Goo Goo Dolls' John Rzeznik: Being back on the road is like reconnecting with old friends
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Alt-rock superstars the Goo Goo Dolls will take the stage at Stephens Auditorium on Oct. 30 as they tour with their newest album, “Chaos in Bloom.”
Many of the songs on the new album reflect things in daily life that were amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, John Rzeznik, the band’s lead singer, told the Ames Tribune.
“The pandemic caused a shift in the way I was thinking,” Rzeznik said. “It caused a lot of anxiety. Not just the part about getting sick — and I wound up getting COVID twice — I just never thought anything was going to get back to normal.”
During the pandemic, Rzeznik isolated at his New Jersey home with his wife, their young daughter, his mother-in-law and two of his wife’s nieces. Songwriting helped him find some normal in the chaos, though.
“I think that a lot of everything that was going on in the world influenced this album,” Rzeznik said.
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Music is common ground for people from different walks of life
This summer, Goo Goo Dolls started touring for the band’s 14th album, “Chaos in Bloom,” which was released Aug. 12.
It was the band’s first live, in-person shows since the pandemic began, and being back on stage was a meaningful experience for Rzeznik. It was the longest hiatus from the road for the Goo Goo Dolls since the band formed in 1986.
“It was like reconnecting with an old friend. It was like reconnecting with thousands of old friends,” he said. “It was so much fun. And it was just so good to see some old faces that we knew — and some new faces — and strive to make it as fun as possible.”
Touring again reminded Rzeznik that no matter what’s going on outside the venue, everybody in the room has something in common. It makes it easier to find common ground, he said.
“When you’re at a show, music has the ability to take people from different walks of life, different ideologies, and put them together in a zone that they can all agree on,” he said. “Politically, socially, whatever, our audience is very diverse and that makes me feel good.”
Chaos in Bloom is 'a blend of the old, the new, the weird'
“Chaos in Bloom” is the first full album Rzeznik produced. He also enlisted longtime collaborator Gregg Wattenberg to help with vocal production and finishing touches.
Being the producer gave Rzeznik more artistic license on the project, as he tends to fuss over the little details, he said. “There was no one to stop me,” he said with a laugh.
Rzeznik also worked with sound engineer Chris Szczech. "He’s a young guy but he’s very into old-school recording techniques and styles. We tried to blend the old, the new, the weird and put it all together on the album,” Rzeznik said.
Rzeznik has an enormous collection of vintage recording equipment — stuff from as far back as the 1940s.
“Ultimately it sounds better than a lot of the new stuff,” he said. “I read about weird tricks people did to capture certain sounds. It gets really nerdy and kinda wonky.
“I like to play around with amplifiers, pedals, different kinds of guitars. Kind of using the recording studio and all the equipment as another instrument. And quite honestly, abusing and using a lot of the equipment in the wrong way to get a certain sound. It was fun but it got a little expensive.”
“Chaos in Bloom” was recorded at Dreamland Studios in Woodstock, New York. It was kind of like summer camp as the band worked on songs Rzeznik and bassist and songwriter Robby Takac wrote during the pandemic.
“It was really cool. You get off the highway and then you go down a local road and then take this little branch road and drive through this heavily wooded area. You turn into this gravel driveway, and there’s a house and an old church. The studio was up in the church and the house was down the hill,” Rzeznik said.
They stayed there together, isolated in a way, he said. After listening to many live recordings of the Goo Goo Dolls, Rzeznik wanted that kind of sound for this album.
“A lot of the recordings on this album went down like a live performance,” he said. “You actually get the push and pull of the performers. I wanted to try an older, old-school process.”
The Goo Goo Dolls are excited to perform in Ames, Rzeznik said.
“The Midwest is really, really good to us. It’s one of those parts of the country where people still really love rock and roll,” he said. “I’m from Buffalo, New York, which is on the eastern edge of the Midwest, and people are very down to earth and I always have fun in that part of the world.”
The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $29 to $79 and are available at Ticketmaster.com.
Ronna Faaborg covers business and the arts for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rlawless@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Goo Goo Dolls prepare for Ames stop in "Chaos in Bloom" tour
