Weezer
Weezer’s saga hasn’t been an easy one to pull through. Despite the hit-singles, classic LP’s and awesome sell-out live-shows, there have been plenty of struggles along the way.
The beginning, though, starts with one splendidly-named Rivers Cuomo, a particularly introverted kind of guy that, despite being raised in Massachusetts, decided to move to LA in order to attend college during the late-80s. Amidst his stint at high-school, he played within some metal acts, though his real fixation and devotion eventually angled towards the more alternative and ‘post-punk’ genre. It was from such a love of music that he went on to form a group along with bassist Matt Sharp and drummer Patrick Wilson. This band is the same one currently known and loved today... Well, in some form or other.
Over the following twelve months, they gigged relentlessly, making their name all over the LA scene and soon settled with a deal with DGC amidst the alternative-act signing-boom that occurred following Nirvana’s demise. Just a few days before they began work on their debut record, they added another member to the line-up in order to bulk up the sound – guitarist Brian Bell.
After completion of the LP, rather than tour crazily in support, at first, the group took a temporary break from the industry, with Cuomo beginning studies at the highly-distinguished Harvard. However, by the Autumn of ’94, eventually, the momentum kicked up from the release of their debut single – ‘Undone (The Sweater Song)’ and album, which was self-titled. A Spike Jonze-directed video aided the former to become a college-radio and minor mainstream hit, whereas the following 45 – ‘Buddy Holly’ – was a crossover smash, ending up within the top-twenties in charts all across the world, accompanied by a legendary award-winning video, which featured the group playing on the set of cult TV-sitcom ‘Happy Days’. However, come the time of release for final single from the album, ‘Say It Ain’t So’, the band returned to other duties to have some space, with Cuomo making a return visit to Harvard, and Sharp and Wilson forming alternative-act The Rentals, who enjoyed relative success during the period (specifically with single ‘Friends Of P’).
Sadly, though, it was around this point when Rivers began to suffer from writer’s block, and he struggled to emerge with new material. When he did, it was in the form of an almost concept album – ‘Pinkerton’, which was unleashed in global stores during 1996. Its impact compared to before was shockingly different. Gone were the flashy and commercial ‘MTV’-hugging videos and radio-anthems – instead, a critically-divided record, with bags of ideas yet minimal sales. At this moment in the band’s career, Rivers Cuomo had become the dominant force; although he was always the chief songwriter, more-so than ever, Weezer had become his own entity, with the other members seemingly satisfied to be a part of the journey, as well as enjoying their own solo side-projects. Matt Sharp, however, wasn’t pleased with the rate of their sluggish progression during ’97, and left to work more actively with The Rentals. It looked like the US’s favourite ‘geek-rock’ ensemble were coming to the end of the line.
... Until a new audience discovered them. Bizarrely, an emerging generation of rock-loving kids managed to grasp on to the band’s unique and pop-punk dynamics, re-establishing them as a cult-act. This is why when it came to the group playing on the Warped tour in 2000, they became a regular highlight – day-in, day-out. Boosted up with confidence, the band returned to the studio to work on their third album – again with Ric Ocasek, the man behind the production-duties of their primary effort. What resulted from the recording-sessions was ‘The Green Album’, so-called because of its sleeve-colour, and it was a mighty step towards even more thrilling melodies and soon-to-be memorable singles, such as the inimitable ‘Hash Pipe’ and summery ‘Island In The Sun’. Tours around the world sold out once again, and radio and TV-airplay was at a peak. Weezer were back and adored as much as before.
Rather than taking this for granted, though, the band virtually immediately returned to writing and working on their next album in under a year. The new record, due for release in 2002, actually may never get unveiled in a public setting the way things are going, however. Typically unexpected, the band-members sent out promos of the record to radio-stations in the US as well as posting new material on their official website – against the permission of their label. The album, ‘Maladroit’, is said to be their finest moment yet. Ironically, rather than capitalize on this, the band just wanted to give it away free to fans.
Well, let’s see just what happens; if the results are to be anything else like the rest of Weezer’s career, then it’s highly likely no-one has a clue what’s coming next. And maybe that’s why the music-world loved them so much in the first place.
London Shepherd\'s Bush Empire Live Pix - Andrew Future
OFFICIAL SITE: This is an absolutely essential website - it may be official, but it\'s updated frequently and has loads more fan and band input than many others.
WEEZER FANS: This is a supremely good-looking, easy-to-operate and stunningly informative site worth checking out.