A critic asked me, 'Now that you've gotten so big, don't you worry about the fall from success?' I told him, 'Who says there will be a fall? Maybe I'll just know when to walk away with my dignity in tact.
When a kid asks me for my autograph, I'm flattered.
I won't consider expectations when I write. Writing is selfish, in a way. I don't write for a record company, critics or even fans. I write songs I believe in. If they are hits, I'll be thankful. If not, that's alright with me. I come from Buffalo. Buffalo has been called 'The city with no illusions.' I have no illusions about success.
I learned how important it is to appreciate radio airplay. I saw how it doesn't hurt to respect programmers and say thanks for them playing your record. They have a million songs to choose from, and I'm grateful that they chose mine.
I feel lucky to have written a couple of songs that affected a lot of people. I feel proud that something we did as a band was able to transcend every format in radio and get to every listener it could. We're glad that those songs were able to stomp every limitation, genre or faction that exists in the music business today. The fans believed in the songs, and that's what matters to us.
Those songs weren't written to be hits; they were honest statements. When they became hits, it just validated the real feelings behind them.
(We)loaded the van, drove to the nearest joint that would let (us) plug in, and (we) played. We were lucky if we made enough money to put gas in the van. We venutred out of Buffalo and relied on College radio to help us build a regional base.
We never even thought about success. We just went and asked College radio to help us play another town. When we started, alternative meant 'alternative to the mainstream'. We played because we loved playing to three people or 300.
The first time I saw how Robby's family interacted, I walked outside and cried. How come I didn't have a family like this? There was so much love.
When you're an underground band, the only people that write about you are people that like you, and then when you get out into the mainstream, people who don't like you start talking about you and you get slagged a little bit. Next thing you know, you're like, `What if I can't do this? What if I can't put another song together? What if I can't put another record together? Do I want to put another record together? How did I do this last time? Don't ever ask yourself, `How did I do this the last time?'
The disparity between being a ten-year-old boy playing air guitar, wishing I was a rock star, and the reality of the whole thing is insane. A girl will throw her bra onstage, and I say to myself, if I was the guy that pumped your gas today, would you throw your bra at me?
I think what it all comes down to is you've got to do what's in your heart. You've got to speak sincerely from a true place inside of yourself. You may not always get rich doing that, but you get to play the songs that you're happy to play.
When the Goo Goo Dolls first started, I didn't sing. I wouldn't sing. I was incredibly crippled by shyness when I was younger. I couldn't even talk to people without my hand in front of my face to hide behind. Robby really helped me to bring me out of my shell. He encouraged me to sing. He may have created a monster.
We went through all the booze and drug experimentation, all that nonsense. People came to our shows just to see if one of us was gonna die on stage. Robby was still kind of metal, and I had this big blond fucking coif--like a blond Robert Smith! We'd get up on stage and play so fuckin' hard. We didn't know what we were playing half the time.
In 1990 I decided I wanted to see my 25th birthday. The girl who would up being my wife was a big help and inspiration to me. At that same time, I started getting more serious about songwriting. Where Robby and I wrote together in the past, I started doing more on my own. it became a real challenge to me to try and complete my own thoughts, as far as songwriting goes. There are things I wanted to write about that I don't think anybody else could have helped me with - things going on in my head that nobody else could know about.
I'm so grateful for what I have. We worked so long and hard for it. We did 260 shows last year, and we're going to do another 250 before this tour is over. That's a lot of work. And sometimes you gotta put on your happy face when you're really feeling tired, pissed off, or just plain shitty. That's the part I find very hard--putting on the happy face when I've just got in a fight with my wife on the phone about paying the rent on time. You can feel so powerless when you're 3,000 miles away.
It sounds Cliche: The poor kid from the wrong side of town does good. I was talking to a friend od mine about the ridiculous twisted path that leads to right now, and for the first time I was able to see myself growing up and all I went through, and it made sense. If I had my ass powdered and pampered, I probably wouldn't be here right now.
Success is fleeting, so don't get used to it, cause it's gonna go away. If you realize that, then you enjoy it all the more when you do have it.