The Goo Goo Dolls On New Album: Boxes

BBM recently chatted to Robby Takac, rock bassist and vocalist for legendary band: The Goo Goo Dolls. Having sold more than 12 million albums since 1986, scoring 14 Top 10 radio hits in the US including ‘Name’, ‘Slide’ and of course the never forgotten track ‘Iris’, The Goo Goo Dolls are something truly special. They have toured the globe countless times, performed in front of millions of fans and have rightly received numerous awards. We caught up with the lovely Robby to talk about the new release of ‘Boxes’ and their insane music career.

Hi Robby! Thanks for talking to us today, how are you?

I’m great, I’m sitting in a beautiful little park here in a town outside of Buffalo, on a sunny day, it’s very nice.

So your 11th album has just been released, what do you think is different about ‘Boxes’?

I think this record goes a lot of different places. We spend a lot of time working on the last record with outside producers. This time we knew what to expect when we were going in, so we made this process more ours which resulted in a much more potent record.

Even as a band with a lot of experience, do you still learn something from going on tour with someone as big as The Rolling Stones?

Yeaaah, its weird, everyone wants to open for The Rolling Stones and when you finally get a chance to play with them, you realise that everyone has come to see The Rolling Stones. And it’s very exiting to be in the same orbit with them. Just watching their energy was incredible.

Who would you say have been your biggest influences in your music career?

John and I growing up listened to Kiss, radio and stuff like that, I think when we were a little older we started hearing Ramones and punk rock, making us feel like we maybe could do this.

Do you feel the rock genre has changed a lot since you began making music?

Yeah, absolutely, the landscape has changed entirely. When we started, the alternative music scene was like a very small club we were all members of, and when we got more popular a lot of things changed. The Internet is an amazing thing, it can offer a palette of exposure.

What is the best place in the world you’ve ever played in?

I love Japan, we haven’t been in a long, long time but my wife is from Japan. The UK is also great, I love flying everywhere – its awesome.

What do you think is the key to surviving so long in the music industry?

You’ve gotta be open to new ideas, you’ve gotta trust the people you’re with. It’s good to have a partner and people you can make music with.

If you could give advice to your 20-year-old self, what would you say?

My physical self would tell myself to read things before you sign them, because we never really did that very much when we were young. But I would also tell myself to watch out and have a good time.

Do you still think you’ll be doing what you’re doing in ten years time?

We’ll keep making records and when it feels dumb or people stop showing up then maybe its time to stop. People still love to come share a rock show with us and we love sharing it with them.

“Boxes” is out NOW via Warner Bros. Records.

By Suanne Cunningham