"I'm on the 34th floor, looking out my window," says Robby Takac, speaking from a hotel in midtown Manhattan. "Trust me, there's nothing like this in Buffalo." The 33-year-old bassist for the Goo Goo Dolls (his bandmates are singer/guitarist John Rzeznik and drummer, Mike Malinin) is enjoying the success of the group's second number one hit in their 11-year career: the love ballad "Iris", from the soundtrack to the film City of Angels. The Goo Goos were in the Big Apple to perform "Iris"-complete with string section-on the Late Show With David Letterman. In every sense, they are a long way from Buffalo.
In the day of the one-hit wonder, the Goo Goo Doll's endurance -not to mention their melodic, edgy power-punk music-is often compared to that of the late great Replacements of even REM. The comparison is something the band is used to hearing. "Our managers are always telling me that," Takac says, incredulous. "To me, I just seems weird. It's hard to see yourself that way, like when you're doing your own laundry," he laughs.
The Goo Goo Dolls are fortunate that their slow-building career has allowed them to keep their heads: they have been blessed, but not overwhelmed. "The first time we did TV (an appearance on Conan O'Brien) was for Superstar Car Wash three records ago. We've done Letterman three times, we've done Leno three times. MTV…I can't even count the number of times we've been there. It's amazing you know, when MTV decides that they're going to latch onto you. It's like a roller coaster ride.
"They put you in the oddest situations. We did the Olympics through them, we played in Aspen through them and down in Panama city Florida in the middle of a monsoon."
It was through the bands management company, Third Rail, that "Iris" came about, since they also own the company involved in the making of the film. "Johnny was out in Los Angeles for awhile {when} they were doing the City Of Angels movie and {he} went to a screening," says Takax, explaining that a film generally screened prior to the addition of a score, so that everyone involved can write music to suit the film. "John went home after the screening and wrote the song."
Presented with Rzeznik's acoustic demo of "Iris", the film's soundtrack coordinator decided right then that they song would be used in the film. "We all flew out and, in a matter of a week, it was rehearsed, arranged and we were in the studio recording it."
According to Takac, the version of "Iris" originally submitted for the film was thought to be "a little bit too grandiose. That's the version you're hearing on the radio right now. So they replaced it {for the film} with John doing 'iris' be himself-an acoustic version. It's a great record," he says of the soundtrack that also includes contributions by Alanis Morisette and U2 "and the story {of the movie} itself is pretty interesting. That's the perspective John wrote from."
At one point, "iris" held the number one position in five formats. "It's rare, I think, to get five formats going," says Takac. "We never really saw ourselves as cross-genre until "Name" (their 1995 #1 hit from the multi-platinum A Boy Named Goo) got big. Our first record came out in 1987 and all of our records have had that element to them. We grew up listening to Husker Du…drippy English new wave and stuff like that. I think that's what led us down a bit more melodic of a path."
At the close of the exhausting 21 months long Boy Named Goo tour, Rzeznik and Takac moved to New York City "for nine or ten months," where they wrote most of that record's follow-up, Dizzy Up the Girl, Takac laughs when he recounts how the band "looked at every song as its own beast. It was important for us to find the right vibe. Each song's really got a character of its own; different amplifier, different drum set, different procedures of recording, which added to the uniqueness of the songwriting itself. This record has some of the heaviest stuff and, at the same time, some of the sweetest stuff we've ever done."
The recording process was more time consuming than expected. As the band entered the studio "Iris: was simultaneously "going through the roof. We'd record for three days and then have to go do something-go play on a TV show or do this or that and come back {to the studio}."
The album's provocative title refers to a friend of Rzeznik's in the music industry, described as "a workaholic." As Takac tells it, "I think {John} felt she was gettingh a little tense. He said to himself one day that he needed to take her out and 'dizzy her up a bit' so she could forget about work. That's sort of what it's all about: going out and letting for a little while. {The phrase} just sounded so unique and the imagery is really nice. When we first started kicking it around, some of the feminist types had a problem with it. Once it's put into perspective, and you're not looking at it defensively, it's sort of fun."
In August, the Goo Goos geared up for their tour with a charity show in Buffalo and then shared the stage with Third Eye Blind, Dishwalla, Marcy Playground and Joan Osborne at the Woodstock anniversary concert, A Day In the Garden. Expect to find this hard-working band on the road for a long time.
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