Photo by Kurt Iswarienko
Luckily for Robby Takac, bassist and backup vocalist for the Goo Goo Dolls, the invention of Twitter came around after he stopped partying. After being in an incredibly successful band and touring the world for over 24 years, life on the road has changed a bit for Takac, drummer Mike Malinin, and front man John Rzeznik.
“I can reach out right now to half a million of our fans just by clicking one button,” Takac said recently, “which is another good reason to not drink a lot anymore. If I was drinking like I used to, they would’ve had to put some kind of secret code on my laptop, I’d be in so much trouble.”
The Goo Goo Dolls formed in 1986 in Buffalo, NY, churning out Replacements-influenced rock for four albums, and living on the road for almost a decade before the masses really started to take notice. With the song “Name” released in ‘95 and “Iris” in ‘98 (you’ve definitely heard them), superstardom came calling. Cut to 2007, when the band released their album “Greatest Hits Volume One: The Singles,” a compilation limited solely to songs that were top ten hits, a far cry from the early days of playing tiny punk-rock clubs like CBGBs in New York and Maxwell’s in Hoboken.
But the transformation from struggling band to mainstream rock stars was not a calculated move; nor was the injection of acoustic ballads into the band’s oeuvre. It just so happens that they like exploring different kinds of music.
“This band has always had a bit of an identity crisis,” Takac said, “and I think that’s sort of what has allowed us to be around still, because we’ve never really been locked into one thing or another. We’ve just sort of been out there playing our songs.”
Takac and the band are out there playing their new songs these days, with their first studio album since 2006, “Something for the Rest of Us,” set to be released on August 31st, and a stop at Baltimore’s Pier Six Pavilion on August 3rd. The album’s first single, “Home,” was released in June.
In addition to cutting down on the partying in order to keep their career going, the band has had to learn to adapt in other ways over the years, especially in the age of downloads and social networking. Takac said they’ve learned that there are benefits to be gleaned from the new digital age, including having people learn their new songs from YouTube before the band comes to town.
“This is all such an amazing metamorphosis,” he said, “from what we used to know as a touring cycle, when we were terrified to play songs that people didn’t know. You’d play a new song and quite often you’d get that ‘head cocked to the left, confused dog’ look. But that’s really not the case anymore, because people have become inquisitive, and that’s really the benefit we’re starting to see from all the digital chaos that’s happened to the industry.”
Don’t expect to see Takac and the Goo Goo Dolls filing lawsuits against fans who download their music or post fan-created videos on YouTube. They’ve accepted the fact that selling CDs is not the way they, or any other band, is going to make a living these days.
“It’s a little disheartening to know that the thing that traditionally has kept the music industry alive—selling your recorded music—is now pretty much a moot point,” Takac lamented. “But you just have to look forward and figure out how [the new music business model] operates and exist within it. I have to say it’s dizzying but it’s a lot of fun too.”
As a music biz entrepreneur himself, Takac has had to keep up with the latest technology in order to run his own ventures, which include GCR Audio, his recording studio in Buffalo; Good Charamel Records, his record label, which includes acts like legendary Japanese girl-punk band Shonen Knife; and Music is Art, the non-profit organization he founded in Buffalo that focuses on music education and enrichment in the local community.
But Takac doesn’t just use the internet to keep his businesses running and connect to Goo Goo Dolls fans; he also has fun. To keep himself occupied and out of trouble, he’s gotten into checking out the oddities and forgotten corners of the US that are celebrated and discussed on the website Roadside America. Every morning out on tour, he and drummer Mike Malinin—who also happens to be a long-distance runner (“No, I mean it,” Takac said of Malinin. “50 mile races, double marathons through the mountains, he’s just nuts.”)—take a walk and explore the local wackiness. “You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I’ve seen,” Takac said. And he blogs about it at www.robbyslobby.com.
Takac had one more plug he wanted to get in before our interview ended, but it wasn’t for a new band on his record label, or a plea for readers to check out the new record. Instead, he wanted to remind fans of the band’s canned food drives that are held at every show. Through the organization USA Harvest, the food collected at shows goes directly to local food banks and usually ends up in the hands of people who need it within 24 hours. The fan who brings the most canned goods gets to go backstage and meet the band. Sounding prouder than he had of any top ten hit or award, Takac said, “We collected 7,000 items in Chicago the other night!”
With that, he was off to another soundcheck on the new, nonstop Goo Goo Dolls tour. After this summer’s run of shows, the band will hit the UK, Japan, and Australia before they come back and play the US once again.
Takac laughed, “We’re carnies now, that’s what we do.”
Goo Goo Dolls with Switchfoot and The Spill Canvas, August 3rd at Pier Six Pavilion. Tickets are $30-$70 and can be purchased at www.piersixpavilion.com. Pier Six Pavilion: 731 Eastern Ave., Baltimore, MD; 410-783-4189; www.piersixpavilion.com.
