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Weezer

Sure, I didn’t understand what it was when I saw it, but I did think it was funny!

Grim Weezer: Band’s Leather-And-Wolfman ‘Drugs’ Video Not Their Video At All
Weezer’s new video for the song “We Are All on Drugs” features a whole lot of leather, a good amount of medieval chicanery, gratuitous torches, a sweet hovercraft, a bunch of enslaved humans, a really fierce-looking werewolf and absolutely no Weezer.
Or any drugs, for that matter.
In fact, it’s not even a real Weezer video √≥ it’s the 1985 clip for “Fear No Evil,” a tune by British theatrical metal act Grim Reaper, in which the leather-clad rockers storm the stronghold of an evil wolfman and liberate his human slaves with the power of Reaper guitarist Nick Bowcott’s axe and pug-faced frontman Steve Grimmett’s pipes.
But why did Weez decide to join forces with the Reaper? Well, according to a post on Weezer.com, the whole thing kind of started as a joke, and spiraled out of control from there.
“This video (let’s call it ‘We Are All on Drugs V1.0’) is a cleverly re-edited version of the ‘Fear No Evil’ video by Grim Reaper,” the post reads. “The video was prepared as an experiment and was immediately embraced as funny and strange √≥ not a bad match for Weezer. Mucho thanks and props to Grim Reaper for letting Weezer use the footage.”
The video is actually just “We Are All on Drugs” played over the Reaper clip, with a few edits made (Cuomo’s vocals now pseudo-sync up with Grimmett’s mouth and his guitar solo now matches up with Bowcott’s, etc.). According to Weezer’s label, Geffen Records, the Grim Reaper version of “Drugs” will only see the light of day in “international” markets (i.e. the U.K. and Canada), and the band fully intends on shooting a proper video for the U.S.
Exactly when that video will be shot remains a bit of a mystery, especially since frontman Rivers Cuomo has wavered back and forth on treatments for the better part of a month. But according to Weezer.com, it’ll happen soon enough, and when it does, fans will have two versions of “We Are All on Drugs” to choose from (though one will definitely be heavier on the medieval imagery).

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Weezer

This is a tour I will travel to see!!

Foo Fighters, Weezer eyeing fall tour
NEW YORK (Billboard) – Modern rock heavyweights Foo Fighters and Weezer are in talks to team for a fall tour, Foos leader Dave Grohl said on “The Howard Stern Show” Tuesday, the same day the band’s double album “In Your Honor”
The trek is expected to get underway in September, although sources say details may not be finalized until next week.
The Foo Fighters’ only two scheduled North American shows will come Thursday (June 16) in Toronto and Saturday on the site of the former Walker Air Force Base in Roswell, N.M., where they will entertain 500 competition winners.
Beginning July 1 in St. Gallen, Switzerland, the band will hit the European festival circuit. It will also play July 29 at Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival.
Weezer is in the midst of its own European tour. The group will begin a summer run July 2 in Las Vegas, as part of the city’s 100th birthday celebration. The group’s new Geffen album, “Make Believe,” is currently No. 17 in its fourth week on The Billboard 200.

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Weezer

Welcome back boys, and thanks for a great CD!!

Weezer Make Believe (Geffen)
Oh, the suspense of a new Weezer album. Is Rivers Cuomo still one messed-up little rock auteur? Will he write a batch of crunchy pop-punk gems, reporting from his tortured private world about the fun he imagines the rest of us are having? Will he ever find true love? On Make Believe, the answers are yes, yes, and wake the fuck up. Make Believe is a breakthrough for Weezer, a bold step into the world of the two-word album title, with twelve songs running 45:15, positively epic by their standards. But most important, Cuomo’s songs are his most plaintive and brilliant since Pinkerton, with couplets such as “I may not be a perfect soul/But I can learn self-control” narrating the latest kinks of his journey into full-fledged humanhood. Not since Brian Wilson has an L.A.-pop mastermind gotten such musical mileage out of wanting to be an ordinary guy, not realizing that his psychosexual freakitude is exactly what makes him one.
Make Believe kicks off with “Beverly Hills,” the single that revisits the dork narrator of old Weezer songs like “My Name Is Jonas,” ten years older but no wiser, graduating from comic books and twelve-sided dice to watching the E! channel. It’s a thunderous tune, with an awesomely terrible 1970s wah-wah solo that must have been sampled from Jeff “Skunk” Baxter. The sad love songs that follow — “We Are All on Drugs,” “Hold Me” — build on self-loathing hooks (“I know that I can be the meanest person in the world”) and huge pop flourishes. The best is “Pardon Me.” It sure is weird to hear Cuomo go back to his old “Buddy Holly” voice, summoning up all his strength to belt, “I apologize to you/And to anyone else that I hurt too.” Um, Rivers, is this a twelve-step thing? Nobody’s mad at you, honest. In fact, after listening to Make Believe, we love you more than evs.

