Weezer Still Pleases
March 16 -- As Weezer winds up another series of sold-out dates on the Yahoo! Outloud Tour, frontman Rivers Cuomo says he's still amazed at how popular the band seems to be six years after it scored its first hits ("Undone (The Sweater Song)" and "Buddy Holly") and five years since its last album, Pinkerton.
"We keep getting surprised," says Cuomo, who brought Weezer back to active duty last year after spending time at Harvard and then suffering through a period of writer's block. "I mean, the first few shows we booked were just these tiny little clubs, like 100 people or something; we were afraid no one would come or people would laugh and throw things. Those did well, so we did the Warped Tour; then we were sure people were going to throw things at us, because we're not a punk band. But everyone loved us there, and the whole rest of the summer sold out. Now this Yahoo! tour is selling like crazy. What can you say? Wow!"
The performing is far from over. After a series of overseas gigs, the band will return to North America and hit the road again June 22 with the Vans Warped Tour.
But by that time, the band will also have marked its return to the record stores, with a still-untitled album coming out May 15. The group has been in the studio working with producer Ric Ocasek, who helmed its double-platinum 1994 debut album. Cuomo reports, "I guess it sounds pretty much exactly like our other records; it's kind of heavy pop music. The stuff we played on that summer tour has long been replaced by other songs. I just wake up in the morning and write a song everyday and throw out the old ones."
