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Goo Goo Dolls perform "Black Balloon" on CNN Showbiz Today Full audio performance: 1.8 MPEG-3 Audio clip: 310k WAV Video clip: 1.2Mb QuickTime

August 26, 1999
Web posted at: 2:51 p.m. EDT (1851 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The Goo Goo Dolls, already flush with the success of their sixth album -- the double-platinum "Dizzy Up the Girl" -- and their hit single "Slide," are putting a couple of major charities on the line as they get into full swing on a U.S. tour.

Their summer tour -- it started in July and ends September 21 on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" in New York City -- has them spending months on the road.

"You get tired," the band's guitarist and lead singer, John Rzeznik, told CNN Showbiz Today's Jim Moret, "but you get in a groove ... and it becomes routine, you know?"

And, if you're the Goo Goo Dolls, doing good deeds becomes part of your routine. On the band's last tour, in spring 1999, the group collected some 30 tons of food for the charitable organization USA Harvest -- on average, says bassist/singer Robby Takac, about a ton a night. The food is distributed in the area in which it's collected, Takac says.

"All our fans have been really good," Rzeznik says. "I mean, there's really no incentive other than doing the right thing. So the people that come to see our band are really cool. And they've been bringing a ton of food a night, which is great."

The band also speaks out against violence, handing out an MTV CD at every concert and giving concertgoers the opportunity to sign a petition against gun violence organized through the group PAX. Referring to the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado in April, Rzeznik says, "After the whole thing happened in Colorado, I couldn't believe how bad it had really affected everybody. It freaked us out, you know?

"And we decided that it was probably a pretty good cause to get involved in," he says.

The band also recently released a new single, called "Black Balloon," which they performed live on Showbiz Today.