April 16, 2018 • 34 mins
Back In 2016, Weezer released their 10th studio album, Weezer (The White Album), a self-proclaimed beach album that debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Rock/Alternative chart, and Top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart. Formed in 1992, the group has sold 9.2 million albums in the United States and over 17 million records worldwide. In the conversation taken from the GRAMMY Museum archive, members Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, lead guitar), Patrick Wilson (drums), Brian Bell (rhythm guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), and Scott Shriner (bass, backing vocals) sat with Scott Goldman to chat about the milestone project, and their over twenty-year career in music.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Required Listening. I'm your host, Scott Goldman, Executive
director of the Grammy Museum. Each week in the Clive
Davis Theater, I have the opportunity to speak with artists
from across the musical spectrum about their influences, their inspirations,
their struggles, and their creative process. With Required Listening. I'm
excited to share these discussions with you on today's episode,
(00:30):
My conversation with the band Wheezer. Drawing from the heavy
pop of arena rockers like Keeap Trick and combining doses
of seventies heavy metal from bands like Kiss, they became
one of the most popular groups to emerge from the
post grunge scene. They infused their music with a quirky
sense of humor that made songs from their debut album
like Undone, the Sweater Song, Buddy Holly, and Say It
(00:52):
Ain't So into big modern rock hits. Over two decades,
the band is now released eleven albums and has become
vehicle for the imaginative songwriting of Rivers Cuomo. We got
together after they released the White album. The album is
very much Weezer channeling the sunniness of the Beach Boys
through their own sardonic filter. Rivers has often acknowledged the
(01:14):
Beach Boys influence on his music, and we spend a
good deal of time talking about the process of working
with producer Jake Sinclair and making the record. It's not
necessarily easy to remain a band after twenty years, but
these guys still express excitement about playing shows and a
strong desire to continue to experiment with their music. So
let's go to the Clive Davis Theater and listen to
(01:36):
my conversation with Patrick Wilson, Brian Bell, Scott Shriner, and
Rivers Cuomo. Weezer. They're here tonight following the release of
their tenth studio album, appropriately entitled The White Album Give
it Up for Weezer. Alrighty, then, thanks for being here, guys,
(02:10):
appreciate it. Thank you. Uh So, the record has been described,
and I'm gonna let you guys kind of go into
this a little bit. As you know, we are at
the beach. So you've been making records here in Los
Angeles for twenty years or more. Why now a beach record.
(02:30):
Our manager suggested that we hired a new manager, and
first thing he said it was, you guys should make
a Beach Record, and I was like, oh, yeah, uh
we live here. Yeah, we were. We formed in Santa Monica.
We've been here for twenty five years roughly. And uh
favorite one of my favorite, most influential bands for me
as the Beach Boys. What are we doing? What have
(02:53):
we been doing all this? Let's go do that. But
but you've said, and I want to get the band's
reaction too, that there's a dark side to the beach
especially if you go down my neighborhood in Venice, it's
you know, I think, hold on now, I like where
I live. But um, but but it can be a
little bit ugly. Yeah. Well, for me, there's pretty much
a dark side wherever I am. Um, there's bright and dark.
(03:15):
I like, I like to mix it up. So traditionally, um,
I guess beach music is considered pretty bright and happy.
But I was appreciated in the Beach Boys there was
some melancholy underneath it. Also, I was very excited to
do Wheezer's take on the whole beach thing and see
what we could find on the underside. And I think
(03:38):
you did that. And the interesting thing is, so the
critical response to this point has been very positive. Metacritical.
Somehow I knew you were going to say that and
I needed to ask you about this. So so you
are very much engaged in sort of fan and critical reaction. Um.
(03:59):
I go through different phases. Um, I guess in recent years,
I'm definitely paying attention. I wouldn't say the cart is
leading the horse or I'm we're not following them too much.
But I like to listen to everybody's opinion and take
it all in, for sure. Yeah. And Patrick, I read
something where where you said you might have been in
Europe or something you were playing and you realize that
(04:21):
the record had made an impact because it had not
been out that long and fans were singing the lyrics
back to you. Guys. That has happened. Yeah, so that's positive. Yeah,
I mean, is that is that your best indication generally,
that that people are picking up on it, that they're
they're singing it back to you. I don't know. I don't.
