Much has changed for Johnny Rzeznik and Robby Takac during their nearly 40 years together as Goo Goo Dolls. But one thing hasn’t.
“John and I will actually slap each other and punch each other and get the aggression out,” Takac tells Billboard via Zoom from the Chicago stop of the Goos’ Summer Anthem Tour, named for the new EP the duo is releasing on Friday (Aug. 22).
When’s the last time that happened? “Oh…about a year and a half ago,” Takac says with a laugh. “In retrospect, it’s funny…. But, you know, it’s just silly. It turns into slap fights. We don’t want to hurt each other. We love each other. John and I shared a bedroom for years, platonically of course, but that’s where we come from. People act like a–holes sometimes — I do, he does. Ultimately we go have a cup of coffee and we figure it out and make it happen.”
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A lot has been happening for the Goos during the past couple of years. The inclusion of its 1998 Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Iris” in last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine stoked greater interest in the band, followed by an appearance at the Stagecoach Festival. The result has been evident on tour, according to Takac. “We haven’t seen numbers like this probably ever in our career,” he says. “We’ve got young kids coming out to our shows; that didn’t happen 10 years ago, I will tell you that much. There’s so many kids at these shows now. Oddly, a Goo Goo Dolls show has become more family-friendly than, like, a Sabrina Carpenter show. There’s no simulated fellatio at a Goo Goo Dolls show. They might hear a few F-bombs, but you’re gonna get that on the news these days. So that’s great to see. I hope we have the luxury of having people be this interested in years to come.”
That interest was partly responsible for making Summer Anthem a seven-song EP rather than a full album, in fact.
Takac says that he and Rzeznik had planned to take 2024 off to work on new material. But with all of the aforementioned attention, “all of a sudden there was a huge need from promoters to get us out there. So we were doing that and then trying to find the pockets to be able to go in and record. We decided that when it was time for the tour, that’s how many songs we were gonna put out, and it turned to be seven songs.” The bassist adds with a laugh that, “It’s all just part of that complicated push and pull that happens in our organization. It’s an experiment. We’ve never done anything like this before, so we’ll see where it goes.”
Summer Anthem was recorded in New York with regular Goos producer Gregg Wattenberg. Rzeznik wrote six of the tracks with Wattenberg and a variety of other collaborators — including Grant Michaels, touring guitarist Brad Fernquist (recently sidelined with shoulder issues) and, on the track “Run All Night,” O.A.R.’s Marc Roberge. Takac, meanwhile, contributed the rocker “Such a Mystery.” “John and Gregg are always looking for that next thing that tickles them,” Takac explains. “I don’t know if we’re necessarily trying to put ourselves up against Dua Lipa or any of those folks, but they do some cool things on their records. Music moves and progresses, and you try to borrow pieces from everything and use them in a way that makes sense for what we do.”
It speaks to the duo’s confidence in the new material, however, that the Goos have been playing several of Summer Anthem’s songs — including the single “Not Goodbye (Close My Eyes)” — during summer concerts, well in front of the EP’s release. “We’ve got a lot of songs,” Takac says, “but you need to leave space and you need to grow and not feel like you’re one of those bands that just plays your hits and your old songs.
“We just feel a need to make music,” Takac continues, “and we haven’t left that headspace yet; I don’t know if we’re ever gonna. I just think it’s in our nature to do that. I almost get offended when someone asks, ‘What are you gonna do next?’ What are you talking about? We’re gonna go make some music and we’re gonna tour again. That’s what we do.”
This year’s activities also coincide with the 30th anniversary of the group’s breakthrough A Boy Named Goo album and its No. 5 Hot 100 hit “Name.” Takac recalls that the track “Flat Top” was the planned single first, however. “We were actually shooting a video for it — makeup on, lights burning — and someone came running in, all excited, (saying) that KROQ (in Los Angeles) had added ‘Name.’ So we were like, ‘Alright, let’s shift gears…,’ and once that happened the whole machine was behind us. We got to see what it was really like to be a priority at a big record label. And we worked — hard, like 20 hours a day of promoting Goo Goo Dolls and being out there, going to six, eight radio stations in a day, sometimes. I don’t know if I could do that amount of work. It doesn’t feel like 30 years ago; it feels like another lifetime, if that makes any sense.”
Takac feels much the same about the impending 40th anniversary of the Goos’ start in their native Buffalo, N.Y., which falls next year. “We haven’t talked about it,” he says. “We didn’t do too much for the A Boy Named Goo anniversary. We did a big 25th anniversary tour for (1998’s) Dizzy Up the Girl and played the whole record; it was cool to do, but I’m not sure I loved it. Focusing on that one record didn’t feel as exciting as it could have. So we don’t have anything planned for (the 40th anniversary) right now, but I’m sure something will come up. Every day seems to bring a new opportunity and a new perspective, so we’ll see.”
