Stories, by Ted Tarris (1986-1993)

An individual named Ted Tarris recently sent us a link which features his Goo Goo Dolls stories. These are five posts published on his blog which describe his relationship with the band, a journey that began back in 1986.

Today’s post is a bit different, as it presents the singular perspective of a fan who had fallen in love with the band as soon as they latter released their first effort. Mr. Tarris also had direct contacts with John et al. and met with them several times. He published five different posts on his blog in the dedicated section specifically created for the band, to talk about his experiences both as a listener and as an early supporter and contributor to the Goo Goo Dolls’ complex journey. These stories also feature some very rare photos and some never-before-heard trivia. Let’s analyze them together:

1. First Time I Saw The Goo Goo Dolls: His first interaction with the Goo Goo Dolls, and the first concert he attended to (1989). Trivia: The band let him listen to a 5-song “Hold Me Up” demo, which he still has but unfortunately cannot share.
2. Two Days In February: The Goo Goo Dolls in Los Angeles 1990: The second concert he attended to, including some weird episode which happened to former drummer Tutuska, and Ted spending some time hanging around with John.
3. Goo Goo Dolls: Hold Me Up tour 1991: More concerts being attended to during the “Hold Me Up” tour, featuring some nice photos. Some never-before-heard trivia included here is that apparently, around that time, the band wanted to release a full length entirely comprised of songs in which Lance Diamond would appear as the lead singer. That would have been amazing indeed. Unfortunately, that project never materialized.
4. Goo Goo Dolls Flipside Interview May/June 1993 (Flipside #84): This is a very interesting interview the band did in 1993 to promote “Superstar Car Wash”. Ted is also mentioned several times and he was also supposed to took part to it. There are some insightful bits here, including discussions about the cover for their first release and why it actually got two different versions, George talking about the cover for “Jed” (the guy driving the van was his Art Teacher), and the guys going to the theater with Lance Diamond when “Freddy’s Dead” was released to check out how much of their song “I’m Awake Now” was actually featured in it. Trivia about the latter: it actually took then just one day to write the song and record a demo for it. Once having the confirmation the movie studio liked it, they recorded and produced the final version of the song in just four days. Furthermore, the band reiterating the fact of still wanting to do a full record with Lance Diamond singing on it.
5. More Goo Goo Dolls with Lance Diamond Pictures from the Bacchanal 1991: Another specific concert is described in detail here. Also, more rare photos from the event are shared.

Thanks a lot Ted for sharing these amazing stories with us. Some of them included very cool trivia we actually never heard before! If you still have contacts with any of the band members and they would like to visit our Temple for an interview, you know where to find us, heheh.