I don't listen to what people have to say. I
(04:43):
mean I do, but not really right, fair, fair enough. Well,
we've been touring all summer, so like three months, and
that's like every night you're in front of ten people
and that's kind of the only reality that matters. So
you really want those people to be singing your songs
back to you, and if they're not, then you kind
of go into panic mode and let's, you know, try,
(05:05):
let's try to do something better next time, or let's
see if we can tweak the show. Your interaction with
your audience is such that on this record, I think
you had solicited random beats from from listeners and audience
members that that that you would use on this um uh,
(05:25):
we didn't. We didn't involve the audience, but I would
get a hold of like folders on hard drives, just
tons of beats and stuff, and I'd go through those
and see if anything kind of triggered something. You worked
with Jake Sinclair, and I want to ask you guys
about him. Jake, who I think you may have been
introduced to by Brendan Yury. Was was that how you
(05:48):
got introduced him? That's not how we first met him.
He was actually like the the engineer on a record
we made in two thousand nine called Gratitude, and he
was just like this twenty three year old surfer kid,
and we didn't really think anything of him. But then
I bumped into him about a year and a half ago,
and he was like all grown up, thirty years old,
wearing a suit and a new haircut, and he said
(06:10):
he had his own studio. So I went there and
recorded a demo for the song California Kids, which is
the first song on the White album, and it sounded
incredibly cool. So we just thought, let's get the whole
band in here, see what happens, and next thing you know,
the album's done. Two things about that number one he
was in if I'm correct about this, he was in
(06:31):
a Weezer cover band. Yeah he was. He was in
a Weezer cover band back in high school called Wanna Beezer.
That sounds so dark when you guys laugh, like But so,
if I understand correctly and I want to get the
band in on this, you made a cut. You Rivers
(06:52):
made a conscious decision not to micromanage the recording process,
no um or. As a songwriter, my first instinct is
always the micromanage, and you know, I've learned from experience
that that can actually do more harm than good. But
(07:13):
it wasn't my idea this time around. Is actually Jake's,
I think, or maybe even our managers, They're like, um,
let's get Jake in with each of the band members
one on one so they have time to craft their
parts without rivers, you know, micromanaging, and uh they just
kind of did it and then they played the pretty
(07:34):
much the finished product for me, and um, at that
point when I heard everything altogether, was like, oh, yeah,
this sounds incredible. Cool. So Scott, it's me Hi, Yeah, Hi,
what's going on? So in that in that process where
now you're off working with with Jake, you know, apart
from anybody else in the band, how was that help? So?
I was cool because Jake's an amazing bass player, and uh,
(07:59):
I would play a bunch of stuff and you'd be like, Okay,
that's cool, let's remember that. That was super cool. It's
let's work on that. I played a few times and
we'd go through and he'd be like our and he
would just kind of helped me, you know, finish the
kind of thoughts that I had, because I never really
played the same thing twice in a row. I kind
of come from that school or like every time we
record it, I'll do it a little different. So but
he really helped me, like pick out the best parts
(08:20):
and make little hooks out of them and repeat these phrases.
So I don't know. I think it's some of the
some of the coolest space yeah that I've done. I
love work with Jake. He was really fun. Yeah, Brian,
what do you? What do you? What the process for you?
How did that? Uh? How did they work? I didn't
mean to wake you up there, but I had about
ten ideas, uh, for each song, maybe more, maybe more,
(08:42):
and I would just go through with Jake and I
got this idea for this verse, like maybe five different ideas,
and Jake was good at arranging those ideas and kind
of ways that I might not have thought of. So
once we started on that kind of working path, earned
it came really easy to do the rest. I think
(09:02):
the first time we do was thank God for Girls,
and we've both were in a lot of pressure on
that one. He was in a lot of pressure to
like kind of produce a hit for us, and uh,
I was under pressure because of the first song of
the record that I worked on. And we got a
little argument and it was one of those arguments that
makes the relationship stronger. It was apologies and you know
(09:25):
that kind of thing. What was there a fair amount
of that sort of push and pull between between you
guys and Jake in terms of the direction. Maybe he
wanted to take the band and where you thought you
were going. He was clear. He was like, we're gonna
make my favorite Wheezer record, okay. And then I'd be like, hey,
let's put this, let's make this kind of crazy sound here,
(09:46):
and we'll do this. He's like, now we're not doing that.