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Weezer

Love the single, love the album, want to see the tour!!!

Weezer Fleshing Out Spring Tour Plans
Weezer has begun confirming North American tour dates around its previously announced April 30 appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., kicking off April 26 in Vancouver. Twelve dates are on tap through May 14 in Atlanta, to be followed by another 12 in Europe and Japan through mid-August.
The group will be out in support of its new album, “Make Believe,” due May 10 via Geffen. First single “Beverly Hills” can be streamed from the band’s official Web site. The mid-tempo track, with shades of 1994 hit “Say It Ain’t So,” is already garnering airplay at KROQ Los Angeles, WXRK New York and KNDD Seattle (which has played it more than 20 times since last Friday).
Billboard.com understands that “Make Believe” is still not fully mixed. The set will be the follow-up to 2002’s “Maladroit,” which debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200 and has sold just shy of 580,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Here are Weezer’s North American tour dates:
April 26: Vancouver (Commodore Ballroom)
April 27: Seattle (Moore Theatre)
April 29: San Francisco (Warfield)
April 30: Indio, Calif. (Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival)
May 3: Minneapolis (First Avenue)
May 4: Chicago (Aragon Ballroom)
May 5: Detroit (State Theatre)
May 6: Toronto (Kool Haus)
May 8: Boston (Avalon Ballroom)
May 10: Philadelphia (Electric Factory)
May 11-12: New York (Roseland)
May 14: Atlanta (Tabernacle)

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Weezer

Gimme!! Gimmee!! Gimmee!!

Weezer To Play ‘Make Believe’
Weezer is eyeing a May release for its fifth studio album, “Make Believe.” As previously reported, the Geffen set will be preceded in the coming weeks by the single “Beverly Hills,” a video for which was shot two weekends ago at the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles.
According to the band’s official Web site, the Marcos Siega-directed clip should “start shaping up” by “the end of the weekend.”
“The song speculates about living the life of movers and shakers, but concludes that there’s no way to cross over from the ‘real world’ to the ‘fantasy world’ (even if one who is ‘normal’ has indeed become ‘famous’),” the site says. “But for a few minutes the idea is tossed about, taken to the level of longing for a life of extreme celebrity.”
At deadline, Weezer’s only confirmed U.S. show is April 30 at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Seven European dates are on tap in June.
Here are Weezer’s tour dates:
April 30: Indio, Calif. (Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival)
June 3: Nurburgring, Germany (Rock am Ring Festival)
June 4: Nuremberg, Germany (Rock im Park Festival)
June 5: Hamburg (Grosse Freheit)
June 10: Nickelsdorf, Austria (Nova Rock Festival)
June 13: Birmingham, England (Academy)
June 14: London (Brixton Academy)
June 17: Glasgow (Carling Academy)

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Weezer

I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it!!!

Weezer Mixing And Matching On New Album
Now that frontman Rivers Cuomo has completed a semester of school at Harvard University, the track list for Weezer’s new album is “97% settled,” according to the band’s official Web site. The as-yet-untitled set is due in May via Geffen; first single “Beverly Hills” will hit U.S. radio outlets in late March.
The selection process is nearing completion thanks to “some heavy listening sessions between the band and producer/mentor Rick Rubin,” the site reports. “A few songs got swapped out and switched around, and there is high confidence in the final selection, which now includes a few songs from the late ’03 recording sessions that were originally left behind in favor of the new sessions in July-October ’04.”
Cuomo still has to complete his vocals for three songs, at which point the album will be ready for mixing.
As previously reported, Weezer earlier this week announced its first show since late 2002, which will come on the first day of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 30. A full North American and European tour is expected to follow.

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Weezer

Awesome, baby!! Awesome!!!

Weezer announces new single details
Weezer has announced the first single from their forthcoming fifth studio album.
The band’s website confirmed that the track “Beverly Hills,” from their as-yet-untitled disc, will be released to radio on March 21.
Weezer also posted an update on the status of the new album, saying it “isn’t entirely finished yet, as Rivers will be completing his work on several songs after his semester is over in late January.”
“At this time, no album title is known and no release date is set. Touring is being talked about and definite plans are on the table, but again, no details are ready for the public yet.”
Weezer’s last album, “Maladroit,” was released in May of 2002.

