Mike Malinin performs with the Goo Goo Dolls at Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island in Chicago, on July 20, 2010. Photo By Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.

Mike Malinin was working his day job at a friend’s Nashville liquor store in early 2023 when a singer in her 20s came in and asked if he was the drummer.

Insert Foot.

Her band, The FBR, was supposed to play the Pilgrimage Music Festival in Tennessee and was short a drummer. She didn’t know she was talking to Tanya Tucker’s drummer, who was near the end of nearly seven years with the country legend.

The woman, Malarie McConaha, left with a name and a contact number. When she took it to her songwriting partner Tim Hunter, he wondered why she was soliciting help from some guy working at a liquor store.

“It’s pretty funny,” said Malinin, best known for being a Goo Goo Doll for 19 years until splitting acrimoniously a decade ago. “Tim got kind of pissed at her, like ‘You’re just going to liquor stores and asking him to play drums for us? You actually need somebody who has got a little bit of experience and knows what he’s doing.’

“Tim told me later ‘We Googled you and said ‘OK, this guy has played before.’”

At the time, Malinin – who’s grown roots the past decade in Nashville with his wife and 10-year-old twins – was going through a nightmare scenario for anyone who makes a living with his hands.

The Miami native’s right arm stopped working correctly. He has dystonia, a neurological condition causing unintentional muscle contractions. Malinin couldn’t play long without his right arm randomly flipping over 180 degrees, without any warning.

Tucker got a fill-in drummer for a few gigs, but eventually replaced him. Such is the music business.

“It’s still a battle,” Malinin said. “And it requires shots in my arm to help. There’s something in my brain telling my arm to move the wrong direction. So my right arm literally was flipping.”

Tim Hunter and Malarie McConaha of The FBR, courtesy.

Meanwhile, Malinin checked out The FBR (named for a song by Leonard Cohen) on YouTube, liked it, and joined the band while it recorded its full-length debut, January’s Ghost.

“It just kind of fell into my lap that way; total accident, which I think is great,” he said. “Malarie is a little shy and I think if she had known I was playing with Tanya and knowing my history, I think she probably wouldn’t have asked me. So I’m glad she didn’t.”

But the dystonia was still an issue. Malinin considered calling it a career after missing some FBR gigs. But for the first time in 30 years, he was actually in a band instead of being a paid employee. And he really likes the band.

“The shots help and I’m working around it,” he said. “I’ve had to shift my technique a little bit to try to get more comfortable, but it seems to work.”

Malinin joined in time to play on five of the record’s nine tracks and has played some scattered shows so far. The record is fantastic: You can call it roots, Americana, alt-country, or alt-rock. He even said that because of lyrics that skew a little dark, a European critic invoked the word “goth” to describe them. Which may be the first time that adjective has ever mingled with “country.”

I should probably disclose I’ve known Malinin for at least a couple decades. We both migrated to L.A. in the ’90s to become famous drummers (one of us was average and one was really good, so …). And The FBR’s manager is my old bandmate and one of my best friends.

But the record is very good or I wouldn’t be writing about it.

Essentially, at 55 years old, Malinin joined a band starting fresh. He hasn’t done that in almost 30 years, since he was in L.A. band Careless with Bad Religion’s Brian Baker, future R.E.M. touring guitarist Nathan December, and Junkyard bassist Todd Muscat (December also toured with the Goo Goo Dolls and was in a band with my friend now managing The FBR. Baker was also in Junkyard.

L to R: Mike Malinin, Robby Takac and Johnny Rzeznik of Goo Goo Dolls. Corbis via Getty Images.

Half of The FBR’s six members are about half Malinin’s age. The guy who played stadiums, met Nelson Mandela, and did a guest shot on “Sesame Street,” among other accomplishments while playing with one of the biggest bands on the planet, is out trying to get an up-and-coming band attention. He’s playing smaller venues, hoping to latch on to a bigger tour. He’s reliving the first-band experience in a way very few successful musicians are willing to try.

But there’s no dodging the differences. At 56, it’s not the same crashing on someone’s floor during a tour, after cramming into a van with five other people and driving 10 hours between bar shows. He has a family, who understands what he does for a living, but still needs him around to be a dad and husband.

“I can’t dedicate as much time as I did when I was 25, when it was all-encompassing,” Malinin said. “[My kids] don’t like it when I’m out of town, but they’ve dealt with it. There were times when I was out with Tanya for a week or so. I don’t think touring schedules for us would be like they were for bands back in the ’90s. I can’t see us being out and not home for four months.”

Mike Malinin in 2018, courtesy.

The FBR will go as far as McConaha’s powerful voice takes them. She has star quality and the songwriting is top-notch. First single “Before I Drown” packs a powerful lyrical and musical punch.

“Her voice is just amazing and her delivery is amazing,” Malinin said. “That’s why I’m here. Once I heard the initial recordings, I could hear that something was there. Once we did the album and actually did a couple of shows; wow. This woman’s amazing. She’s definitely got that thing, whatever it is. And she’s a wonderful human being, which, at this point in my career, that’s really important. I don’t want to play in bands with jerks anymore.”

Even though he was mostly a hired gun – the Goo Goo Dolls hit it big with “Name” just before Malinin joined – he knows he’s been fortunate to, for the most part, make a living playing drums the past 30 years or so.

“It’s a pretty cool feeling if you’re doing it on your own terms, if you’re still doing it,” he said. “I feel really lucky. I escaped reality and got to play drums. I’m not ready to ride off into the sunset yet.”

Follow music critic Tony Hicks at Twitter.com/TonyBaloney1967.