We want a bass guitar. And I was like, come on, man,
we've done bass guitar and every record. Like, let's try
some different stuff. He's like, maybe the next record. I
think that the argument I had with them was really
important to uh clear the air and like kind of
let let all those anxieties rest. And then it came
(10:07):
really easily, and all my ideas were put on there
and uh, you know, new vocal ideas came up. We
came up with things together, and now we we have
a very good working relationship. Took it took that kind
of ugly moment to get there. Rivers, did did you
have some ugly moments with Jake Um? I don't know.
(10:30):
I guess I saw him as like the conservative force
in the room, like he as he's just a super fan.
He really wants it to sound like the records he
heard in the nineties. I'm kind of on the other
end of the spectrum where I just want to storm
into the future and try things I never tried before.
So it's good to have both forces in the room.
(10:50):
I think you called and Brian was talking about Thank
God for Girls. You've referred to that as pretty experimental.
How how how so? Well? I mean, it's it's an
unusual groove. First of all, that that feel to the song.
It sounds nothing like what we would have done on
the Blue album or Pinkerton in the nineties. It's in
a minor key, which is we almost never have songs
(11:11):
and minor keys. Um. And then in the verse um
kind of wrapping, kind of talking. I don't know what
it is that thing um, and it doesn't rhyme. It's
it's very stream of consciousness. It's hard to understand what
I'm trying to say. I don't know. It seemed pretty
pretty unique to me. Did you guys feel that that
was kind of a departure Thank God for Girls? Absolutely? Yeah,
(11:33):
for sure. Yeah. I mean the reaction to it has
been lyrically, it's really cool and it's fun to see
people singing along and like, are they going to know
these lyrics about the popcorn and the weird things being said?
And they kind of do. Yeah. I'm it's fascinated sometimes
better than I do. And you I've I've read things
(12:01):
where um, you've been on tour for a while here
and there's you know, opportunities to give you, particularly a
break from singing every song during the set. Is that
you know, kind of helpful for you guys to break
that up a little bit so you're not necessarily carrying
the load for the entire show. Yeah, every day I
would watch the previous night show on a video and um,
(12:24):
the one thing that kept coming up is I like
as as a listener, as a viewer, I like to
see a variety. I like to see things changing. So, um,
I would definitely encourage the guys to take over the
spotlight for a minute, come up with something a bass
solo or here, Brian, here's a light up guitar. Play
a guitar solo by yourself. Um. I just enjoy that
(12:44):
as a viewer, and it's and it does give me
an upbreak from my voice How do you guys feel
about stepping out, stepping out in front? How does that?
How does that work for you? It's awful. It's definitely
a little scary. It's not an ego thing. And really
it doesn't matter if I'm singing the song or Scott
singing the song. Wherever rivers is, that's where people are looking.
(13:07):
Except for this one show and the one person I
remember in in uh Portland, Oregon, this one girl about
twelve years old. She would not she locked eyes with
me the whole time she was standing right here, and
it was a moment we had. Clearly, Yeah, clearly, And
I can tell you're still talking about it. So No,
(13:29):
that's the kind of energy that when you see these
young people like getting into your music, that's what you're
why you do it. Almost it's an energy that I'm sorry,
but older people don't have. Hey, hey, watch yourself now.
Somebody on this stage is old. Um. So it's funny
(13:50):
you're talking about, you know, audience reaction. And one of
the things that seems to be a constant for you
guys is not necessarily wanting to alienate your audience in
terms of kind of giving them music that maybe they
would expect from you, but also continuing to push forward.
Is that is that kind of always an internal conflict? Yeah, yeah,
(14:12):
that's the conflict right there. Uh. I'm with him, man,
I'm just pushing forward. You're not as concerned with what
goes on with the audience. I feel like if we're
having a lot of fun, that will be reflected. So well,
one of the I mean one of the things that
that and it's not just between us and the audiences,
between the four of us or four of us and
(14:33):
the producer. Well, one of one of the things that
that you've mentioned is because of the relationship you have
with your audience, which is kind of remarkably interactive, that
they allow you to kind of take a step. Is
that is that like the best place you could be
as an artist? Yeah? I think so. Like, um, maybe
(14:54):
your radio Head has that seems like, um, their audience
expects them to put out something they've nothing they've ever
done before, which is pretty cool, right right? Do you
feel you have that that sort of latitude? I don't.
