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The Goo Goo Dolls to perform at Lyric / article
« on: Nov 25th, 2006, 12:51pm » |
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The Goo Goo Dolls to perform at Lyric
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Mega-selling group on tour to promote their eighth album, 'Let Love In'
By Jordan Bartel, Times Staff Writer
In 1986, a small band from Buffalo, N.Y., with a somewhat inappropriate name was formed, unsure of where the music business would take them.
The Sex Maggots were very punk rock. It took them just a few days to change their name - for obvious reasons - but it took them the better part of the next decade to develop into what they've become today.
You know them now as the mega-selling Goo Goo Dolls. It's no wonder bassist and founding member Robby Takac marks the band's evolution in distinct phases.
"We were playing to not-so-full and very, very not-so-full clubs at the beginning," Takac said. "Then we had another phase where we had a hit song but no one knew who we were."
That hit song was 1995's "Name," a turning point for the band artistically and financially. In the next few years, they'd release the multi-platinum "Dizzy Up the Girl," which yielded hits such as "Slide," "Broadway" and their most well-known song, the sweeping ballad "Iris."
The phases kept on coming. 2002's "Gutterflower," the follow-up to "Dizzy Up the Girl," was something of a disappointment, though it sold a million-plus copies.
"There we were getting yelled at for just selling a million copies," Takac said. "I was thinking, 'Has my world gone crazy?' "
And now the Goo Goo Dolls are in another phase, a comfortable place, Takac said, as they are touring promoting their latest album, their eighth, "Let Love In."
The band, with lead singer and guitarist John Rzeznik and drummer Mike Malinin, will play at Baltimore's Lyric Opera House at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The refreshing vibe of the album is partly due to the fact that the group returned to their hometown to write and record, Takac said.
"It was necessary to go back," he said. "We were in this old Masonic temple and worked just 10 to 12 hours a day. We didn't have a choice but to start to write and play."
The sessions yielded the just-released "Let Love In," which features their cover of Supertramp's "Give a Little Bit," along with new hits "Stay With You" and "Better Days."
"Better Days" may be familiar to anyone who watched CNN reports on Hurricane Katrina last year. The news network used the song as background to video montages and the band later performed the song at the reopening of the New Orleans' Superdome.
"It's an example of us making a statement and people making it a part of their own thing," said Takac, reached by phone before a show in Ottawa, Ontario. "Being there at the Superdome, seeing the people ... it just dawned on me what it was important to be there."
Despite the band's huge success, with Grammy nominations and multi-platinum albums, Takac looks at their journey with modest reflection.
He said the band still wants to make a connection with people. That's the same mentality they had when their fan base was small. He takes success in stride and is comfortable today in not focusing on having a song spend weeks and weeks on the charts.
"We're in a good place right now," Takac said. "There was a point a decade ago when we looked at other bands around us and asked ourselves what kind of band we wanted to be.
"Our ability to not be afraid, to still push this thing along, is probably the smartest and most potent thing we've ever done."
Reach staff writer Jordan Bartel at 410-857-7862 or [email protected].
If you go ...
What: Goo Goo Dolls
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday; doors open at 7 p.m.
Where: Lyric Opera House, 140 W. Mount Royal Ave., Baltimore
Cost: Tickets are $37, available by calling 410-547-SEAT or through Ticketmaster.
Information: Call 410-685-5086 or go to www. lyricoperahouse.com
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2006/11/25/features/encore/en core9-04.txt
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