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Weezer

Just release it, already!!!

Weezer Scrap Rubin Tracks
Band begins recording fifth album fresh
Weezer have scrapped the sessions they recorded in December with producer Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay-Z, Johnny Cash) for their fifth album and have started again fresh. With help from engineer Chad Bamford, the band has been recording since July and hopes to finish before frontman Rivers Cuomo returns to Harvard University next month. The band hopes to release the album, the follow-up to 2002’s Maladroit, late this year or early next year.
Rubin has not been part of the “day to day action” for the new sessions, according to the band’s official site, but he is serving as an advisor. “[Rick] has become more of a ‘mentor’ figure,” reads a post. “He had a tremendous impact on Rivers and the band in ’03, helping re-organize the band’s then-somewhat confused recording priorities, and being a wonderful and positive influence on Rivers, helping him ‘find his way’ both personally and in songwriting again.”
In an email exchange with Rolling Stone, Cuomo declined to elaborate on the decision to start recording anew, writing that he was not in the “right mind-mode to speak right now.”
On Monday, Cuomo posted two solo covers on his personal Web site (riverscuomo.com). Cuomo’s take on Harry Nilsson’s pop classic “Without You” and Francoise Hardy’s “Je Changerais” were recorded in February 2003. “I don’t speak French so I have no idea what I’m saying,” Cuomo says of the latter. “I just transcribed the words phonetically.”

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Weezer

Weezer news 1

Weezer leader heading back to school
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo is heading back to school once the band finishes up work on their fifth studio album, Rolling Stone reports.
Cuomo will be going back to Harvard University to resume his English Literature studies this fall.
He originally began studying at the Ivy League school in the fall of 1995, but left in 1997 following the dismal sales performance of Weezer’s sophomore album “Pinkerton.”
Weezer’s as-yet-untitled new album, produced by Rick Rubin, is due in late 2004 or early 2005.

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Weezer

Weezer news 2

Weezer Frontman Chronicles ‘Epiphany’
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo has revealed details of the creative struggle to realize the band’s fifth album, preparation for which has dragged on much longer than originally planned. In a nearly 2,000-word essay posted on his personal Web site, Cuomo chronicles the radical lifestyle changes he says led to a spiritual and musical “epiphany.”
The shift came in the wake of Weezer’s re-emergence with 2000’s “The Green Album,” which Cuomo says sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. But its 2002 follow-up, “Maladroit,” “was not the big hit that it had threatened to be,” after which Cuomo “fell into a life of ego and vice.”
“I asked myself, ‘Is my life really supporting the production of the music I know I am capable of creating?’ I had to admit that music no longer gave me the feeling of sublime ecstasy that it once had,” he says. “Although I had already written another large pile of songs for our fifth album, I put all plans to record on hold. There was a revolution brewing in my mind, soon to be triggered by the man we had hired a few months earlier to produce the album, Rick Rubin.”
Cuomo goes on to describe how Rubin introduced him to the love poetry of Hafiz and Vipassana meditation in February 2003. “In accord with my understanding of these teachings, I abruptly dropped all of my business responsibilities and hard-won power, and isolated myself once again,” he says. “I fasted and lost 15% of my weight. I took a vow of complete celibacy. I gave away or sold most of my possessions, my house and my car and lived in an empty apartment next to Rick Rubin’s house for the rest of the year. I moved to settle outstanding lawsuits and reconcile myself with enemies. I apologized to many people. I volunteered six days a week at Project Angel Food in Hollywood, preparing meals for people with HIV.”
“Since then, I have found that the areas of tension in my mind — the fear, the anger, the sadness, the craving — are slowly melting away,” Cuomo continues. “I am left with a more pristine mind, more sharp and sensitive than I previously imagined possible. I am more calm and stable. My concentration and capacity to work have increased greatly. I feel like I am finally much closer to reaching my potential.”
Weezer’s official Web site says the band is still in rehearsals in anticipation of hitting the studio. “The music I have created over the last six months has brought me much enjoyment,” Cuomo says.
However, the singer is returning in the fall to Harvard, which he last attended in 1997, potentially affecting the release of the as-yet-untitled new set. “It is understood that the school break wouldn’t interfere with the album’s release, as most albums have a 3-4 month period of planning, marketing, etc, before release anyway — about the amount of time the semester would require,” Weezer’s site said earlier this month.