"I was in the lab putting them together for about a year," says Rzeznik. "I had all my guitars in there in a bunch of different tunings. For the lyrics, I would write things down in a stream-of-consciousness style on yellow legal paper or a Post-it note." In order to remember specific tuning he'd devised for a given song, Rzeznik "taped the paper with the lyrics to the back of whatever I instrument was using."
Rzeznik's "system" of recall, primitive though it may be, is essential for a mean known for concocting oddball tunings faster than a speeding album with a bullet. We're not talking open G here, or dropped D, or even the paternal-sounding D A D G A D. Remember, the Goo Goo Dolls first hit the big time with the 1995 breakthrough smash "Name," a song that Rzeznik wrote and recorded with his acoustic guitar tuned, low to high D A E A E E. The guitarist also employed unusual tunnings on subsequent hits like "Iris," "Black Balloon," and "Slide." So here's Johnny and his Post-its, like any true man of science seeking to create order out of potential and chaos. And hits-big, big hits.
It's no surprise, then, that those egregiously tuned acoustic guitars play a central role on Gutterflower as well. Tracks like "Sympathy" and the first single, "Here Is Gone," feature the droning open strings and lush overtones that have, in recent years become Rzeznik's trademark. The sound that is now universally recognized as pure Goo is a far cry from the noise made by the band in their pre-Platinum days, when Rzeznik and cofounder and bassist/vocalist Robbie Takac would emulate the distorted guitar blasts and punch-drunk vocalism of groups like the Replacements and Husker Du, gleefully kicking out their jams in the "loud, fast rules" tradition.
The transformation the Goo Goo Dolls have undergone between then and now has been well documented. The bratty garage-punkers of Goo Goo Dolls (1987), Jed (1989), and Hold Me Up (1990) have become the ethereally sensitive, mainstream pop-rockers of A Boy Named Goo (1995), Dizzy Up The Girl (1998) and now Gutterflower. The connecting link between these two personas is 1993's Superstar Car Wash, and album that while rooted in the Goo's thrashy- but- melodic approach also signaled the emergence of Rzeznik's acoustic guitar as an integral part of the band's sound- most notably on the track "We Are The Normal," a collaboration with ex-Replacements front man Paul Westberg.
While the Goo Goo Dolls are today most identified with Rzeznik's poignant detuned ballads, the band's old dirty vibe still rears its head every so often, as on the Takac-penned Gutterflower track "Tucked Away." As for Rzeznik, he may be a platinum-plated artist who mixes easily and often among the decaying beautiful people on Hollywood Blvd., but his heart still belong to his blue-collar home of Buffalo. This enormously successful artist speaks of the city with the hushed reverence other men feel for Jerusalem, Mecca and Liverpool. John Rzeznik is the gutterflower- a punk kid from the streets who has blossomed into a creative commercial star if the first magnitude.
Guitar World Acoustic With two Platinum records under your belt, you're now a bonafide rock star.
John Rzeznik I don't feel like one. Bad rock star. I'm a bad rock star.
GWA How so?
Rzeznik Because i don't fuck everything that moves [laughs] And it's weirder than I thought it would be. It was an amazing thing to have happen, but I really didn't realize what comes with the territory. How much work it would be-and how much I would drink while on tour!
GWA You put a lot of hard work on the road-two years- in support of the Dizzy Up The Girl album.
Rzeznik When that tour hit 21 or 22 months I started to go off the edge. Friends who spent time with me on tour said, "You've got a really great life, but how long before it drives you nuts?" And I figured it out- 18 months! I've got enough stamina for that long. I was looking for a party and I found it. Fame is great until you've been on the other side for five minutes. You start looking for quick comfort in all the wrong places. You want to short-circut the meaninglessness of it in a lot of ways. So you start drinking a lot on the road...Listen to me- another rock star whining about his problems!
GWA But it must be nice to be surrounded by people eager to cater to your every whim.
Rzeznik Well I don't like to have people kissing my ass. I've been around guys who have that, and it deludes you. It makes you fee like you can't be wrong- that you're infallible.
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