Scars are souvenirs you never lose, the past is never far, did you lose yourself somewhere out there, did you get to be a star, and don't it make you sad to know that life is more than who you are?
John RzeznikThe disparity between being a 10-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?
John RzeznikI have to let myself be vulnerable in order to have a good marriage. That's something I'm really going to have to work on. A lot of times I'm really guarded because of what I do for a living, what I've done in my life.
John RzeznikI'm amazed that I can sit down, put a guitar in my hands and start playing kind of free style, and it will be four hours later and it will feel like it's been five minutes. I think that adds depth to your being, when something in your life can do that for you. Everybody should try to find something in their life that can do that for them. People find really elaborate self-destructive ways of killing time on this planet. That's why they take drugs or drink, trying to alter their state of being. If you can find something that doesn't destroy you, but deepens your character, you're really lucky.
John RzeznikI think we got started like all bands. We wanted to make some noise, hang out, and have some fun. Remember, we're from Buffalo - there isn't really that much to do. When we started we were a cover band and slowly developed our own material.
John RzeznikI'm a guy so I equate vulnerability with fear. What makes me fearful. I feel vulnerable when I release material, my work, to the world, and I have no control over the outcome. Those are very vulnerable moments. I'm getting married on Friday.
John RzeznikMarriage is a really scary thing. I'm excited about it. I know it's not a mistake, it's the absolute right thing to do. I'm really happy about it. I really, really love my fiancee. We're good friends and I think it's going to work. But that's just the point - it's going to take work. It does make me feel vulnerable to be like, wow, I'm committed to this person for the rest of my life.
John RzeznikI work out. I try to work out every day. That keeps me in the moment, which is great. Keeps my head from thinking about the future and the past too much. I love working out. That really helps me a lot.
John RzeznikThings just evolve. I sort of have no control over what happens with the songs. Sometimes I'm afraid I might wake up one morning with an entire record of polka songs.
John RzeznikWhenever I get upset, I remember that it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to stick up your middle finger.
John RzeznikIt's such a thrill to perform live. You never know if you're going to get hit with a bottle or a bra.
John RzeznikI think the work is always personal. This album differs. It seems to be a lot more positive. It seems to have a certain amount of optimism about it.
John RzeznikYou grew up way too fast and now there's nothing to believe; and re-runs all become our history.
John RzeznikYes, we started out as the Sex Maggots, then became the Goo Goo Dolls, well, and we're still the Goo Goo Dolls!
John RzeznikIf you find yourself perplexed, or perhaps in a quandary, remember that human growth is perpendicular. We grow up and we grow forward, we just have to keep on growing steadily in both ways.
John RzeznikThe fear of rejection really kind of stunts your growth as a person. I mean, it's like a friend of mine says, who cares if you fail? Who cares if you fail? It's like babies try to get up and walk all the time and they keep falling down. If we just gave up, we'd all be crawling around.
John RzeznikI really believe that women have much easier access to their souls than men do. Because as men we're taught to wear masks, to drown out our emotions in competition and making money. Now women are being forced to do that too. But I admire their capacity to bear their spirituality so much more deeply than men.
John RzeznikThere are a lot of reasons to be hated in pop culture, and being a straight white male is one of them. In fact, I almost hate me
John RzeznikWith every decision you make in your life, you're going to have some regrets about the way it goes. You just have to chose which set of regrets you can live with the best, and try to minimize the amount of regrets you have.
John RzeznikI don't like critics; I really don't like them. I think most of them are ignorant and don't have a clue!
John RzeznikWhen I was 18, there were 50 people that I called my friends. Today, there are only three, but I'm glad to have those three. If you have three people that you can really call your friends, then you truly have it made.
John RzeznikI have this rule: It's like, if you write an amazing, cool song that you mean and then you go put your leather pants on and sing it in front of people; that's OK. But if you put your leather pants on and stand in front of the mirror and go, "Ok, I've got to write a song to fit these pants," then you're in trouble.
John Rzeznik