I think that's pretty rare. I don't know many arts
to have that besides radio Head. So no, we can
(15:18):
do it, man, But Scott, I really like your glasses. Well,
thank you, thank you. It's good to look at the
world through rose colored glass. It's like it's important. Um
so so rivers. One of the things I wanted to
ask you about in in reading some stuff for this interview.
You maintain a rather kind of meticulous, uh spreadsheet, I
(15:39):
guess of lyric fragments, song titles, I mean, even going
so far as you know what a good first line
would be. And is this a place you always go
to when you're writing songs or maybe just when when
you're stuck. I'm just constantly changing, and um, I always
(15:59):
think I finally figured it out, this is how I'm
going to do it, and then he asked me a
month later and it's something totally different. But I do
have things that they come back to stock a stockpile
of lyrics, and yes, now it's on a Google spreadsheet
and it's it's every line is tagged so I can
sweart like I'm looking for a first line that rhymes
(16:19):
with Kate and it has ten syllables, so and it's giant.
I have thousands of lines now, so if I'm ever
if you're ever stuck and you need a line, you
can just I may call you up. Yeah, in referring
to this record, you said there was a fair amount
of kind of cutting in pastings. So were you taking
from that and sort of figuring out what fit in
(16:40):
in what se um? Sometimes I would, Um, there's a
song called Summer Lane and Drunk Dory, and I did
a podcast called song Exploder all about that song, and
I talk in great detail about how all the pieces
came together. So in some cases I would I would
take some line from that spreadsheet. And in other cases
(17:02):
I would go to my journals and find like the
page of Stream of Consciousness about something that happened the
day before at my daughter's second grade graduation party. Um,
something like that. And Um, maybe I might go to
some like story online and or a book I had
been reading, maybe Ernest Hemingway, and I just start moving
(17:23):
lines around and putting it all together until it tells
a new story. Yeah, They're much was made about your
joining Tinder too, not in the ways that that you
might be thinking, but in an effort to you know,
spark some thinking about about songwriting, you know, feelings about
you know, meeting women or whatever it might be, and
what I want to get the band's reaction Because you've
(17:45):
been doing this for two decades or so, You've got
a family, now, you've got kids. Things that matter to
you now may be a little bit different than they
were twenty years ago, to to a certain degree. And
I'm wondering, if you guys start to bust him on
if there are song idea, is that maybe skew a little? Um?
Shall we say old? I mean, like like if we
(18:07):
start talking about family things, taking the kids to you know,
to school for you know, parent teacher conference, I think
I bring that up, don't. Yeah, did you write a
lot of p t A songs? And ah? Yeah, I
mean Brian will definitely he helps me with the lyrics
(18:28):
a lot if I if I'm going out and into
like an unrelatable topic. Um. But more often I think
I overcompensate and write things that sound too young, and
you know they'll nail me for that too. It was interesting.
I just wrote a song for The Monkeys for their
latest album and they're in their seventies, so um, it
(18:50):
was the first time I wrote a song for someone,
and I mean I was writing naturally from a forty
five year old point of view, and they thought they
thought it was too young sounding, so I had to
change it to make it even older. Usually the people
other artists want me to write younger, So fair warning here.
(19:10):
Eventually we're going to come to the house for some questions.
So working with working with Jake on on this record,
it's been out, the reaction has been really positive. Work
with him again, Well that's a big question right now?
Um what what what? What's the what's the central issue
to that? We all love Jake, he's great. Is he
(19:38):
too much of a Weezer fan like nineties Weezer fans? Um?
Is he the guy that can help us do something
completely crazy and different because that's what we want to do,
that's what you want to do. It seems to make
him panicky when we start doing stuff that's Unwheezer is.
Although he did produce a song we just put out
called I Love the USA, which is a very radical
(20:00):
departure and sounds nothing like anything we've ever done before.
So I think that was him saying, look, I can
I can be really different if you want. So this
record generally could be categorized as more of a classic
Weezer record, and the next one is going to be
something that would not necessarily be recognized as such. I
(20:21):
think that's a pretty safe bet. I mean, it's really
hard to predict the future with Weezer, and but I
hope that's where we're going. Yeah, I think it'd be great.
We all have a lot of ideas. We're all into
some new sounds and new ways to make music, and
we're excited about doing something different. So so you you
guys have been together for you know, a couple of decades,
(20:41):
and you know, I'm wondering at this you know, at
this point, what have you learned about being in a band?
