Iris to Wireless: Goo Goo Dolls plot their return

Showing no signs of stopping just yet, the American rockers are currently holed up out in the middle of nowhere in their home town, Buffalo, NY, working on the follow up to 2006’s Let Love In.

Having played to one of their biggest ever audiences at V Festival last year, the band returning to UK shores this summer to play O2 Wireless in London’s Hyde Park, alongside Ben Harper And The Innocent Criminals, Powderfinger and headliners Counting Crows.

Following that, they will be heading off to Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle and Liverpool for the UK leg of their 2008 tour, which kicks off at Kansas State University next month.

Taking a break from writing their new album, singer Johnny Rzeznik lets us in on the band’s secret for staying together longer than most, and lifts the lid on what Americans really think of us Brits.

Virtual Festivals: Being election time, what were your thoughts on the state of the world when you got up this morning?
Johnny Rzeznik: “Probably the same as they are every morning. I love my country but it’s been destroyed by a few really arrogant bad people. Our economy is doing really badly, a lot of people are out of work and it was all so that rich people could get tax cuts. I’m hoping that the country is swinging a little more to the left right now, I just don’t think that the right wing is doing the right thing.”

VF: Do you think musicians can do anything about that?
JR: “I’ve done fundraisers for Barrack Obama and I really believe he could do a fine job as a president but I don’t think he’s going to get the chance. I did some work for Hillary Clinton but I got a little turned off when all of a sudden she decided she wasn’t going to play by the rules. I know it’s common place in politics to weasel your way around it, but our election system is so screwed up because it doesn’t go to a popular vote. I feel sorry for whatever Democrat is going to get into the White House because he or she is going to have such a bad mess to clean up and they’re never going to be able to do it. The Republicans are just going to blame the Democrats for everything that’s happened, but it all happened during the Bush administration. We’ve lost all of our friends. Nations are like people, they need friends, especially when they’re insisting on globalising the world.”

VF: Ok so that’s the downside, what’s exciting in the states at the moment?
JR: “Well it is coming up on election season and i think there is going to be a big change in some respect, so i’m staying cautiously optimistic about that.”

VF: Are you looking forward to coming over to the UK?
JR: “I love coming to the UK. I always have so much fun.”

VF: Do you think it’s a happier and fairer place?
JR: “Yes, whatever complaints people have about the health care system at least you know you’re not going to die in the gutter and have your home taken from you because you can’t afford an operation or medical care.”

VF: How are Brits really viewed by people over in the states? We get mixed messages.
JR: “I feel like people think the British people are idiots and that everybody gets on their high horse, but it’s a much older country. We still need to mature, we’re in a very adolescent phase right now.”

VF: Do British audiences change much from those in your country?
JR: “The audiences over in the UK are way younger. The energy level is just insane. I love it! I just feed off it, it’s so great!”

VF: Do you know much about the 02 Wireless festival that you’re playing at?
JR: “I know that the concert in Hyde Park is always really big and that the Counting Crows and Ben Harper are playing. I love both of those, Ben Harper is great!

VF: The day before there’s a big dance day headlined by Fatboy Slim. Will you be attending that?
JR: “Wow i think i might actually check that out, I love that.”

VF: Last time you were over here you played V Festival. How was that?
JR: “That was a lot of fun. It was a little overwhelming standing up there in front of more people than I’ve probably ever stood in front of. That was one of the biggest shows we’ve ever done and it was really a lot of fun to be part of something that big. The way you guys do festivals over there is so different from here, there’s not really a lot of festivals. We have Coachella every year but that’s about it. It just seems like more of a right of passage than here.”

VF: Have you got fond memories of that day or was it a bit of a blur?
JR: “It was a bit of a blur. You’re sort of shell shocked when you’re up on the stage and you see that many people. You just want to put out as much as possible and then it’s over.”

VF: There are two events over that weekend; Staffs and Chelmsford. Did any one particularly stick out or was it like doing the same thing twice?
JR: “It wasn’t exactly like doing the same thing twice but it was the same energy level. Everybody’s there to have a good time so it really affects your performance.”

VF: That same year Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse were playing, who are both renowned for being a bit crazy and drug addicted. You guys seem a bit more clean cut. Did you ever have your crazy days?
JR: “I’ve woken up a few times and not known where I was. I love to drink, but I love to drink too much and so I just stay away from it. I play guitar a lot more than I used to and I read a lot more than I used to. It’s actually really kind of boring!”

VF: You’ve said in the past that you think it’s a challenge now for bands to stay together. Having been together so long and spent so much time on the road, how do you guys maintain good relations?
JR: “I think it’s about maintaining boundaries and just saying ‘this is my space, I respect your space, you respect mine’ and then everything gets along really well.”

VF: Have you ever had any major crisis?
JR: “The band has it’s arguments and it’s a lot easier to deal with them now that there’s no alcohol involved. It wasn’t a huge problem but we definitely had a few drunken brawls! That’s what happens when you’re like brothers.”

VF: Do you find it hard living up to your huge hit ‘Iris’, which everyone knows you for?
JR: “That song casts such a huge shadow over everything that we’ve done. It’s always difficult but it’s not one of those things where it’s like I have to beat it. I think you just have to write from where you’re at, at any particular time and give it your best shot. That song comes along once in a lifetime. I’m grateful for it, but sometimes I wish people would pay attention to some of our other material.”

VF: Have you ever played a gig since it came out and not played it?
JR: “No. I hate it when you go to see a band wanting to hear their big song and they don’t play it. I think that’s so arrogant. You’ve been given a gift that people would die for; a hit song, and then you’re not going to play it?”

VF: Is there any other song you've written which you consider as good as Iris?
JR: “Super Silence was my favourite song on our last album. I always thought that song should have gotten a chance.”

VF: You've lived in many different parts of the States but you never enjoyed Los Angeles, describing it as oppressive. How come?
JR: “When I walk outside in London I have to adapt to the environment, which is fair enough, but in Los Angeles people create this tiny bubble. So it’s just millions of little bubbles of people doing their own thing and nobody really interacts unless they’re in your bubble or you're in theirs. Most people move into each others to make money off them. I don’t find the energy really creative there because it’s 70 degrees and sunny every single day. You don’t appreciate a spring day until you’ve had some winter.”

VF: So what’s next for Goo Goo Dolls?
JR: “We’re working on a new record, writing songs and recording. We should be really moving on it by the end of summer or early fall.”

VF: So people going to the Wireless festival can probably expect some new songs?
JR: “No I don’t think we’re going to play anything from the record because in general when you get in front of a huge group of people and play a song that they’ve never heard before they kind of stand there and look at you. It’s like ‘what is this? Play Iris!’ We went to Germany one time and I was threatened by this huge German screaming at me to play this one song. ‘You’re not getting out of here until you play this song!’ ‘Ok, i’ll play it!’’

Goo Goo Dolls play O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, London, on 6 July.