Paula Boggs Band knows they’re cool — and they know that has nothing to do with age. “Goo Goo Dolls decries the sorry state of the music industry — and the fact that probably no rock’n’roll band will reach the ascendancy of certain ’90s radio darlings, not to mention those who never got the chance because they weren’t straight white men. On this live recording, the Seattle-based Americana band brings some New Orleans groove to the proceedings, proving that Boggs and her band have what it takes to wow a crowd with their music — if only there was infrastructure to support them. The track comes off the band’s live album Live at the Sweetwater Music Hall, which will be out tomorrow, June 28th.
What is this song about?
The song is a tongue-in-cheek take on today’s music industry. The idea for “Goo Goo Dolls” was triggered by me watching a YouTube video of that band performing their hit “Iris.” The video starts with an acoustic guitar and Johnny Rzeznik, its lead singer, staring sexily into the camera, slinging an acoustic guitar with the wind blowing through his hair before the crescendo with drums kicks in. Goo Goo Dolls have other songs like this, and it has helped them sell over 15 million records. I don’t begrudge them at all, but it got me thinking. In today’s music business, most of us creators will never see 1% of 15 million in sales, and frankly, Goo Goo Dolls might not see it if they were starting out in 2020, not 1986. The vibe of the song and some of its lyric references nod to my five years living in Austin. Our drummer, Jake Evans, is a native Texan so that also gives us Seattleites a bit of street cred.
Any cool/funny/interesting stories from the recording?
For this live recording, we had San Francisco-based artist Anton Patzner on fiddle, and he really leaned into the Texas vibe of the song. At 3:13, for about a measure, we also totally changed the rhythm to a more New Orleans feel before returning to our Texas line dance.
Talk about the album and why you decided to release a live recording.
Like a lot of creatives these days, we’re constantly looking for ways to stay relevant. Our last studio album, Janus, was released in 2022. Since then, we’ve dropped singles and videos, but with our Sweetwater show, we saw an opportunity to do something we’ve never done: release a concert album. The acoustics at Mill Valley, California’s Sweetwater Music Hall, are outstanding, and they have a great audio engineer. Having played there before, we expected a healthy crowd, so we got one. Our next and 5th studio album, Sumatra, is being mixed right now, so we hope this live album bridges us to a 2025 studio album release while also giving global audiences a window into what it’s like to see us live.
Live at the Sweetwater Music Hall will be available everywhere tomorrow, June 28th
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