Albums : Weezer : Death To False Metals
Albums : Weezer : Death To False Metals
Listen To Weezer : Death To False Metals
Listen To Weezer : Death To False Metals
Death To False Metals Who is Weezer?
Weezer has been around since 1992, and in its present form since September 2001. Weezer consists of Rivers Cuomo, primary songwriter, lead vocals and guitar, Patrick Wilson, drums, guitar, vocals, and production whiz, Brian Bell, guitar and keyboards and vocals, and Scott Shriner, bass, vocals, and keyboards. Whether on the stage or in the studio its not uncommon to see just about anyone in the band playing just about anything they can get their hands on. Its also not uncommon to see some pretty wacky stuff go down both on stage and on the web. Weezer has sold over 10 million albums and has played thousands of shows to date. Weezer is also known for its pioneering (1994-2000) use of the internet to reach its fanbase, innovative videos and funny and/or quite strange behind the scenes footage, as well as its extremely passionate and devoted fans. They also make a mean cheese sandwich.
The Story So Far...
Weezer was founded in Los Angeles on February 14, 1992 by Rivers Cuomo, Jason Cropper, Matt Sharp, and Pat Wilson. (Their first practice was actually on February 15th). The band formed from the ashes of a previous band, Sixty Wrong Sausages, whose lineup was the same except for Patrick Finn playing bass instead of Matt Sharp. Sixty Wrong Sausages played a combination of aggressive older songs by Rivers and often hilarious newer songs by Rivers and both Pats in various writing combinations, and the emphasis was more on riffing and jamming out. Weezer on the other hand was from the outset intended to be more about songwriting, in the vein of The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Pavement, The Velvet Underground, and what seemed to be becoming the biggest band in the world in late 1991, Nirvana.
Sixty Wrong Sausages played its only show on Thanksgiving 1991 and promptly broke up. Rivers and Pat Wilson had embarked upon a songwriting project by December 1991, combining older songs of theirs they felt were worthy of inclusion in the to-be-established new band with new songs they both were writing. This was called "The Fifty Song Project", and they were determined to have 50 songs before they played a show, or even practiced together. By late January 1992, they were up to about 35 or 40 songs and talk was turning to getting the band going, as they were very stoked on the new material and were sure more would follow. They knew that the yet unnamed band would contain Rivers, Pat, and Jason, but they needed a new bass player, as Patrick Finn was preoccupied with other concerns at this time and there were tensions in the air that weren’t conducive to band camaraderie. Matt Sharp was a prior acquaintance and old L.A. roommate of everyone except for Jason Cropper (who Pat Finn had discovered and brought to LA
in spring 1991, after Matt Sharp had left town to live in the Bay Area and make strange classical music for a while). After some deliberation, Matt was offered the gig despite his being unfamiliar with the music. On the strength of a tape of Cuomo and Wilson demos sent up to him in SF, he immediately called and accepted the invitation. He had to very quickly learn the songs, as the bands initial practices were set up for mid February, and they were in effect an audition for Matt.
After a tumultuous 3 day practice session in which Matt's position in the band was cemented and Jason famously doffed his clothes while playing guitar in a fit of exultation, the band set about practicing, learning more songs, and starting to play local L.A. clubs. Their first show was at Raji's in March 1992, opening for Keanu Reeves' band Dogstar, who were also debuting that night. During weezer's show, Rivers fell off the stage while playing guitar in an ecstatic state, and everyone became extremely excited about the band despite the half hearted response and cavalcade of mistakes and technical difficulties during their chaotic set.
