Goo Goo Dolls

The Goo Goo Dolls are currently recording new music in their own brand new recording studio at the corner of North and Franklin street. It is here where they'll be using a state-of-the-art facility to record their forthcoming album and follow up to,"Let Love In".

This new collection of music will be the most important album of the Dolls' entire career. Bass player, Robby Takac talked to Buffalo News about how music has changed in the modern age. "The entire music industry has changed pretty radically since we released 'Let Love In' in 2006. I mean, things were bad then, in so many ways, and they're worse now. The tradition routes for promoting a record and getting your music heard-radio, principally-aren't there in the way they were before. So we're facing some real challenges this time around."

How ready are the Goo's for the hard work and hysteria of making a new album? The trio came in with no material made whatsoever, "it looked like it was going to be a disaster of absolutely epic proportions. This was really the first time we showed up with absolutely nothing prepared, no songs ready, no sense of the shape of the album we wanted to record. But out of this whole mess, out of this feeling of terror at being less than prepared, out of all that came more songs than we could've imagined. After 15 weeks of rehearsing and writing, we had something like 25 songs that were all well worth considering."

Best known for their albums, "Dizzy Up The Girl" and "Gutterflower" both produced by Rob Cavallo, the guys were after something a little bit different than what they were used to. Their previous choice of U2 producer, Steve Lillywhite, fell through the cracks as Takac explained. "The time we were going to take in order to write, rehearse and record this album was way too much for him to be able to commit to". The Goo Goo Dolls wound up recruiting Tim Palmer who has worked producing albums for several well known artists for three decades. His line up includes: Robert Plant, the Mighty Lemon Drops, David Bowie's 'Time Machine', Pearl Jam, James, the Catherine Wheel, the Cure, Porcupine Tree and U2.

Since then working with Palmer has been extremely beneficial to the Buffalo, New York natives, even getting down and becoming one of the members himself. "Tim sat at rehearsal in Buffalo with us for four months while we got the material together. He basically joined the band. The whole element of the excitement created by the chaos of us arriving with nothing ready to go-instead of looking at that as a negative thing, Tim totally embraced it, and helped us to use that as an energy force."

"This record is completely different for us as a result of working with him. He didn't want us to turn it all over to him,  you know? He wanted to be a part of it with us. So we had to become part of the process, the whole time. At no point have we turned this project over to anyone else. That's incredibly exciting for us."

Fans are undoubtedly excited for the comeback of their favorite band, especially fans who still love the Doll's indie rock and punk days. "All I can say is, the making of this record has been more of a joint process than it ever has before. We feel like we're climbing the mountain all over again."

Expect new music from The Goo Goo Dolls around mid-February and some special appearances as confirmed by the band themselves. The rockers will star in a Holiday variety show in December as part of a major television network, however, it has yet to be announced.