More Goo Stuff

August 24, 2000

JOHN RZEZNIK INTERVIEW

"I'm a bad rock star, but a good songwriter," says John Rzeznik in a moment of self-assessment. "That's what my trip is all about. I want to go as far as I can as a songwriter. That's what I really am," adds Rzeznik, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for those tasty hit-making rockers, the Goo Goo Dolls.

The band's journey began auspiciously in 1999, landing nominations in two of the big four categories for the '99 Grammy awards, and it continues into a new century.

The group's wildly successful "Iris," penned by Rzeznik, was nominated for record of the year, and for song of the year (a writer's award) in 1999. The song originally was part of the triple-platinum Top 5 Reprise Records album, "Music from the Motion Picture City of Angels." The song remained in the Top 5 at almost every format on national radio airplay charts in the summer of '98. It was honored by BMI as the most performed song from a film in 1998. According to Goo Goo Dolls' publicist Mary Melia, "Iris" holds a place in music history as the most played song by a group at multiple formats in any one week since American broadcast data has been measured. "That's really wild," says Rzeznik in a telephone interview. "We always start working a song at alternative and rock radio. If your song becomes a hit there, then they start to play it on pop radio." Though "Iris" was written for the Nicholas Cage film, the Dolls decided to include it on their current, and sixth, studio album, "Dizzy Up The Girl," which is approach quadruple platinum-plus in sales. He believes that "Iris" resonated with so many people because it was a song anybody could relate to. "To me a (good) song is something people can understand and relate to," he says.

He brought that philosophy to the 13 compositions on "Dizzy Up The Girl," which has sold almost four million albums to date and has appeared on the Billboard charts for 95 weeks. Four singles off the album - "Iris," "Slide," "Dizzy" and "Black Balloon" - have accumulated a million plays at radio. Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait wrote a video treatment for the single "Broadway," airing on MTV and VH-1.

Rzeznik, a Buffalo native, speaks of wanting to be led by the music, rather than leading it, in approaching writing. After struggling with writing songs that he liked for this album, he told himself just to turn on the tape recorder and enjoy himself. Once he did that he had a great time, he says. He believes there is something on the album that everybody can take a piece of as his or her own. Rzeznik says he just wants people to know the band is real. "I think we are one of the only bands on pop radio right now that wasn't built in a laboratory. We are a real band. We've been around a long time writing and singing our own music. There's nothing phony about this."

He believes he brings a Buffalo sensibility to his music. "I definitely think there is an attitude in Buffalo. Buffalo people are definitely the most real people I ever met in my life. I think that comes with the East Coast.

"Buffalo is a big city and a small town at the same time. There are neighborhoods and families, that kind of thing. There's always a bit of optimism in Buffalo. It's a city of survivors." That feeling translates to the band's own approach, he suggests. He admits that he is surprised at how things have turned out for the now veteran band. "So many times I was ready to walk away, then some sort of serendipitous event brings me back. It's beautiful, like I was meant to do this," he says. Rzeznik does not take it all for granted. He knows that he is "really, really lucky" to be given an opportunity to express himself. "That's something that every single person on this earth, it's their right to do. Whether they do it and millions of people hear it, or nobody but yourself, it's equally valid."

The group's mainstream breakthrough came in 1996 with their fifth album, "A Boy Named Goo," propelled by the success of the song "Name." That kept the Dolls on the road for almost two years. Rzeznik believes his music speaks to people because he is not trying to be "some sort of pretentious, cooler-than-though" rock star.

"I write music for real people," he says. "I'm a human being. I experience the same everyday stuff everybody else does, and it affects me. And I just write about what I feel most of the time. I don't hear a lot of music like ours. We really play hard. We have a long history, which helps, and I think what we do is a legitimate, valid, thing. We're really having a great time."

Once again, the Goos want others to benefit from their good fortune. They have invited USA Harvest, the nationwide food delivery organization, to join them in collecting food for the needy.

Since March of 1999, USA Harvest has collected more than 600,000 pounds of food donated by fans at the band's concerts. The Goos are again appealing to fans to bring canned and other non-perishable food items to the shows. Volunteers will be on hand to collect the food and deliver it locally to soup kitchens, shelters and other social service agencies. Rzeznik says he tries to do things from the bottom of his soul. "I'm amazed that I can sit down, put a guitar in my hands and start playing kind of free style, and it will be four hours later and it will feel like it's been five minutes," he says. "I think that adds depth to your being, when something in your life can do that for you."

Everybody should try to find something in their life that can do that for them, he suggests. Too often, he says, people find "really elaborate self-destructive ways of killing time on this planet." "That's why they take drugs or drink, trying to alter their state of being. If you can find something that doesn't destroy you, but deepens your character, you're really lucky.