The Conversation: Weezer's Rivers Cuomo

Sept. 9, 2010— -- Since Rivers Cuomo first formed the band Weezer in the early 90's, his prolific songwriting and quirky personality have drawn the attention of fans and critics.

After nearly two decades of commercial success, he's hoping Weezer can do it again with a new album, Hurley, set for release on Sept. 14.

Today on the Conversation, Cuomo spoke with ABC's Dan Harris and explained his reasoning behind the new album title.

"I saw [actor] Jorge Garcia who plays Hurley from "Lost" walking into the dressing room at a TV show," said Cuomo. "I love that show... so I was like, I got to get a picture with him. And then later, I was looking at the picture, and just looking at his face, there was so much love and warmth coming off of it, and he was so charismatic. It made me feel great."

"So, we just zoomed in on his face and cropped me out of the picture altogether, and then there's our album cover," Cuomo added. "We just called it Hurley, cause we figured that's what people were going to call it."

Cuomo denied reports that Weezer had named the new album after the clothing company Hurley, but indie music news site Stereogum posted photos of Cuomo wearing the branded clothing.

In an interview, Weezer guitarist Brian Bell said that the album was named after the Hurley clothing company, saying Hurley had funded the album during the recording process. He later retracted the statement.

Aside from the controversy over the name, the music is already online, streaming in its entirety through the band's MySpace page.

Cuomo hopes that the new songs will be well-received by longtime Weezer fans, though critics have not been as kind to some of the band's most recent releases.

"I know everyone's coming from their own perspective," said Cuomo, acknowledging that the criticism can sting. "They have their own tastes. No record is right for everyone, and it's interesting to me that a certain segment of the indie community feels compelled to focus on Weezer and judge them by indie standards, by which we're pretty much always going to fail, I think."

"I don't really focus on that so much. I focus on the people that love us and love what we're doing," Cuomo added.

Also, Harris asked Cuomo about rumors that the band could soon launch live tours, playing two of their most successful albums, the Blue Album and Pinkerton.

"Nothing's confirmed yet," Cuomo said. "But if we're putting in all those hours to re-learn the songs, I think it's likely that it's going to happen."

We hope you'll watch today's Conversation.

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