Goo Goo Dolls playing the Paramount
John Rzeznik, left, and Robby Takac of the Goo Goo Dolls perform prior to the NFL International Series match between Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium in London, England. (Oct. 23, 2011) Credit: Getty Images
Johnny Rzeznik may be celebrating 25 years with the Goo Goo Dolls this year, but he is actually more excited about a host of new experiences.
The Goo Goo Dolls' singer-songwriter headlined Wembley Stadium in England last month, he's started writing on the road, and he has moved to Sea Cliff, becoming a Long Islander for the first time.
"I wanted to start seeing the seasons again," the Buffalo native says of the move back to New York from Los Angeles. "We have some friends that live there and they said, 'Come out and look at the town we live in.' So me and my girlfriend drove out and we just fell in love with it. It feels like home."
How is the tour going?
Great. It's sort of our last lap before we get back in the studio for the next record. . . . And I've been doing a lot of writing on the road, which I've never done before because I always thought I need to be in either one mode or the other. But I really didn't feel like waiting another three or four years before I put another album out. . . . It's been an interesting process.
What was it like playing Wembley Stadium?
It was amazing and a lot of fun. But when you play in front of that many people, there's an awful lot of stuff going on around you and it's almost like you're the background music for the big show that's going on around you. . . . It was almost an out-of-body experience.
And "Iris" just hit No. 1 there.
Yeah, it's took 12 years for it to break in the U.K. [laughs] All the guys at the record company were patting each other on the back, but I'm like, "You know, some kid sang it on a TV show."
Well, it's a pretty good argument for the song being seen as timeless.
Yeah. That felt really good to know that there's kids who know that song. . . . It's a real gift to have just one song in your career like that. If it all stopped right now, that's not a bad legacy to have.
WHO Goo Goo Dolls
WHEN | WHERE 8 p.m. Saturday and Tuesday, the Paramount, 370 New York Ave., Huntington
INFO $30-$99.50; 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com
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