The Evolving Goo Goo Dolls

Evolving Goo Goo Dolls play at URI’s Ryan Center http://www.projo.com/music/content/GOO_GOO_DOLLS_09-28-10_2QK08H5_v9.139ec79.html 01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 By Rick Massimo In 25 years, The Goo Goo Dolls have progressed from a tuneful but brash post-punk outfit to sleek, adult-pop hitmakers with 9 million in album sales and 17 Top-10 singles. “Something For the Rest of Us,” their ninth studio disc which was released last month, illustrates how the trio of John Rzeznik, Robby Takac and Mike Malinin continue to evolve their sound, their subject matter and their process. They recorded the disc in Los Angeles and in their own brand-new studio in their native Buffalo, and Rzeznik says that had an effect on the process: “We could experiment a little more without worrying about the clock running, or about blowing any equipment up. Actually, we did start a few fires, but it was all our own stuff.” That said, the disc’s release date was pushed back a few times, and producers such as Butch Vig and longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo were brought in to help finish the record up. The band had thought it was all finished, but after listening to it for a while, Rzeznik says, “It didn’t fit right with me.” So they wrote another song, stripped out some tracks, re-recorded some guitars and vocals and remixed the whole disc. “That’s not as common as it once was, but we had the time,” Rzeznik says, adding that Warner Bros. was supportive of them taking the time to get it right. The disc includes the hit leadoff single “Home,” as well as huge-hooked, earnest anthems such as “As I Am” and “Notbroken,” as well as the catchy mid-tempo lope of “Sweetest Lie.” Rzeznik, the singer, guitarist and chief songwriter, says that he wanted to make a disc of songs that engaged with developments in the world around him, but didn’t make direct political or confrontational statements. In a recent phone interview, he says he was looking to be “emotional, but not sentimental. … I wanted to explore the emotional underpinnings of what’s going on in America. How a war or losing a job affects how people treat each other.” The touring schedule is a grueling one, Rzeznik added, putting the band on the road until about the fall of 2011. And while it slows down the recording process (“That’s why we have these three- or four-year cycles”), the end result — bringing songs to the fans — is worth it in the end, he says. Some of the Dolls’ biggest hits — “Name,” “Iris,” their cover of Peter Frampton’s “Give A Little Bit” — have been based on acoustic guitars, though there’s no such track on “Something For the Rest of Us.” A lot of artists would either consciously want to include a similar track on their future releases, or else consciously rebel from doing so. But Rzeznik says it wasn’t an issue either way: “I didn’t pay any attention to whether there was another ‘Iris’-type song or not. … I’m grateful for ‘Iris,’ but this is where we’re at now — John Rzeznik 2008 to 2010.” The Goo Goo Dolls play at the Ryan Center, at the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston campus, Wednesday night at 8. Tickets are available at the box office, by calling (800) 745-3000 or on the web at ticketmaster.com. rmassimo@projo.com