John Rzeznik

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John Rzeznik
John Rzeznik performing
Background information
Birth name	John Joseph Theodore Rzeznik
Born	December 5, 1965 (1965-12-05) (age 43)
Origin	Buffalo, New York, United States
Genre(s)	Rock, Alternative rock.
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, guitarist,
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1986–present
Label(s)	Metal Blade Records Warner Music Warner Bros. Records
Associated acts	Goo Goo Dolls
Website	GooGooDolls.com

John Joseph Theodore Rzeznik (born on December 5, 1965 in Buffalo, New York and also known as Johnny Rzeznik) is an American songwriter, lead guitarist, vocalist and sometime producer. He is best known as the frontman of rock band the Goo Goo Dolls, of whom he is a founding member and with whom he has recorded eight studio albums.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Career 2.1 Goo Goo Dolls 2.2 Other activity 3 Musical style 3.1 Influences 3.2 Guitar tunings 3.3 Songwriting 4 Notable performances 5 Equipment 6 Discography 6.1 Collaborations/Individual Discography 7 References and notes 8 External links

[edit] Early years

Rzeznik, the youngest of five children, was born to Joseph and Edith Rzeznik (pronounced REZ-nik" and meaning 'butcher' in Polish^[1]). Joseph was a postal worker, and Edith a schoolteacher, and both were musicians, playing clarinet and flute respectively. Rzeznik had a strict Catholic upbringing on Buffalo's working-class East Side. Rzeznik's father died from complications of alcoholism at the age of fifty five when Rzeznik was fourteen years old. Just over a year later his mother died from a sudden heart attack. Having lost both of his parents, he was to be brought up by his four older sisters: Phyllis, Fran, Glad and Kate. It was during this period and while attending high school that Rzeznik began playing the guitar.

[edit] Career

[edit] Goo Goo Dolls

In 1986, while studying to become a plumber at Buffalo's McKinley Vocational High School, he formed the band that became the Goo Goo Dolls with Robby Takac. Previously John had been in a band with Takac's cousin, called The Beaumonts^[2]. The band was originally called The Sex Maggots, but this was changed on a whim to The Goo Goo Dolls (from an ad in a True Detective magazine) when a concert promoter asked them to, fearing the local newspapers would not print an advert for a show featuring a band with such a name.

In the early days of The Goo Goo Dolls, the band performed at gigs relentlessly, with Robby as the frontman (Rzeznik gradually becoming the frontman over the next few albums, as each new album contained more songs sung by Rzeznik than the last). They were soon picked up by a small record label, Celluloid. Under Celluloid they released their first eponymous album (later the re-prints would be referred to as "First Release") on a $750 budget. This attracted the attention of a larger record label, Metal Blade, who released their next few albums. For the next few years the band toured, produced albums and held down regular jobs. In 1990 he met his future wife, fashion model Laurie Farinacci, also from Buffalo, whom he married in 1993. Despite the band receiving regular airplay on college radio, it wasn't until 1995's A Boy Named Goo that they had a major hit. That hit came with the release of the single "Name", an acoustic ballad sung by Rzeznik which received massive airplay and led to platinum sales for the album. Despite the success of the album the band were unsatisfied with their contract with Metal Blade, which they felt to be exploitative. Reportedly the album had sold two million copies and yet the band had only received $6,000 in royalties. The band began taking legal action against Metal Blade that lasted for two years, and resulted in the band being released from their contract to sign with Metal Blade's parent company, Warner Bros. Records^[3].

Following the success of A Boy Named Goo, Rzeznik suffered a severe case of writer's block. Disillusioned with the music business following the legal dispute with his record company and under pressure to repeat the success of the previous album, Rzeznik's writer's block became so severe he visited a psychiatrist in an effort to overcome it.^[4] He had overcome his writer's block when the band were released from their contract with Metal Blade to sign with Warner Bros. Records in 1997, and approached to write a song for the soundtrack to the film City of Angels. Rzeznik watched the film and was inspired to write "Iris", which would become the band's biggest hit and signature song. The film and song were both a huge success, with Iris spending a record eighteen weeks at the top of the Hot 100 Airplay Chart. The band followed up with the hit album Dizzy Up The Girl, which in addition to "Iris" contained another 4 Top 10 singles and sold over 3 million copies.

In 1997 John Rzeznik divorced his wife. This event influenced his songwriting for the band's next album Gutterflower, which was considered to be somewhat darker lyrically than the previous album. This album was also a success, though not on the scale of Dizzy Up the Girl or A Boy Named Goo, going Gold and producing the hit singles "Here Is Gone," "Big Machine," and "Sympathy."

[edit] Other activity

Following the album Gutterflower, Rzeznik wrote "Always Know Where You Are" and "I'm Still Here" for the Disney film Treasure Planet,^[5] which were also released as a single independently from the band.

Rzeznik has produced music for various artists including Andy Stochansky and Ryan Cabrera. He wrote songs for Ryan Cabrera's debut album Take It All Away and his music style is evident on Cabrera's song "Illusions". He has also written for Blessid Union of Souls, Anastacia, Zoe Scott, and many more.