Just to be nice? Be nice, to be It's easy,
just be really nice. That's good. It's harder than it sounds. Yeah, well,
in in the music business, that's not the rising. Be
respectful for everyone's talents. Yeah, it's pretty keep talking, keep talking, yeah, communication, Yeah,
(21:09):
and uh definitely. Um, you know, together we're much greater
than apart. So luckily we we haven't made the mistake
of trying to go separate ways. How do you think
you you in particular, have evolved as as a songwriter
over time, because you've clearly spent a lot of time
(21:29):
thinking about it, looking at it, kind of analyzing it.
How do you how do you think you've evolved? I
guess Um. I think one thing that's changed, not just
for me but for music in general, is it's way
more collaborative as far as songwriting goes. UM. My generation
came up and it was all about like the great
(21:50):
genius individual Kurt Cobain or whoever it is, and you
just hardly ever see that anymore. It's all about singing
different people together from different worlds and seeing what happens.
And Um, you've been out with touring with Panic at
(22:11):
the disco, Um, who actually Brendan will be here on
on Monday? And you co wrote Victorious. Um, are you
a different song writer when you collaborate? You're someone different? No. UM,
I'm only at my best when I'm just kind of
doing my thing, being myself. And generally that's kind of
(22:31):
what why another artist would come to me. They don't
want me to try to be like um a hit writers,
and they just want something of what I'm doing. And
oftentimes I'll present an idea that I had been working
on for Weezer anyway, and that was the case with Victorious.
I had Well, usually it's like, UM, a song a
(22:55):
song I'm writing for Weeezer, and then it doesn't work
for Weeezer, so then I'll somebody else wanted to be
um that you remember that song Magic by Um with
B O B that was trying to write a Weezer song,
You guys get disappointed by that we actually recorded. The
producer Jack knive Lee, was like, we're never doing this song,
(23:18):
and that was the end of Jack Knivel. We don't.
We don't get as possible with this songwriting. There's plenty
of songs to go around, to go around like, and
I'm super happy for any great song that makes it
out there, whoever's best, most ready to sing it and
it works out great, That's awesome. Yeah, And you know,
(23:38):
I keep going back to production a little bit because
it's such an interesting collaboration between a band and a
and a producer. You've worked with names who people would know,
Rick o'ka Sick or Rick Rubin. This process, I think
you've all said was remarkably fast. Yeah, and I'm wondering
if that was because of the working relations, a ship
(24:00):
with Jake or something else. Yeah, it's definitely Jake and
our new managers, UM. They just came in with tons
of ideas and energy and um, it said. Maybe it's
a generational thing too. Um, it's just the way younger
producers are working now. It's just it's really fast and
it's fun and easy and all right. It just seems
like that's a tour went on. We started trying a
(24:22):
little different things here and there, and some of the
older songs, and Pat's kind of similar with me, where
we'll rarely play the same thing two nights in a row.
So I don't know, it still seems kind of exciting
and a little bit dangerous. Yeah, yeah, Sat and so
has never felt old. Why Why? Because it's such a powerful,
great song, A song I think we'll play every time
(24:44):
we ever played live show. And I'm as I've said
throughout the interview, your interaction and your relationship with your
fans is such that it seems like no matter you know,
how popular the song or how many times you've played it,
it's exciting to continue kind of that dialogue with your
with your audiences. You guys feel that way. It's the
(25:07):
energy of the crowd, it's the the energy of youth.
That's something that, Uh, we're very lucky to experience what
we do and we still connect with you with the
youth and I'm Tanya. That's just nothing like it. It's
three ages. Yeah. So um, I said before, we're gonna
take a couple of questions from the house. Yes, right here,
(25:32):
going back a little way, but you guys did the
front to back, so a couple of times gives then
the ankerchon. It was a trend at that time. Everybody
was doing it, mainly an older band. But what was
your reason for doing those? Um, well, anniversary kind of
like twenty year aniversary, the blue that maybe no, oh oh,
(26:02):
there was, yeah, there's something like that. I can't remember. Well.
