Classic Rock - July 20026

Welcome back....

Dropping out of Buffalo State College in 1986 was the best move Johnny Rzeznik ever made. By the following year, he'd teamed up with Robby Takac (bass) and George Tutuska (drums), released the Goo Goo Dolls' eponymous debut on the Celluloid label, and escaped the dead-end neighbourhood that had thus far been his world. Early material betrayed the influence of British punk and The Replacements, but by 1995's A Boy Named Goo Rzeznik was displaying a lighter touch with ballads like Name. This melodic new direction was a good fit, and in 1998 it paid dividends via the radio hit Iris (from the City Of Angles soundtrack), which pushed the Dolls into the big league. Their latest release is Let Love In.

Do you still write about the same subjects that you did as a teenager?

No. I'm concerned about bigger things now. When I was a teenager I was worried about who I was gonna date. But lately it just seems the whole world is going behind a cloud, y'know? This album was written when I was trying to be in a positive state of mind, but my nature is to make the worst of a bad situation.

Weren't you originally called The Sex Maggots?

That was a joke. We just made that up, cos we'd done a thousand interviews that week. And then it sort of got around. It was like a bad joke that comes back to bite you on the ass. It just goes to show that if you say something with enough conviction, people will believe it.

But you were fans of British punk, right?

Yeah, I grew up listening to all that. It was amazing, cos it was music that wasn't about cars or girls. It made more sense to me, instead of the usual American radio rock, which was all crap, even back then. The Clash were my favourites. They were just so smart, and such great storytellers.

Was your Catholic education a good preparation for a life in rock'n'roll?

Well, my father used to say: "Don't let the Catholics fuck up your relationship with God." It was very strict. You hear about kids bringing guns to school now. I would have been terrified to bring a gun to school, because Sister Priscilla would have beaten me to death with it. In retrospect, I think the discipline was good. I mean, I rebelled against it really, really hard. And I don't think I'd send my kid to a Catholic school.

When you wrote Iris, did you realise how soppy the movie City Of Angels would be?

When they asked me to write it, they said: "Come see the movie." I saw it and I was like: "Wait a minute. This is [classic 1987 Wim Wenders film] Wings Of Desire." So I rented a copy of Wings Of Desire, and that's really the focus of the song. It's basically the same film, only City Of Angels is more sanitised for easy digestion.

How much money have you made from it?

A nice pay day, but I couldn't retire on it.

What do you remember about opening for the Stones back in 1999?

I remember someone walking into our dressing room and saying: "Mick wants to meet you." He came in, and we all stood at attention, sorta involuntarily, like he was going to review the troops or something. I remember being taken by how easy-going he was. And then getting to hang out and drink vodka and orange with Keith Richards and Ron Wood, that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Keith is everything that rock'n'roll should be. You walk in, and it smells like leather and cigarettes and beer and sweat.

They say you shouldn't meet your heroes.

I have met some of my heroes, and they'll remain nameless, but it was a real disappointment because they were very stand-offish.

Interview: Henry Yates