Despite not having much success at first, the band pressed forward. In April 1992, Rivers, Matt, and Rivers' friend Justin Fisher moved into 2226 Amherst Avenue, a guest house on a quiet street in West L.A. This house was chosen for its 1 car garage/laundry room, which was quickly established as a practice and demo recording spot, much to the eventual confusion of the landlords in the main house who had been told the guys were UCLA film students. Eventually, after 16 months together playing shows and recording demos in Los Angeles, weezer signed a record contract with Todd Sullivan (under the wing of Tony Berg) at DGC records (Geffen). The band moved to New York City for 2 months in fall 1993 to record their debut album at the famed Electric Lady Studios under producer Ric Ocasek (of Cars fame). During the recording of 'weezer', Jason Cropper left the band to take care of his girlfriend/future wife, who was pregnant with their first child. Jason was replaced by Brian Bell, a guitar player who was looking for a new gig after his bass duties in Carnival Art became tedious and unfruitful. Rivers and Matt had met Brian at a Carnival Art gig about a year earlier and saved his contact info as they thought he had great playing style and was on the same wavelength as them. Brian auditioned by cassette, fed exed to NYC, and a phone interview with Matt and Rivers wherein they asked him questions like who was his favorite Star Wars action figure (the satisfying answer: "Hammerhead"). Brian’s singing on the cassette was up to snuff to Rivers and Matt's great relief (despite his made up version of the lyrics which he did not know), and Brian was flown in, while the surprised legal departments juggled paperwork to make Brian's joining the band official. At Electric Lady, they scheduled extra days to teach Brian the vocal parts and record him. They replaced Jasons singing and playing with Brian's and Rivers's, and completed the album a few weeks late and a little over budget.
Weezer's self-titled debut album was released on May 10, 1994, and after several months of terribly attended headline gigs up and down the west coast and a few opening gigs for the likes of Overwhelming Colorfast and Material Issue, by late summer "Undone" was slowly becoming a hit. A stint opening for Lush was a success, and then they started their first tour in a bus in October 1994, opening for Live for almost 3 months straight, ad "Buddy Holly" climbed the charts due to the now-famous video which incorporated scenes from "Happy Days". They eventually released three singles from weezer: "undone - the sweater song", "buddy holly", and "say it ain't so". "Buddy holly" won several mtv awards that year (awarded in August 1995 in NYC), and "weezer" eventually went triple-platinum by 2000. After their "World Domination Tour" was completed in 8/95, The band immediately started on a follow up album. Back while touring on "Blue", Rivers applied to and was accepted at Harvard, having already completed several semesters of undergraduate work at SMCC and LAVC in 1992-1994. So fall 1995 and Spring 1996 was marked with Rivers going to Harvard, Matt releasing and touring on his own 1st album by The Rentals, Patrick Wilson working on his own project The Special Goodness's 1st album, and Brian returning to his own pre-weezer solo project the Space Twins. Whenever Rivers was on break from Harvard, everyone re-convened in the studios in L.A. and kept working on the new album , which would eventually be called "Pinkerton".
On September 24th 1996, weezer's much-awaited second lp, entitled Pinkerton, was released. It was quite different from 'weezer'; the guitars were more gruff, the lyrics were deeper and much more exposed, and the band's talent and style had matured considerably. It was also not recieved well by most critics, and it sold poorly. Weezer released three singles from Pinkerton: "el scorcho", "the good life", and "pink triangle". Pinkerton eventually (post 2000) went gold in record sales and has been a steady seller since. After more tours around the world with such bands as Ash, Placebo, Nerf Herder, and No Doubt, the band suffered a terrible blow when their good friends and fanclub leaders Mykel and Carli Allen were killed in an auto accident in July 1997. (See the Mykel And Carli Tribute Page for more info). This cast a shadow over the band that led to fragmentation and a long hiatus. In the downtime after Pinkerton, Matt Sharp left the band and focused on The Rentals. Rivers had stayed in Boston to continue attending Harvard, but ended up working on music instead, creating songs for a band he named Homie as well as songs that would eventually be weezer songs as well as Rivers solo songs. In Boston, one of the musicians he worked with in late '97 - early '98 was Mikey Welsh, who had played in many bands including Juliana Hatfield's.
