'Firing on all cylinders': Goo Goo Dolls 'Slide' into Albuquerque

After 40 years, Robby Takac, bassist of the Goo Goo Dolls, is still doing what he loves: performing.

“We have the luxury of seeing what our band sounds like all these years later,” Takac said. “A lot of bands don’t get that luxury.”

The Goo Goo Dolls will perform at Isleta Amphitheater on Tuesday, Sept. 9, one of the last stops on the “Goo Goo Dolls with Dashboard Confessional: Summer Anthem Tour.”

“We will be firing on all cylinders by that point. So it’ll be a great show, I can guarantee you,” Takac said.

The band has been together since 1986, with Takac and John Rzeznik as the two leading musicians. Takac says they do not have plans to stop anytime soon with records, shows or touring.

“As long as people are interested and as long as we’re not feeling silly up there doing it, then I think we keep going,” Takac said.

Their hit song “Iris” went viral on TikTok among younger audiences, and in April, it surpassed 4.2 billion streams worldwide.

“It’s wild for us. It’s been crazy. ‘Iris’ has had plenty of rebirths because of TikTok,” Takac said. “At this point, just because of TikTok there’s been 50 other things that have happened, but TikTok itself has been huge for us with that sort of thing.”

Takac said he has seen the crowd change over the years to become younger and shift generationally, now the age range of fans is much larger.

“It used to be, for a while, we were playing to everybody, and then everybody started getting older, but now you see third generations of families come to see us play,” Takac said. “People tell us sometimes it’s the one show they can all go see together, which is a pretty high compliment.”

He finds that while the music industry has changed over the years, what has not changed is the fact that people either enjoy the music or do not, and that “a great song is a great song.”

“There’s so many other things that have to happen for songs to connect with people, like the right time, the right place, so many things,” Takac said. “And we got lucky a few times with that.”

The band’s belief in themselves over their career is what has kept them successful, Takac said. This success includes seven new songs released on Aug. 22 as part of an EP titled “Summer Anthem.”

“It just doesn’t work out for some people, man, it’s as much time and luck and everything kind of lining up as anything,” Takac said. “But we’ve always sort of believed in what we were doing, and so I think that’s a big part of what’s led us to where we are now.”

Looking back from when the band started to now, Takac said he could offer advice to his younger self, but then the band’s journey would be altered.

“I could tell you get a lawyer. Don’t sign a bad record deal because we did that many, many times,” Takac said. “But we wouldn’t be where we are right now if we hadn’t signed all those bad deals. It got us to the next point, and that’s part of believing in yourself.”

Beyond advice for his younger self, he said that for those trying to make it in the music industry, it’s essential not to focus on others’ success, but instead to believe in what you do.

“Do what you love and then if it gets successful, that’s awesome,” Takac said. “And if it doesn’t get successful, you’re doing something you love, man, so there’s no losing in that equation.”

At the end of the day, Takac said that the band is playing an hour and a half of rock, and that is what it is all about.

“Ultimately, it’s just about being out there playing your song for people,” Takac said.