Robby Takac can relate to the excitement being created in Portland by the historic and newly renovated State Theatre.

Takac and his bandmates in Goo Goo Dolls are from gritty Buffalo, N.Y., and have their own recording studio there. It’s located in an historic building that was once the chapel of a private girls’ school. They recently renovated it into a state-of-the-art recording space.

“Having grown up here and lived here most of my life, I understand the rhythm of the place, so having a studio here made sense,” said Takac, 46. “When it came time to make our last album, we decided to make this into a serious, state-of-the-art place. It’s the kind of place that probably wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

The studio has already hosted other major bands, including Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Takac hopes it will help bolster Buffalo’s arts community — just like the new operators hope the renovated State Theatre, which reopened Oct. 15 after a nearly five-year closure, can be an anchor of Portland’s arts community. Goo Goo Dolls will play an all-ages show at the State Theatre Tuesday night.

Takac said he and his bandmates wanted to record in Buffalo in part to get away from Los Angeles and get a more “gritty vibe” into the sessions.

“When you’re recording in L.A., you’re always going, ‘Hey look, there’s Sheryl Crow’s band,’ or ‘There’s Justin Bieber’s band,’ and it sort of draws you away from what you’re doing,” he said.

Goo Goo Dolls began about 24 years ago, when the members were in their early 20s. Their biggest influences then, Takac said, were gritty post-punk bands coming out of the Midwest at the time, such as The Replacements and Husker Du.

“We really wanted to be The Replacements for the first 10 years or so. I think being from the dirty, gritty Rust Belt, we could relate to that attitude,” Takac said.

But The Replacements and other bands of that ilk always had some ballads; they always had catchy melodies. And Goo Goo Dolls eventually went more in that direction before finding their niche — and success.

“People who heard our early stuff thought we were this really heavy band, but we were never that band,” said Takac. “We always did ballads too.”

Goo Goo Dolls began a cycle of playing and touring for about eight years before landing their first big success with the ballad “Name” in 1995. In 1998, they had similar success with another ballad, “Iris,” which was nominated for three Grammys.

“My wife manages a band now, and I can relate to what they’re doing, touring in the country in a van, because we did that for years,” said Takac. “And there is something very exciting about that.”

The band has gone on to have a total of 14 Top 10 songs on Billboard’s Adult Top 40 chart. The most recent was “Home” from their album “Something For the Rest of Us,” which came out in August and hit No. 7 on the Billboard 200 album chart — the band’s highest-charting album to date.

“To this day, I find it shocking to have that word (adult) attached to me or the band’s music, but I guess at 46, I can’t really complain any more,” said Takac.

Besides maturing musically, Takac and his bandmates also want to use their popularity to do some good. For about 13 years, the band has been working with USA Harvest, a group that collects canned goods and other food and donates it to local food pantries. They became involved with the group through members of Van Halen, Takac said.

In every city they play, Goo Goo Dolls encourages fans to bring canned goods to the show so they can be donated to a group in that area.

As incentive, Takac said, the person who brings the most canned food will get to come backstage at the State Theatre and meet the band.

Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at: rrouthier@pressherald.com