Later in Spring 1998, Rivers, Pat and Brian had re-convened in L.A. to rehearse and prepare a new album. There was a period of confusion when they tried to settle on a new bass player. They initially recruited Patrick Finn from the old Sixty Wrong Sausages days, but after one practice and several weeks of enthusiastic camaraderie and hanging out, the union failed to take for unknown reasons. Then a difficult series of try-outs commenced, but it wasn’t until Mikey Welsh came out and seemed to fit right in that the band was unified in feeling they had someone new to mesh with. However, after months more of rehearsal, the new album was nowhere near getting started, and rehearsals had faded out and turned into Rivers solo songwriting sessions for the most part. By fall 1998, Pat had gone back home to Portland, Oregon, leaving the message "please call me when you are ready to make the album". The hiatus was on, but there was some activity. In late 1998 and early 1999, the band, using a substitute drummer, played two shows as Goat Punishment, one a show of all Nirvana covers, and the other a show of all Oasis covers. Later, after more months of waiting, Pat recruited Mikey for two tours with the Special Goodness (fall 1999 and early 2000). Meanwhile Brian continued to put out Space Twins 7" records. In the meantime, Rivers decided to sell his home in Boston (thus suspending his Harvard plans for a while) and buy a house in L.A. and officially set up operations there, setting the stage for the events of 2000.
By Spring 2000, weezer had been off the fast changing music scene for over 2 years, and no one in the band's circle knew what impact such a hiatus would have. Finally weezer's management company received a eye-opening offer from a Japanese promoter for several concerts later that summer. By this point the band was getting ready to re-start rehearsals for the long overdue 3rd album, and the Japan offer was a catalyst to get things moving quicker. the band rehearsed and recorded new demos, and then got an offer to play on the Vans Warped Tour. The opportunity to reach a large audience was too good to pass up, plus it would be good practice for ehe large sold out shows coming in Japan.
However 2.5 years off of the circuit had badly damaged the bands finances, so a shoestring tour was put together, operating with a van and a u-haul trailer, much like back in 1994. The crew consisted of Karl and a sound mixer/tour manager (Neil Young - no not that Neil Young) for several months. Several headline shows around the West coast were scheduled to sandwich the Warped Tour dates, so the band went from small venues like Jerry's Pizza in Bakersfield one day, to giant parking lots full of punk kids the next.
The response was incredible everywhere they went, and the re-birth of Weezer was on. 2000 was a hugely productive year for the band, as the "Cult Of Pinkerton" finally emerged in the fan base, after the long dormant period following the end of the last tour in '97. The headline shows (several of which were done under the "Goat Punishment" moniker - a run of 300 special GP t-shirts was even printed up for the fall 2001 GP shows) were packed and epic. The Warped Tour shows were massive and epic, with the crowd chanting "weezer" 2 bands before they even took the stage (during those band's sets!). Meanwhile the band would turn up amongst all the tour busses in a van, dealing with 100 degree parking lot temperatures with no dressing room. Everyone was having a ton of fun and felt that they were re-paying their dues in a sense. The Japan dates went extremely well too, and further US touring took the band into the fall. Mikey Welsh was a wild presence onstage, and despite worries about whether fans would accept a Matt replacement, he seemed to fit right in quickly.
All the while, weezer.com was starting to transform, as Karl was assigned the task of putting up news updates and figuring out how to get pictures and videos into a computer and online, and a partnership with the pioneering OG weezer.net admins Anuj and Dan was forged. Weezer.com (the domain name) had to be secured from a dude who had claimed it a few years back but never really used it. Record labels did not have proper web departments in the 90's (neither did most bands actually) so the wild west atmosphere was prevalent. Once the pieces were in place, weezer.com became the #1 spot to go to to check for news on the upcoming new weezer album, and for what was surely one of the first times in music history, fans got a nearly real time front row seat into the drama of making an album, complete with tons of proto-webisode clips, and commentary direct from the band (via Karl).
Drama was an appropriate word, as there was a lot of tension between the band and their label over the new songs. the "Summer Songs Of 2000" (SS2K) songs were rehearsed, demoed and played live most of the year, but many of them were met with resistance from Geffen, and a sort of tug of war developed over the albums direction. Finally in October 2000, the label liked what they were hearing and Ric Ocasek was brought in to produce, as he had in 1993 for the Blue album. This time, Ric came out to Los Angeles, and the band worked at Cello Studios, before going to Miami Beach's Marlin Studios in January to finish up details and mix with Tom Lord-Alge.
