- - Ryan Cabrera Says He and Goo Goo Dolls' John Rzeznik Were 'Butting Heads' While Making Debut LP “Take It All Away” (Exclusive)

Ilana KaplanDecember 16, 2025 at 12:55 AM

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Michael Kovac/Getty; Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty

Ryan Cabrera in January 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.; John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls in February 2024 in Los Angeles -

Ryan Cabrera reveals he and the Goo Goo Dolls' John Rzeznik struggled to see eye to eye while making his debut album

"We almost didn't get through the album," the "On the Way Down" hitmaker tells PEOPLE

Rzeznik co-produced Cabrera's 2004 LP Take It All Away

Ryan Cabrera recalls that the making of his 2004 debut album wasn't entirely a smooth process.

According to the singer-songwriter, he and the record's co-producer John Rzeznik were "butting heads" during the making of Take It All Away.

Cabrera, now 43, tells PEOPLE he was "a huge fan" of the Goo Goo Dolls' frontman, 60, now from the get-go.

"Never thought in a million years thought that I'd end up collaborating and making an album with him, and we made it in his house," he recalls.

Cabrera compares the making of an album to a "marriage."

"I'm this young, naïve, 20-year-old kid who thinks he knows it all. Rzeznik is this veteran guy with tons of hits on the radio, one of the biggest albums of all time, and we were butting heads along the way," he recalls.

Cabrera continues, "We were not getting along. I was thinking one thing, he was singing another thing."

He claims people from EMI Records flew in from New York City to give them "therapy sessions."

Rodrigo Varela/WireImage

Ryan Cabrera in Fort Lauderdale in December 2004

"It was one of the heads of EMI, they would come in and sit us down before every single session, and we would sit across from each other, chair to chair, and we'd have to talk through every day," claims Cabrera.

He adds, "We eventually laughed at thinking you could hear the tension of what was going on between me and him in the album, which all happened for a reason because the music has a certain sound to it."

According to Cabrera, the duo "hugged it out" in the end.

"Whilst we were making it, we almost didn't get through the album," he claims. "It was probably mostly my fault, but then at the same time, I think he was going through a lot of things, too."

Cabrera is grateful for his time spent with Rzeznik because they "learned a lot from each other."

"At the time we both thought we knew it all. He actually had experience. He was trying to help me along the way, but then I think I helped him along the way, too," he says.

Cabrera also credited Rzeznik with helping him realize his track "On the Way Down" should be a single. Initially, he thought "40 Kinds of Sadness" would be "huge."

Then, the label heard "On the Way Down" and it helped him get signed.

"The same labels that turned me down originally, came back and were like, 'Yo, this is a hit.' Then, they played it for John Rzeznik, and he was like, 'This is it.' I was like, 'I guess that's what we're going with,'" Cabrera recently told PEOPLE.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”