The Drinking Issue, Buffalo's Drunkest Rock Bands Ever

OtherMarch 15, 2012Artvoice

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Before they were Top 40 darlings, elevated to the status as internationally loved hitmakers, the Goo Goo Dolls earned the a reputation for being hard partiers. The band’s original manager (and current Town Ballroom proprietor) Artie Kwitchoff remembers the summer of 1988 not so fondly:

    The Goo Goo Dolls were touring as the support act for Boston’s notorious skate punk band Gang Green. Following a show in Miami at the Cameo Theater, Robby Takac and George Tutuska decided to spend an evening with the Gang Green crew, who were known for their penchant to indulge in all kinds of illegal recreational activities. These were the days before cell phones, and trying to find them the next morning at the predetermined spot proved an exhausting challenge.

    We headed across Florida along Alligator Alley with the goal to reach Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg. We missed the signs warning about the last gas stops for a ridiculous number of miles but did see the ones warning not to get out of your vehicle if you do run out. By some miracle we made it on fumes to the safety of a gas station but the stress of the morning was taking its toll. We finally made it to St. Pete, and while George and Robby were trying to sleep off the effects of a bad night with Gang Green, Johnny Rzeznik was contemplating his future and how a plumbing vocation seemed like a much better choice than rock band on this day. I remember sitting in the stands of a local high school stadium telling him he couldn’t quit the band and get on a plane to fly home at that moment, mostly because we owed too much money to dear friends of mine and that we desperately needed this tour to get us to the West coast in the hopes of securing a new record contract.

    Well…let’s just say the pressure of the day resulted in a rather explosive performance that was then followed by a bout of drinking by Johnny that ended with his jumping fully clothed in the fountain outside Jannus Landing and then doing a swan dive into the van on top of George and Robby, who were lying on the two mattresses piled one on the other in Dan “The Man” Prabucki’s silver van ( the one without windows).

    Shockingly they didn’t beat him senseless, they were too exhausted. All I could think of was, “I dropped out of school for this?” Oh, the glamorous life of a rock band on the road…

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