Meanwhile the band had agreed to play the 2001 Yahoo Outloud Tour, in February and March. They had mixed feelings about the corporate sponsorship (as evidenced in the classic "Corporate Sell Out Tour" t-shirts they had made to sell during it, without Yahoos knowledge). On the other hand, they did need to earn money and the tour paid well. They decided to go for it, as the tour would reach many more fans than if they had done a DIY tour, and also saw the benefits of the (then) high-tech offerings Yahoo was adding (webcasts, photo booths, etc) that would reach even more people. The promo clips the band filmed with Karl prior to the tour have become enduring classics of of corporate message subversion ("Rivers Hiding", the Dave Lynch-ian Santa Suit and Holiday themed clips, and the abstract "Weezer Tree/Bucket Of Porridge" clips were born at this time). Karls transformation from roadie/van diver/semi-tour-manager/guitar tech to webmaster/a-v guy became official on this tour, the first where he wasnt tuning a guitar since 1992.
The Yahoo Tour, coming mere days after the mixing of what would become The Green Album, was both very successful and very exhausting. It was followed by another Japan tour in April 2001 which while also successful, further exacerbated various tensions that had been growing since last fall, which centered around the band's desire to control their own career more. By the time Weezer returned to the USA, their relationship with their management company (Atlas/3rd Rail) had hit an all time low, which culminated in the band deciding to fire them on the day the Green Album was released, May 10. This led to a protracted period of litigation (as they were accused of breaking their management contract), which culminated in tense hearings in August 2001 in which it was shown by the band that Atlas had already nullified their contract by acting as a booking agent in fall 2000 (against California law). From this point Weezer was self managed (with Rivers fielding the calls and making the final decisions), until 2005, when Daniel Field became their manager. There was also an interim period in 2003-4 when their original Geffen A+R man Todd Sullivan was hired for day to day managerial duties, but not as a full manager, as the final decisions still rested with the band.
The band embarked on a "Hooptie Tour" to promote the Green Album, playing at unusual and small venues co-promoted by radio stations. One of the more interesting setups of this tour was in Philadelphia, where they played at an old boxing arena, setting up in the ring. They also played a skatepark in Detroit, and a roller rink in Illinois. All these dates were accompanied by meet and greet autograph signings. In the summer they headed to Europe for the festival circuit, playing all over the place, usually in large muddy fields, bordered by forests full of unbathed festival goers engaging in all sorts of illicit activities (cf: "Memories" lyrics, 2010).
After a taping for the Jay Leno show in July, Mikey Welsh went missing to everyones' alarm. He had been having increasingly erratic behavior since early in the year, but no one was experienced enough to see it as anything but "rock star style". As it turned out, he had suffered a severe and near-fatal bipolar episode and had been hospitalized in Boston. A period of confusion followed, as Weezer had many scheduled engagements to come in 2001. It was decided to hire a fill in bass player, and see how it went. After several try-outs, Scott Shriner was selected for the job. Rivers initially took a shine to Scott because he liked Scott's "non-weezer-y" visual style and that he was a quick study and wanted to work hard. Later in 2001, it was determined that Mikey was not going to return to the band, and Scott was invited to join the band as a replacement.
The second "Island In The Sun" video by Spike Jonze was shot the this time, after the initial video failed to ignite. This video (inspired by their A+R man Jordan Schur's suggestion of "Weezer....with the animals!") was notable in that it only featured Rivers, Pat, and Brian. Scott was not a member yet, and Mikey was in the hospital. A footnote to this was that there was talk of inviting Matt to be in the video as a treat to old school fans, but for unknown reasons this idea never came to pass.