From October to December 2007, Rzeznik was a judge alongside Sheila E. and Australian Idol judge and marketing manager Ian "Dicko" Dickson on the Fox network's The Next Great American Band.^[6]

On June 19, 2008, John Rzeznik was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and was awarded the Hal David Starlight award.^[7]

[edit] Musical style

[edit] Influences

Most of the music Rzeznik listened to while growing up was influenced by his sisters, and comprised mostly of classic rock such as The Beatles,The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. The youngest of his four older sisters moved towards punk music and Rzeznik became interested in bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash.^[8] Rzeznik attributes his gift for melody to listening to bands such as KISS, Cheap Trick, and Rush in the early 1980s.^[8] Rzeznik also cites Paul Westerberg as an "obvious influence" on his music.^[9]

[edit] Guitar tunings

Rzeznik is well known for his distinctive and unusual guitar tunings. Many of his newer songs, particularly the more acoustic-oriented ones, are performed with his guitars tuned to an open chord with several of the strings tuned to the same note but in different octaves. This gives the guitar a shimmery, jangly sound almost like a 12-string guitar. Perhaps the most famous example of this is his signature hit "Iris", but other examples include "Name," "Black Balloon," "Think About Me," and "Here Is Gone." Conversely, on earlier albums such as "Superstar Car Wash" and "A Boy Named Goo," Rzeznik often utilized a conventional standard tuning.

[edit] Songwriting

Rzeznik believes that writing is not just an inspirational thing but that writing music is "ninety nine percent perspiration." He says that when writing a song, he often "runs tape and screws around with stuff," and that his songs are often both biographical and autobiographical.^[10]

[edit] Notable performances

At the 2004 Fashion Rocks! concert in New York, Rzeznik performed a duet version of the song Iris with Canadian pop singer Avril Lavigne.^[11] The Goo Goo Dolls also performed the song "Name" at a live concert with LeeAnn Rimes. Rzeznik also performed Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" with Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit for the victims of September 11 as a tribute to the heroes.

On July 4, 2004, Rzeznik and his bandmates returned home to Buffalo and played a free show to give back to their loyal fans, over 60,000 of whom attended. The day quickly became a city triumph when rain came pouring down during their performance. It turned out to be the worst rain storm Buffalo had seen in over twenty years, but the Goo Goo Dolls did not stop playing. Rzeznik declared, "We're going to keep going until this shit stops". This performance was captured on DVD and CD for the public in the Goo Goo Dolls release Live in Buffalo: July 4th 2004.

Rzeznik also performed a version of U2's "All I Want is You" on the album Les Paul and Friends.

[edit] Equipment

Rzeznik has used many different guitar brands and models over the years. On Superstar Car Wash, he endorsed ESP guitars. The liner notes of A Boy Named Goo list Epiphone as his guitar of choice. Since the late '90s, Rzeznik has been using Fender electric guitars. He has used many variations such as the Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jaguar and a "Halfcaster" (a Stratocaster cut in half). He also used Guild acoustic guitars on both the "Dizzy Up the Girl" and "Gutterflower" tours. Guild models used include several D-55s, a black F65CE, multiple Peregrines (Guild Custom Shop Model), a black Songbird/S4CE, and a black F47M.

Since beginning the "Let Love In" tour, Rzeznik has been experimenting with Gibson Les Paul guitars and semi-hollow body electric guitars. He also uses Taylor 800 and 900 series acoustic guitars while on tour. He has stated that the Taylor Expression System (9V version) is one of the only forms of acoustic guitar amplification that still let the guitars "sound like wood" when played through a house PA system.

Early studio footage from the Goo Goo Dolls' upcoming 9th studio album shows John playing mostly Gibson acoustic and electric guitars.

[edit] Discography

• Goo Goo Dolls (1986), Celluloid Records later re-released as First Release (1987), Metal Blade Records
• Jed (1989), Metal Blade Records
• Hold Me Up (1990), Metal Blade Records
• Superstar Car Wash (1993), Metal Blade Records
• A Boy Named Goo (1995), Metal Blade Records
• Dizzy Up The Girl (1998), Warner Bros. Records
• Gutterflower (2002), Warner Bros. Records
• Let Love In (2006), Warner Bros. Records

[edit] Collaborations/Individual Discography

• Limp Bizkit and Johnny Rzeznik - "Wish You Were Here" - America: A Tribute to Heroes (2001)
• "I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme)" - Treasure Planet (2003)
• "Always Know Where You Are"^[12] - Treasure Planet (2003)
• "Once in a Lifetime" - Good Morning Miami theme
• "All I Want is You" - America Made World Play (2005)
• Yardbirds featuring Johnny Rzeznik - "For Your Love" - Birdland (2003)

[edit] References and notes

[edit] External links

• Goo Goo Dolls official site

v • d • e Goo Goo Dolls John Rzeznik · Robby Takac · Mike Malinin George Tutuska Studio albums Goo Goo Dolls · Jed · Hold Me Up · Superstar Car Wash · A Boy Named Goo · Dizzy Up The Girl · Gutterflower · Let Love In Extended Plays Just The Way You Are EP  · Bang!  · Dizzy EP  · Platinum Play EP Live albums Live in Buffalo: July 4th 2004 Compilations What I Learned About Ego, Opinion, Art & Commerce · iTunes Originals · Greatest Hits Volume One: The Singles · Vol.2 Videography Music in High Places: Live in Alaska  · Live in Buffalo: July 4th 2004  · Live and Intimate Singles "There You Are" · "I'm Awake Now" · "We Are The Normal" · "Only One" · "Flat Top" · "Name" · "Naked" · "Long Way Down" · "Lazy Eye" · "Iris" · "Slide" · "Dizzy" · "Black Balloon" · "Broadway" · "Here Is Gone" · "Big Machine" · "Sympathy" · "Give A Little Bit" · "Better Days" · "Let Love In" · "Stay With You" · "Before It's Too Late (Sam and Mikaela's Theme)" · "Real" Related material Discography · Metal Blade Records · Warner Bros. Records