We had a song called Memories that kind of no
I think it was. It was it was kind of
the original idea was by popular demand, and at first
I was like, uh, you want us to go back
and play more old songs. But as it turned out,
(26:25):
once we got into relearning and rehearsing all that stuff,
it was incredibly fun because the in a way they're
kind of new songs because we never get to play them,
especially most of Pinkerton. It's like we did a few
months of touring and then that in ninety six and
ninety seven and and that was it, and then we
never played those songs again for fourteen years, so it's
(26:49):
it was incredibly fun to play and they're they're such
a good rock band type of songs. Who else Yes
in the back as they were in all our venues,
which were packed with people who knew every word of
those songs. So that was just like a dream come
true for us. UM. When we were touring opening for
(27:10):
No Doubt in nineties seven, nobody knew those songs and
it was really depressing. Yeah in the back, go ahead.
Thanks guys for making a great record. And it's not
just like a it's an immediately great records has to
grow ont records. So thanks for that, thank you for
saying thank you with the whole I think you guys
(27:33):
never talked to leader currently or the past Beach Boys,
no um. I think one time I tried to contact
Brian Wilson through music business people and said, hey, if
you'd ever like to write a song, that would be awesome,
and never heard back and that's cool, um. But Brian
(27:54):
and I we had we have a connection with the
Beach Boys. The piano teacher named m O p Ler
who also does string arrangements, so he was the beach
Boards keyboardist, and yeah, he was the touring musician who
played all the Brian Wilson parts, and Brian Wilson didn't tour,
so there's our connection with He has all the keyboard
transcriptions and he came and taught them to me and Brian.
(28:16):
That's pretty cool. Who else? Yes, right here? Sorry, right there.
I just just want to say thanks for all the reading
albums in those society for gazing, like looking forward to
all your two albums. I have questions for Brian. The
Relationship album was so awesome. I just wanted to give
them an album coming out. I have another record finished,
thank you. Yeah, thanks, coming out for one or two more? Yes,
(28:39):
they're right there, yep, yep. I think love your last
two records a lot. And I was wondering if there
are being unreleased B sides from the White album. Yeah, Um,
they're all coming out real soon, but we're not supposed
to say how or when, but yeah, look for that wherever. Yeah,
(29:02):
and they're incredible right there. We went on the first
might might we get another Weezer cruise? What do you think?
It came up again and we decided not to do it.
But there's plenty of other cruises. Maybe we could do
(29:23):
something like it that's not at the sea too, and
on a boat, you know, somewhere else, something else, camp,
something cool. Okay, we got time for yeah, by the soundboard.
Okay you guys. Yeah, first first four actually, no, first
(29:56):
that change things. I think music over the world. Actually
it can totally. We I spent lots of time because
I get all kicked up about the way things sound.
We would flip between the tape and then pro tools
back and forth, and and honestly, it wasn't It was
hardly any different because it was coming from tape going
(30:17):
into tools, so it was like it was very close.
It seems like with pro tools we could give everything
really perfect. And we experimented with that with everything being
right on the kind of grid and that. Then like
we did that, and then a couple of records later
we're like, all right, let's especially with ric ocastic, We're like,
just get in there and tear it up. He'd be like,
that was great. It was like, are gonna moving around?
(30:38):
He's like, no, I'm not really gonna move around much.
So then we would I find that a lot more
exciting sounding personally, yes, right there, so weird out cover
of Buddy Holly? And why why did you decide? From
where do you get this infermation? I didn't know this
this is in I think, Yeah, I never approved it.
(31:04):
Buddy Holly it was a polka song. Yeah he I mean,
he doesn't have to get approval. He could just put
it out. Um, but he's a really good guy and
he and he sent it to me and said would
you be cool if I put this out? And I
listened to it and it was a medley of the
current alternative hits, like I remember Nine Inch Nails was
on there, but done kind of Tolka style, and they
(31:27):
were all incredibly funny. And then suddenly he starts playing
Buddy Holly, and it was it just sounded like Buddy Holly.
