Weezer: The Unofficial Band Biography

By Lora Greene

From "Buddy Holly" and "Say It Ain't So" to "Island In the Sun" and "Pork and Bean's," their music has always been groundbreaking. This unofficial band biography takes the covers off the band, the sound, and the records—looking at what inspired the songs and albums.

From their formation and first album to their latest release (Death to False Metal), this unofficial band biography will give you insight into all things Weezer!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookCaps
• Release date: Oct 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311848499

Book preview

LifeCaps Presents:

Weezer

The Unofficial Band Biography

By Lora Greene

© 2011 by Golgotha Press, Inc.

Published at SmashWords

www.bookcaps.com

About LifeCaps

LifeCaps is an imprint of BookCaps™ Study Guides. With each book, a lesser known or sometimes forgotten life is recapped. We publish a wide array of topics (from baseball and music to literature and philosophy), so check our growing catalogue regularly (www.bookcaps.com) to see our newest books.

Part One: A Band Is Born

Chapter 1: Birth of a Band

In March 1989, Rivers Cuomo and his then-bandmates Justin Fisher, Michael Stanton, Kevin Ridel and Bryn Mutch arrived in Los Angeles to chase rock stardom. They had transplanted their Connecticut band, Avant Garde, to the West Coast, hoping for success on the LA hard rock club scene. At the time, the biggest clubs had a pay for play system, and the guys struggled to earn enough cash to put on a show.

Avant Garde held things together for a while, but the band wasn’t breaking through or building a following. Some of the members were also being pulled in other directions. By late 1989, Avant Garde became Zoom, but the band’s fortunes didn’t change. Everyone scattered to the winds by spring 1990.

Staying behind in LA was Cuomo. He got a job at Tower Records, where he became friends with Pat Finn, a punk rocker from Buffalo, New York. The pair hit it off remarkably well, and Finn introduced Cuomo to an entirely new brand of music. More importantly, Finn was the link between Cuomo and his future Weezer bandmates Pat Wilson and Matt Sharp.

In early 1991, the first inklings of the band that would become Weezer began to take shape. Under the influence of the growing alternative music scene, Cuomo cut his massive heavy metal hair and formed a short-lived band with Wilson called Fuzz. Although Fuzz only lasted about 3 months, Sharp and Wilson did convince Cuomo to come share an apartment with them. They appreciated his no-nonsense attitude toward making music. For his part, the future Weezer frontman’s metalhead sensibilities were being softened by an interest in pop songwriting. In particular, he was developing a taste for The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

In 1991, Karl Koch moved to Los Angeles. He became Weezer’s unofficial fifth member, driving the band to early gigs, helping at recording sessions and videotaping performances. For a time, though, it looked like the promising musical collaboration of Cuomo, Sharp and Wilson was going to come to an end. Sharp moved north to Berkeley while Cuomo moved into an efficiency apartment of his own in West Los Angeles.

Jason Cropper, an accomplished guitarist, entered the orbit of the two Patricks—Finn and Wilson. The three of them rented a place a few blocks from Cuomo and made a point of keeping in contact. Cuomo had been accepted to Santa Monica College on scholarship after earning a 4.0 at a local community college.

When Cuomo wasn’t studying for class or working at an Italian restaurant, he was writing and recording music with the crew from Stoner Avenue. He had his own 8-track recorder, which made them all feel highly professional. In August 1991, the foursome of Cuomo, Pat Finn, Patrick Wilson and Jason Cropper adopted the name Sixty Wrong Sausages, playing humorous, punk and alternative-inspired songs, mostly for their own amusement. The band had one official gig at The Phoenix Theater around Thanksgiving. It turned out to be their only gig, and the band came apart by early 1992. Finn left the group while Matt Sharp came on board.

Together, Cuomo and Wilson committed to write 50 new songs and not worry so much about playing gigs for the time being. The band name was also dropped. Several early Weezer tracks were composed during this burst of songwriting, including Undone, The World Has Turned and Left Me Here and My Name Is Jonas.

Cuomo sensed that the alternative music scene was about to explode. One night at work, he heard Nirvana’s Smells like Teen Spirit on the radio, and he became slightly bitter that he hadn’t written the guitar riff himself. He became more convinced than ever that the group of musicians he surrounded himself with were ready to make a big splash.

On Valentine’s Day in 1992, Cuomo, Sharp, Wilson and Cropper had their first official practice with the new material from the 50 songs project. They had yet to settle on a band name, but that didn’t slow them down. During the three-day jam session, the group laid down multiple tracks and created a demo tape. Their first gig came as a surprise; after calling around, they landed a spot opening for Keanu Reeves’ band Dogstar at Raji’s Bar and Ribshack. During a last-minute meeting, the band decided to call themselves Weezer, at Cuomo’s suggestion.

Convinced that if they tried hard enough they could achieve great things, Sharp, Cuomo and his friend Justin Fisher moved into a house on Amherst Avenue. The attached garage became their recording studio and practice area while the house itself was featured in the video for Say It Ain’t So. Fisher, who