From the first, LA band Weezer have remained unique by staying true to themselves. They talk to Scott Kara
KEY POINTS:
You wouldn't take geeky Rivers Cuomo for a tyrant. But from the outside it's as if he's the songwriting dictator of Weezer, with control freak tendencies akin to Axl Rose from Guns N' Roses.
He has written almost every song on the band's five albums since they formed in Los Angeles in 1992. Until now, that is.
Before me, at the fancy W Hotel in Los Angeles, sits a new Rivers Cuomo. He still looks the same, if not more geeky, with criss-cross knee-length shorts, cream walk socks, and trainers. He's not wearing the trademark thick-rimmed glasses but has a new furry moustache and a bowl-cut even more severe than previously.
But the big change is that he has let his bandmates, drummer Patrick Wilson, bass player Scott Shriner, and guitarist Brian Bell, who are also here today, write a song each on the band's new self-titled album (nicknamed The Red Album).
It takes some prodding as to why the other three have contributed more this time round, but we get there.
So how did you guys manage to get some songs on the album? Sneak them in there did you?
"Reverse psychology," says Bell, who wrote and sings on the dark Thought I Knew. "But it's not the first time we've collaborated and we always collaborate to a certain degree," he snaps.
On the band's 1994 debut, The Blue Album, Wilson co-wrote three of the songs, but since then - through Pinkerton (1996), The Green Album (2001), Maladroit (2002), and Make Believe (2005) - it's been all Cuomo.
"We're just focusing on doing the things we want to do and we want to play everybody's songs and we want everyone writing. That's what's fun for us," offers Cuomo.
But is it about you yielding control a little bit?
"Again, I think it's just, 'okay guys, let's focus. What do we really want to do? What's really going to make us excited?' And everyone in the band said, 'I want to write and I want to sing'."
In the past Cuomo has not done many interviews and has had a reputation for being difficult. To be fair, he's probably a little misunderstood because, if anything, he is shy (he attempts to look you in the eye but looks away), eccentric (you have to be to write songs like his), and an intelligent chap (he graduated from Harvard in 2006).
He's also a convert of Vipassama meditation, which has obviously helped him chill out. Since the last album, Make Believe, he has married; and it's telling that he doesn't take music as seriously these days.
"It's just music. It's just vibration of air molecules," he deadpans.
As for the other guys: Shriner is the tattooed salt-of-the-earth type who describes Weezer as "a family. We have our ups and downs"; Bell is the wry, questioning, smartypants with a constant and keen smirk on his face; and Wilson is the chilled-out powerhouse.
They have their own take on how things have changed for the Red Album.
Wilson: "I think you just want to avoid negativity more and concentrate more on moving forward and because we're a little older you just want to get rid of the bullshit."
Bell: "You become less self-absorbed."
Shriner: "When we started the Red Album we really pulled together and focused on the positive and now I think we're tighter than ever."
Cuomo still writes the meat and potatoes Weezer tracks, like current single Pork and Beans, which has a video starring famous YouTube and internet celebrities singing and playing along with the band.
But he also breaks away from the classic mix of heavy and melodic with the Chili Peppers-ish Everybody Get Dangerous (probably the most annoying song on the album) and the epic The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn), which is Weezer's Bohemian Rhapsody.
"When I go to record I don't restrict myself by saying I'm a rock guy, and I let as many of my influences come through as I can.
"I remember talking to Scott and trying to see what his influences are and what sort of music he'd like to see on this album."
The thing is, Shriner, who joined the band in 2001 before they recorded Maladroit, is a fan of bands like Slipknot, Tool, and Faith No More.
"He said to me," continues Cuomo, "that I just don't think we can fit that into Weezer and I said, 'Well come on man, let's try. Lets see what happens'."
The result was Cold Dark World.
"I hear a lot of darkness and pain in that song and I just imagine Scott has those kinds of feelings, not that he's brooding all the time, but it's a very deep song," says Cuomo.
At the start of the recording process they came up with three songs each that represented where they were at and what they were into musically. It was like a Weezer mix tape which included tracks by everyone from Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra (Bell), country yokel Tim McGraw and Eminem (Cuomo), Tool and Slipknot (Shriner), to Air (Wilson).
"When I listened to a couple of things Rivers gave me I felt a little uneasy. We learned a lot about each other and it set the tone for the album," says Shriner.
One band they were all fans of growing up was Slayer, who get a mention on Heart Songs, one of Weezer's best songs and the most beautiful moment on The Red Album.
"I remember someone in my high school spray-painted 'Slayer' on the wall and I was called into the office," laughs Bell. "It wasn't me, I swear it wasn't me."
The song wends and winds gently with a narrative about Cuomo's favourite artists and tunes - his heart songs. It's one of those tracks your mum and grandmother would love, and because of the references, music geeks love it too.
Then there's something like Pork and Beans that has a kindergarten singalong sensibility to it with the guitar grunt of the band's 2001 classic, Hash Pipe.
Who exactly Weezer's audience are is baffling - not that they care. "It's really great to see at the shows. You know, the moms are into it, the kids are into it because we've got a song on Disney channel or something," says Bell.
And remember, this is the band responsible for Island In the Sun with possibly the cutest video in rock 'n' roll history. The key though to having a wide appeal, reckons Cuomo, is melody.
"I like energetic and powerful music and that's what young people respond to. Quite often its the first thing I'm attracted to in a song, and I don't listen to the lyrics, it's that the tune really moves my heart and I want to sing along. Maybe that's why a wide range of people can appreciate it."
Since they started out Weezer have stayed unique by simply being themselves. Wilson remembers how, when he was growing up, if you were going to be in a rock band you had to be extreme in how you looked and what clothes you wore. "But we just decided we were going to be normal, and be just how we are and that came to be a kind of fresh thing that a lot of people do now."
"You don't really have to be charismatic, or outgoing, or a star to make it," says Cuomo. "I remember feeling like that before Weezer even formed when I saw the Pixies. I was just so inspired to see Black Francis singing because it was so powerful but he's this overweight guy in spandex shorts. Hopefully we've given a little bit of that back too."
LOWDOWN
Who: Weezer
Line up: Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar); Brian Bell (guitar, vocals); Scott Shriner (bass, vocals); and Patrick Wilson (drums, vocals)
New album: Weezer (The Red Album), out Monday
Past albums: Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994); Pinkerton (1996); Weezer (The Green Album) (2001); Maladroit (2002); Make Believe (2005)
