondness” for Arizona.
“Whenever we bring someone like a young, green roadie, that’s always the place that they discover the concept of sun poisoning.”
Since the band had their first hit in 1995 with “Name”, off of their multi-million selling fifth album A Boy Named Goo they’ve churned out 13 consecutive top 10 multi-format hit songs, including the song that boosted them to superstardom, “Iris”. The song from the City of Angels soundtrack spent almost a year on the Billboard charts, 18 weeks at #1, and was nominated for 3 Grammys that year.
The Goos have had an astounding run of remarkable songs, including “Slide”, “Black Balloon”, “Here is Gone”, “Sympathy”, and most recently, “Better Days” off of their multi-million selling smash Let Love In.
They’ve attributed their mind-blowing success to their songwriting. The Goos formed in 1986, “probably started for no better reason than to kill time, make some music, and hopefully get a few free beers from the clubs where they were lucky enough to get a gig.” Vocalist/guitarist John Rzeznik said, “Somewhere in there we sort of figured out how to write songs.”
I asked Robby to tell me about the single most important key to writing great tunes for all of the aspiring songwriters out there?
“Being able to listen to it and know that it’s not good – not just fall in love with your own reflection. It’s like when you have a baby, you know, no matter what, your baby’s beautiful. It’s your job to think that.”
“But, with music, it can’t be that precious. You’ve got to be able to look at it and say, ‘I can probably do better than that.’ And you know, if you look at it and say ‘That’s perfect,’ that’s probably just as valid.”
He also spoke of another secret ingredient. With a laugh, he confided, “We have ‘chaos factor’. We schedule that now. It’s like two years of shows and one year of chaos factor, and then we do the record.”
The quest for perfection in their songwriting can be a double-edged sword. For example, I asked him about the belated August 31 release of their ninth studio album, Something for the Rest of Us.
“Everything comes with its upside as well. Some cool stuff happened in the process. The reason the release date was pushed to begin with was the label decided they wanted to release it in the next quarter.”
“Then John and I were both in the studio, so we sort took the lid off the can and you know, all the cats jumped out. And before you knew it, we were knee-deep in the whole record again, workin’ on it.”
“We got that unique opportunity to hand the master in and listen to it and go, ‘Oh man, I’d like to change that.’ Generally, it’s like, ‘Well, that’s too bad, it’s in K-Mart already.’ We were actually able to go in and do some of those things that truly made it a much, much better record.”
“I think we made another good one.”
The sell-out crowds on the current tour seem to agree. Despite the wait, excitement for the album continues to build. Along with all of their greatest hits, the band has been playing a number of cuts off of the new release, including “Home”, “As I Am” and “Sweetest Lie”.
As Robby related, “We have a roomful of people singing along with these songs and the record’s not even going to be released for a couple of weeks. That feels good man!”
The music industry has seen a number of changes over the last decade, providing unique challenges for artists. While some bands have struggled with things such as the revolution in music distribution, the Goo Goo Dolls have adapted and thrived.
“I had a manager tell me, I’ll never forget this, like in ’94, we were sittin’ in his office and he looked at John and I and said, ‘Hey, complain or change!’ I was like ‘Bingo, you got me.”
“We still write songs, play songs, and people come to our shows to hear them. If you look at it any other way, it becomes this frustrating exercise that you’ll never, ever fix.”
“Writing great songs, recording great records, and being a great rock band is still as important as it ever was, but there’s another component to this now that involves your band directly, as far as social networking goes – as far as access to your band goes. You need to be able to give of yourself a little bit more.”
The Goos have evolved musically as well.
“We were learning to be a band back then. The bands we were aspiring to be like, Husker Du, The Replacements, weren’t selling records. Somewhere along the way, about four records in, we stopped aspiring to be those other bands and we aspired to be a better version of our band. It took us that long to mature as a band. Who gets that chance?”
Even though Robby and his bandmates have tasted success, they still feel the influence of new music.
“This is gonna sound funny, but you know how when somebody makes their wine, they really like their wine? They make wine exactly like the wine they like?”
“That’s sort of what I feel like in rock music. I’ve been playing guitar rock for a long time and I love it. But the music I listen to is so different.”
“I have a little record label (Good Charamel Records). I sign like all Japanese girl bands. Just because it’s so different, like it’s sort of a world I don’t know. I find that the influences of that kind of stuff on our songwriting or the way we go about things in general has brought much more interesting things into our music.”
One thing is perfectly clear, the band doesn’t take their success for granted.
“I’m just glad to be here man! I mean, I can’t believe it every day. I really can’t. My eyes well up on a daily basis.”
“You never think in a million years that it’s really gonna happen. And if that wears off, I think that sense of entitlement will crush you.”
“The biggest payoff from this thing is the completion of the circle, which is someone singin’ your song back to you on the other side of the planet, when you wrote that song sittin’ on the other side of your tub – if you don’t get somethin’ from that completion, you’re gonna be miserable.”
“I start to imagine my grandfather, standin’ on a ladder over a 180 degree boiling cauldron of steel, so he can put shoes on his kid’s feet. Man, this is a good job!”
The band’s grounded perspective comes through in their music and the way they embrace their fans.
Laughing, Robby said, “I just know that if they don’t show up, this would really suck!”
With all of the uncertainty around us, one thing is certain; the Arizona fans will show up this Saturday in Phoenix!
http://www.examiner.com/concerts-in-tucson/goo-goo-dolls-interview-on-br oadway-with-bassist-robby-takac
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