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        Goo Goo Dolls >> Goo Goo Dolls >> Goo Goo Dolls rocker clean & sober / article
        
(Message started by: Shannon on Nov 16^th, 2006, 1:24pm)

Title: Goo Goo Dolls rocker clean & sober / article
Post by Shannon on Nov 16^th, 2006, 1:24pm

Goo Goo Dolls rocker clean & sober

By ANN MARIE MCQUEEN -- Ottawa Sun
� �
Robby Takac may be a rock star, but he gave up the drinking and drug-fuelled lifestyle 18 months ago.

Now when the Goo Goo Dolls bassist goes on the road it's a completely different scene after the show. The band plays the National Arts Centre tomorrow night.

"It's especially weird for me, to be around the same people I've been around for years and years, and at two o'clock in the morning, looking at them and going, 'Oh my God, holy cow, I used to be doing that,' " he says. "Totally bizarre man. Totally bizarre. It sends you back to your room a lot."

Takac says it's amazing the way his life has changed without booze. For one thing, he has oodles more time on his hands.

"I can't believe it," he says. "I wake up first thing in the morning and I go, 'What do I do?' I don't have four hours of healing to do every day any more."

Goo Goo Dolls guitarist John Rzeznik hasn't quit drinking and Takac says they have seen their friendship adjust and change according to their methods of socializing.

"At the same time I know him as well as you can really know somebody," he says. "And he knows me too."

Booze or no booze, Takac says the band is in the midst of a rejuvenation some 20 years after forming in Buffalo. They returned there last winter to record the trio's eighth album, Let Love In, and Takac says so far, on the road, there seems to be a whole new generation of fans coming out to see them.

He credits the Internet and MySpace, which lets music lovers find the band and the band communicate with them in ways which weren't previously possible.

"Every show we do, every tour we do there's more people," he says. "The venues get bigger and bigger."

Takac says the band still struggles with how they are perceived after making it big with ballads such as Iris.

"I guess the biggest misconception is that we're blowdryed balladeers ... If we fill that niche in someone's world I'm glad to fill that niche. Once people get out there and see us play, I take no responsibility for plastering them against the back wall."

Takac also figures guys who might have been dragged to the show by their wives or girlfriends end up "liking the show a whole lot more than they thought they would."

Goo Goo Dolls has had some low points: There were fleeting thoughts of breaking up after their last record, Gutterfly, mostly after their record company wasn't happy with its performance. But they decided to forge ahead, even in the face of frustration that makes it hard to be creative.

"It's hard when you've sold a million records and your label looks at you and says, 'What happened?' " says Takac. "What do you mean what happened? We sold a million records you moron. That's what you feel like saying to them."

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/G/Goo_Goo_Dolls/2006/11/16/2378260.html

......Gutterfly? :-/

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls rocker clean & sober / artic
Post by fan.googoodolls on Nov 16^th, 2006, 1:51pm

Since I'm an Ottawa native, I can honestly say that the Sun is perhaps the worst paper in town ... it's only good use is as toilet paper in the restroom. 8)

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls rocker clean & sober / artic
Post by The Purple O on Nov 16^th, 2006, 4:59pm

Thanks for the article.

Gutterfly? :wtf:

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls rocker clean & sober / artic
Post by carlyn on Nov 16^th, 2006, 7:43pm

I think it's really awesome that Robby quit drinking. ;D Go Robby!

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls rocker clean & sober / artic
Post by Saz_Goo on Nov 18^th, 2006, 6:56am

Great article, thanks for posting it!! I wonder whether Robby started his myspace page after that; was it as a way of filling some time?? ???

(LOL, I sometimes wonder whether journalists just get really bored when they're writing a music article and think, "Hmm, what will I deliberately get wrong today? The subject's name? Nah...too easy and it's been done too many times before. The band name? Nah...people may not recognise them otherwise. I know!! The album name. Hmm... Gutterflower... sounds like Gutterfly - that'll do! Heh heh heh.")

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls rocker clean & sober / artic
Post by goober_1013 on Nov 18^th, 2006, 7:22pm

Gutterfly is my favorite Goo album. . .i don't know why it so little recognition from the music community. . . ;D

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls rocker clean & sober / artic
Post by The Purple O on Nov 18^th, 2006, 9:56pm

:gflower: :gflower:
I forgot about this icon...