Once Scott had settled in, heavy touring followed. The Midget Tour (temporarily put in limbo by the 9/11 attacks), The Extended Midget Tour (with Tenacious D and Jimmy Eat World), the Hyper Extended Midget Tour, and the Dusty West Tour took the band into 2002. Meanwhile rehearsals, writing and recording proceeded for a follow up album to Green. Between Dec 2001 and early 2002, over 150 unfinished demos and recordings from the in progress "Maladroit" were released directly from the band to fans online via weezer.com for their input and opinions on the sound. This was done without Geffens consultation or possibly knowledge. In a further example of Rivers's bold management style, the band also directly solicited radio play for Maladroit by pressing up their own promo CDs and mailing them direct to radio, all without consultation (and at first without knowledge) of this by Geffen. Moves like this were designed to prove that weezer could successfully promote themselves without the radio, video and promotional departments of a major label, and were used as cards to be played in coming contract re-negotiations.
Maladroit was released in spring 2002, barely a year after Green, and weezer continued to tour until fall 2002, running at a breakneck speed, touring, recording and writing constantly. All this, combined with the stresses of managing the band led to Rivers needing a major break by late 2002. At that point, despite a continuous touring schedule over the last year, the band had already recorded numerous new songs (later dubbed "album 4.5" by fans) which at the time were intended to be finished up for a 5th album, which was being considered for 2003. In addition, the live EP "The Lion And The Witch", drawn from various performances in 2002 was released.
Feeling burnt out and realizing he was having trouble with songwriting due to the constant pressures of being the bands manager (as well as the manager for his friend Kevin Ridel's new band AM Radio, who he helped get signed to Elektra), Rivers looked for another way, and found it with Rick Rubin. Rick, who was being considered for production of the next weezer record, introduced Rivers to Vipassanna meditation. By early 2003, Rivers had become an active practicer of Vipassanna and realized that it was best for everyone for him to focus on writing and creative energy, and to step away from management stresses. However the band still were reluctant to get a new manager after their past experiences, so they recruited Todd Sullivan, who was their original A+R man back at Geffen, to be their de facto managerial figure. With Todd making phone calls and organizing things, and with Rivers and the band having final say over big decisions, Rivers could relax and start focusing on songwriting with a fresh perspective, delving deep into meditation, yoga, and for a while, a nearly ascetic lifestyle.
2003 proceeded at a much more relaxed pace, with the band frequently meeting to jam acoustically in their Sunset Blvd office space they had set up as a base camp. They went into the studio to record all their new songs acoustically that summer, with Rod Cervera. With the extra time, Brian finally finished up the Space Twins album, which he titled "the End Of Imagining". Pat meanwhile had his self released Special Goodness album re-mixed and re-released on the startup label NOS, and toured as the Special Goodness, opening for Audioslave and the Foo Fighters. Meanwhile, starting back in mid 2002 and continuing till early 2004, Karl worked on the bands first DVD release as well as the Blue Album Deluxe Edition (which both came out in 2004). By the end of 2003, the band convened in Cello Studios with Rick Rubin to start their 5th album. However these sessions lasted a few weeks and were then shelved. Rivers needed more time to write and think, and spent the first half of 2004 recording many more demos on his own. Finally in summer 2004, the band re-convened at Grandmaster Studios in L.A. to try and finish the album again. This time Rick Rubin only came by occasionally, allowing Rivers and the band privacy and autonomy. They would then turn in their daily mixes to Rick for his input. Although Rivers returned to Harvard in fall 2004 to work towards completing his degree that he started in 1995-6, the rest of the band kept working, and "Make Believe" finally took shape early in 2005, with everybody including Rick on hand to sort it out.
The release of Make Believe in spring 2005 thrust weezer back into the spotlight, for a very busy year of video shoots and world touring including the co-headlining "Foozer" tour, and festival dates with Oasis in Europe. In Portland, OR, instead of the usual contest winner that had been selected ot the other shows, the bands old buddy Patrick Finn came out on stage to jam on undone with the guys, the first time they'd all played together since 1998. The year ended with an epic Japan tour and Rivers becoming engaged to be married. This would be the bands second marriage, as Pat had been married since December 1994.
2006 was a quiet one for weezer on the music front, but a blockbuster in the personal departments, with Rivers getting married in June, and Scott getting married in November. In the meantime, songs were written and demos were made, but publicly the band was on vacation.
