Welcome to The Lobby! I'm in Groton, Connecticut at the moment doing pre-production rehearsals for the Matchbox 20 / Goo Goo Dolls North American Tour at a studio complex nestled deep in the woods here in New England. We've been here for about a week getting together the lights, video and music for the upcoming 40 some date run beginning in Manchester, New Hampshire in a few days.

And big news our new album Magnetic has been released worldwide and had entered the Billboard top 200 at #8, not bad for our 10thﾊalbum in 26 years !

It's been a crazy busy month for me, it began with a trip to Japan for a visit with my family as well as a day of JP Goo Goo Dolls interviews, a long plane flight home to the US and a full week of press/shows in NYC as well as a few random shows along the way too. I'll fill you in on some details . . .

My latest trip to Japan started with my wife myself and my daughter arriving at Narita and making our way to Shinjuku in time to enjoy some nice,nice Japanese curry and get ourselves loaded into our hotel after the 24 hour door to door trip from Buffalo, NY. We got some sleep and then immediately began visiting with family and made sure to make a stop at my favorite shopping places, Hysteric Glamour, Sony Plaza, Tokyu Hands and so many others. While my Mother in Law watched the baby we went to the Shimokitazawa Sound Cruise 2013 series to watch our friends Shonen Knife play at Shelter, had a little more Curry and headed back to the horel for the evening.

We were lucky enough to be in Japan during the Spring Sumo tournament in Ryogoku, so we made our way to the arena, we got a ''Hakuho Bento'' and sat excitedly on the crowded little mats while watching the mighty Sumo matches throughout the day. I love watching and learning about Sumo and although many years ago I had attended a match in Los Angeles I had never actually been to a Sumo match in Japan, so I really enjoyed the whole experience.

We also took a trip to Nagano to visit some more family in Western Japan, I have been to Nagano before, briefly visiting Nagano a few years ago including a visit to Matsumoto Castle, but this time after arriving in Matsumoto we went deeper and took a 2 car / single conductor train to Sakakita where my wife's Mother grew up. We visited her childhood home and went to see the town where she grew up, I love visiting the countryside in Japan, and it's such a different experience than the larger cities we usually frequent when we are visiting. ﾊWe had a great lunch with family and spent the evening in a ryokan in Matsumoto, which included an amazing traditional Japanese meal and a trip to their onsen. We enjoyed some nice fruit milk and got up early the next day to visit some more family before heading back to Tokyo.

My last day in Japan was spent with the staff at Warners Music International doing print, web and radio interviews. We went to a few radio stations including visiting my friend Snoopy at Yokahama Bay FM and a super fun Japanese Language Twitter session answering dozens of questions (with the help of the WMJ staff and my wife) from fans across Japan.

As I said, I'm now sitting here in the US in my hotel room days before the start of the GGDS Summer Magnetic tour, I've already heard from some of our Japanese fans who are making their way over to N. America for some shows and, truly, I can't wait to get this awesome summer package w/ MB20 tour underway !

Talk soon, and Peace !!!
Robby