George Tutuska
Encyclopedia
George Tutuska is a former member of the alternative rock
band Goo Goo Dolls
.
He played drums
from 1986 to 1995, and parted from the band only a few months before the release of their breakthrough album
, A Boy Named Goo
due to disputes with long-time friend and singer/guitarist John Rzeznik. In late 1994, he broke up with the band because of a non-payment dispute for his contribution to the writing of "Fallin' Down." He has subsequently received royalty checks for songs he co-wrote and recorded with the band.
"I have no resentment toward [the Goo Goo Dolls'] continued success," says Tutuska from his Buffalo home. "The only thing that bothers me to this very day is I never got my due as a songwriter and most people think, 'So what, they fired the drummer; it's just the drummer.' If I could give people a list of songs I wrote, I think it would shock them."
Following the completion of the Goos' A Boy Named Goo (1995), Tutuska was fired from the band by frontman Johnny Rzeznik. Tutuska said he'd previously told band management he wouldn't tour behind the album unless Rzeznik agreed to split royalties evenly among the three members, a practice Tutuska claims the band had engaged in since the release of their 1987 self-titled debut. During pre-production for Goo, Tutuska had been rattled to the core by news that Rzeznik purportedly was hoarding royalties for the Superstar Car Wash single "Fallin' Down." "I said, 'John, I'm kinda interested. I talk to friends all over the country and everyone tells me they hear ["Fallin' Down"] on the radio,' and I said, 'John, I haven't gotten one [royalty] check for that.' And he said, 'I got a confession to make. I've been getting checks for the last two years on this song.' And obviously, at that point, the shit hit the fan."
Tutuska was fired from the band just shy of A Boy Named Goo's release and replaced by Mike Malinin. The album, on the strength of the hit single "Name," was a runaway success and has since sold one-and-a-half million copies in the U.S. alone. Though Tutuska still receives royalty checks from that album and the previous four albums, he still feels shortchanged by the perception he was merely a third wheel among the trio. "Up until A Boy Named Goo I had written probably well over half the lyrics and I collaborated on music, but we split everything," Tutuska claims. A lot of the songs that had gotten airplay I'd written the lion's share of, but I had taken my third and now he wanted everything." (For the record, the Goo Goo Dolls camp had no comment on Tutuska's allegations.)
Tutuska is married with two children and continues to live in Buffalo, New York
. He was drumming for a local band named Jackdaw
, a South Buffalo based Irish-Celtic Rock band, that broke up in 2010.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Goo Goo Dolls
Goo Goo Dolls
The Goo Goo Dolls are a Grammy-nominated American rock band formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, by vocalist and guitarist John Rzeznik and vocalist and bass guitarist Robby Takac. Since the end of 1994, Mike Malinin has been the band's drummer, a position previously held by George Tutuska...
.
He played drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
from 1986 to 1995, and parted from the band only a few months before the release of their breakthrough album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, A Boy Named Goo
A Boy Named Goo
A Boy Named Goo, sometimes referred to as ABNG, is the fifth studio album by the Goo Goo Dolls, released in 1995 on Warner Brothers.-History:...
due to disputes with long-time friend and singer/guitarist John Rzeznik. In late 1994, he broke up with the band because of a non-payment dispute for his contribution to the writing of "Fallin' Down." He has subsequently received royalty checks for songs he co-wrote and recorded with the band.
"I have no resentment toward [the Goo Goo Dolls'] continued success," says Tutuska from his Buffalo home. "The only thing that bothers me to this very day is I never got my due as a songwriter and most people think, 'So what, they fired the drummer; it's just the drummer.' If I could give people a list of songs I wrote, I think it would shock them."
Following the completion of the Goos' A Boy Named Goo (1995), Tutuska was fired from the band by frontman Johnny Rzeznik. Tutuska said he'd previously told band management he wouldn't tour behind the album unless Rzeznik agreed to split royalties evenly among the three members, a practice Tutuska claims the band had engaged in since the release of their 1987 self-titled debut. During pre-production for Goo, Tutuska had been rattled to the core by news that Rzeznik purportedly was hoarding royalties for the Superstar Car Wash single "Fallin' Down." "I said, 'John, I'm kinda interested. I talk to friends all over the country and everyone tells me they hear ["Fallin' Down"] on the radio,' and I said, 'John, I haven't gotten one [royalty] check for that.' And he said, 'I got a confession to make. I've been getting checks for the last two years on this song.' And obviously, at that point, the shit hit the fan."
Tutuska was fired from the band just shy of A Boy Named Goo's release and replaced by Mike Malinin. The album, on the strength of the hit single "Name," was a runaway success and has since sold one-and-a-half million copies in the U.S. alone. Though Tutuska still receives royalty checks from that album and the previous four albums, he still feels shortchanged by the perception he was merely a third wheel among the trio. "Up until A Boy Named Goo I had written probably well over half the lyrics and I collaborated on music, but we split everything," Tutuska claims. A lot of the songs that had gotten airplay I'd written the lion's share of, but I had taken my third and now he wanted everything." (For the record, the Goo Goo Dolls camp had no comment on Tutuska's allegations.)
Tutuska is married with two children and continues to live in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. He was drumming for a local band named Jackdaw
Jackdaw (band)
Jackdaw were a Celtic rock band from Buffalo, NY from 2000-2009. One of the group's members, George Tutuska, was a former drummer for the Goo Goo Dolls....
, a South Buffalo based Irish-Celtic Rock band, that broke up in 2010.