It wasn't remotely funny. So it's like, I don't think
that's really funny. So, um, probably shouldn't put it out
in retrospect. Who cares? Just put it out. So if
you're listening weird, I'll go ahead and put it out
all right, so um on on on this tour, I
(31:51):
read something about that you developed a computer program to
generate randomized setlists. I I want to, but you haven't
done that yet. I'm taking a computer science class now
um C US fifty through Harvard. It's most popular online
class in the world. It's really incredible. Um, but I
haven't yet learned how to make a automatic set list generator. Okay,
(32:14):
well we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll save that question for for
for when that happened. We used to use dungeons and
dragon dice. Yeah, well that I understand. There were generated
set lists and each song had if it was a
hit song, it had more of a higher chance of
being in the set. How did that turn out? We
(32:38):
had some pretty crazy selling it. It's exciting because it'd
be like, oh, that song would be like backstage like
how does this go on? Me and Briani be like wait, no, no, no,
it's like this, like get off the record. I don't
I like stuff like that. It's exciting. Well, on the downtime,
people don't think realize from sound check to the show,
like you're sitting there twiddling your thumbs for a lot
(32:59):
of bit and um, it's nice to actually have something
to intellectually do. And then if it's a learn a
song before, it's kind of makes the time go by
faster at least well. Um, First of all, thank you
guys for not only coming but putting up with a
slight fire drill in the middle of the Q and A.
It's awfully thoughtful of you. So, ladies and gentlemen, Weezer,
(33:31):
that was my conversation with Weezer. Have a listen to
their latest album, Pacific Daydream, and decide for yourself if
they've pushed themselves in a new direction. And that's your
required listening for today, We're coming to you with fresh
episodes every Thursday. We're on all the socials at Grammy Museum.
(33:51):
If you're coming to Los Angeles, I do hope you'll
come see us, perhaps even join us for a future program.
All the infos at our website grammy museum dot org.
Many thanks to the team that makes this podcast happen.
Jason James, Justin, Joseph Jim Cannella, Lynn Sheridan, Miranda Moore,
Callie Wiseman, Lynn Brown, Michael Roorbacker, Jason Hoak, Chandler May's,
(34:12):
Nick Stump, and everyone at How Stuff Works for required listening.
I'm Scott Goldman,
Welcome to Required Listening. I'm your host, Scott Goldman, Executive
director of the Grammy Museum. Each week in the Clive
Davis Theater, I have the opportunity to speak with artists
from across the musical spectrum about their influences, their inspirations,
their struggles, and their creative process. With Required Listening. I'm
excited to share these discussions with you on today's episode,
(00:30):
My conversation with the band Wheezer. Drawing from the heavy
pop of arena rockers like Keeap Trick and combining doses
of seventies heavy metal from bands like Kiss, they became
one of the most popular groups to emerge from the
post grunge scene. They infused their music with a quirky
sense of humor that made songs from their debut album
like Undone, the Sweater Song, Buddy Holly, and Say It
(00:52):
Ain't So into big modern rock hits. Over two decades,
the band is now released eleven albums and has become
vehicle for the imaginative songwriting of Rivers Cuomo. We got
together after they released the White album. The album is
very much Weezer channeling the sunniness of the Beach Boys
through their own sardonic filter. Rivers has often acknowledged the
(01:14):
Beach Boys influence on his music, and we spend a
good deal of time talking about the process of working
with producer Jake Sinclair and making the record. It's not
necessarily easy to remain a band after twenty years, but
these guys still express excitement about playing shows and a
strong desire to continue to experiment with their music. So
let's go to the Clive Davis Theater and listen to
(01:36):
my conversation with Patrick Wilson, Brian Bell, Scott Shriner, and
Rivers Cuomo. Weezer. They're here tonight following the release of
their tenth studio album, appropriately entitled The White Album Give
it Up for Weezer. Alrighty, then, thanks for being here, guys,
(02:10):
appreciate it. Thank you. Uh So, the record has been described,
and I'm gonna let you guys kind of go into
this a little bit. As you know, we are at
the beach. So you've been making records here in Los
Angeles for twenty years or more. Why now a beach record.
(02:30):
Our manager suggested that we hired a new manager, and
first thing he said it was, you guys should make
a Beach Record, and I was like, oh, yeah, uh
we live here. Yeah, we were. We formed in Santa Monica.
We've been here for twenty five years roughly. And uh
favorite one of my favorite, most influential bands for me
as the Beach Boys. What are we doing? What have
(02:53):
we been doing all this? Let's go do that. But
but you've said, and I want to get the band's
reaction too, that there's a dark side to the beach
especially if you go down my neighborhood in Venice, it's
you know, I think, hold on now, I like where
I live. But um, but but it can be a
little bit ugly. Yeah. Well, for me, there's pretty much
a dark side wherever I am. Um, there's bright and dark.