2007 saw the band returning to the studio, working at studios in Malibu, CA including the MPAC theater. What would become the Red Album was created over a long summer of boisterous, collaborative and experimental work, very different than the quieter calmer Make Believe sessions.
In 2008 the band resumed touring, starting with the Hootenanny Tour where hundreds of local fans who won contests got the chance to come play music with the band. This was followed by more conventional touring, but in which the hootenanny experience was added to the big arenas, with a smaller group of 25-50 winners coming out on stage for a 3 song set with the band. Every show was very different and cool, and what began as a nervous experiment ended up on a triumphant note. The band also experimented with new covers including Pink Floyd's "Time", which shocked and delighted audiences. In November 2008 the band gathered at The Document Room studio in Malibu with producer Jacknife Lee to record what would become their 7th studio album Raditude. These sessions were intentionally broken up into 3 phases, with the remainder of the album recorded at 2 other L.A. studios. Jacknife eventually moved on as his schedule could not accommodate the continual additional studio time that was being added, nor the back and forth decision making process. By summer 2009 the band was working at the studio of Butch Walker in Venice, CA, and the album was mixed and completed by mid summer, for a fall release. More touring rounded out the year, after a video shoot for "(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To".
Raditude would mark the end of Weezers recording contract with Geffen, after over 15 years and 7 albums. The band was free to self release or sign with a new company. With the rapidly changing world of the recording industry, weezer made a similar conclusion to many other name bands in the same situation. They could afford to record their own albums, but it was a hassle distributing cds and managing iTunes deals. So they decided they needed to work with a company who could help get their records out in the world, as opposed to doing 100 percent of everything on their own. They needed a small but robust label, and chose Epitaph. The band recorded the album that was to be named Hurley over spring and early summer 2010, and the record was put together and released in September. meanwhile they toured in small 3-5 show jaunts over the course of the summer and fall, hitting up many US festivals as well as headline shows.
In November 2010, two more releases were put out, the collection of never released studio leftovers "Death To False Metal", and the Pinkerton: Deluxe Edition, Which Karl and many others had been researching and working on since early 2009. In late 2010 into early 2011, Weezer put on the Memories Tour, wherein the Blue Album and Pinkerton were played live in their entirely, with many songs being played live for the first time ever or since the mid 90's. Meanwhile Brian released another album, this time by his band The Relationship.
In 2011, more weezer writing and recording is underway, as well as another summer of live performances.
Death To False Metals Review
Troublesome cove, Rivers Cuomo. He’s got the gift of writing goofily brilliant pop songs about any amount of daft stuff, often appearing to channel the internal monologue of meat-headed rock kids and obsessive nerds in equal measure. But there’s no hint of deliberate wackiness, and his band deliver the rock straight, with passion and verve.
That he could possibly mean it, man, is without question. But this leaves him in a constant state of raising and then defying the expectations of, well, pretty much all Weezer fans, all of the time. And this disparate collection of songs the band had lost down the back of their collective sofa will do little to change matters.
Some fans, for example, will just want to hear classic power-pop like Turning Up the Radio or I Don’t Want Your Loving: rock songs which are loud and dumb, but also snarky and smart. Others might prefer the band to stretch out a bit, experiment with something like Autopilot: it’s a grinding, sleazy affair, which seeks to engage with the groinal regions musically, while simultaneously advocating the joys of looking at dog poo under a microscope. And there will definitely be a row about the skippy daffiness of I’m a Robot, a song which is clearly designed to be the blank-eyed and guileless missing link between Lust for Life and S Club 7’s Reach.
And if that all sounds a bit arch and planned-out, how about the emotive punch of a straight ballad or two? How about Losing My Mind and Unbreak My Heart (yes, that Unbreak My Heart)? Wrong-footed you again, didn’t he?
The strange thing is, for all that it is all over the place, compilations of lost songs and outtakes are not supposed to hang together this well. Or be anywhere near this much fun. They’re supposed to be a stop-gap rag bag of good ideas and bad ideas; they’re supposed to be a loose coagulation of silliness and seriousness doled out with a straight face, and no pressure to be anything other than what they are. They’re… pretty much Weezer, in album form.
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