(03:15):
I like, I like to mix it up. So traditionally, um,
I guess beach music is considered pretty bright and happy.
But I was appreciated in the Beach Boys there was
some melancholy underneath it. Also, I was very excited to
do Wheezer's take on the whole beach thing and see
what we could find on the underside. And I think
(03:38):
you did that. And the interesting thing is, so the
critical response to this point has been very positive. Metacritical.
Somehow I knew you were going to say that and
I needed to ask you about this. So so you
are very much engaged in sort of fan and critical reaction. Um.
(03:59):
I go through different phases. Um, I guess in recent years,
I'm definitely paying attention. I wouldn't say the cart is
leading the horse or I'm we're not following them too much.
But I like to listen to everybody's opinion and take
it all in, for sure. Yeah. And Patrick, I read
something where where you said you might have been in
Europe or something you were playing and you realize that
(04:21):
the record had made an impact because it had not
been out that long and fans were singing the lyrics
back to you. Guys. That has happened. Yeah, so that's positive. Yeah,
I mean, is that is that your best indication generally,
that that people are picking up on it, that they're
they're singing it back to you. I don't know. I don't.
I don't listen to what people have to say. I
(04:43):
mean I do, but not really right, fair, fair enough. Well,
we've been touring all summer, so like three months, and
that's like every night you're in front of ten people
and that's kind of the only reality that matters. So
you really want those people to be singing your songs
back to you, and if they're not, then you kind
of go into panic mode and let's, you know, try,
(05:05):
let's try to do something better next time, or let's
see if we can tweak the show. Your interaction with
your audience is such that on this record, I think
you had solicited random beats from from listeners and audience
members that that that you would use on this um uh,
(05:25):
we didn't. We didn't involve the audience, but I would
get a hold of like folders on hard drives, just
tons of beats and stuff, and I'd go through those
and see if anything kind of triggered something. You worked
with Jake Sinclair, and I want to ask you guys
about him. Jake, who I think you may have been
introduced to by Brendan Yury. Was was that how you
(05:48):
got introduced him? That's not how we first met him.
He was actually like the the engineer on a record
we made in two thousand nine called Gratitude, and he
was just like this twenty three year old surfer kid,
and we didn't really think anything of him. But then
I bumped into him about a year and a half ago,
and he was like all grown up, thirty years old,
wearing a suit and a new haircut, and he said
(06:10):
he had his own studio. So I went there and
recorded a demo for the song California Kids, which is
the first song on the White album, and it sounded
incredibly cool. So we just thought, let's get the whole
band in here, see what happens, and next thing you know,
the album's done. Two things about that number one he
was in if I'm correct about this, he was in
(06:31):
a Weezer cover band. Yeah he was. He was in
a Weezer cover band back in high school called Wanna Beezer.
That sounds so dark when you guys laugh, like But so,
if I understand correctly and I want to get the
band in on this, you made a cut. You Rivers
(06:52):
made a conscious decision not to micromanage the recording process,
no um or. As a songwriter, my first instinct is
always the micromanage, and you know, I've learned from experience
that that can actually do more harm than good. But
(07:13):
it wasn't my idea this time around. Is actually Jake's,
I think, or maybe even our managers, They're like, um,
let's get Jake in with each of the band members
one on one so they have time to craft their
parts without rivers, you know, micromanaging, and uh they just
kind of did it and then they played the pretty
(07:34):
much the finished product for me, and um, at that
point when I heard everything altogether, was like, oh, yeah,
this sounds incredible. Cool. So Scott, it's me Hi, Yeah, Hi,
what's going on? So in that in that process where
now you're off working with with Jake, you know, apart
from anybody else in the band, how was that help? So?
I was cool because Jake's an amazing bass player, and uh,
(07:59):
I would play a bunch of stuff and you'd be like, Okay,
that's cool, let's remember that. That was super cool. It's
let's work on that. I played a few times and
we'd go through and he'd be like our and he
would just kind of helped me, you know, finish the
kind of thoughts that I had, because I never really
played the same thing twice in a row. I kind
of come from that school or like every time we
record it, I'll do it a little different. So but
he really helped me, like pick out the best parts
(08:20):
and make little hooks out of them and repeat these phrases.
So I don't know. I think it's some of the
some of the coolest space yeah that I've done. I
love work with Jake. He was really fun. Yeah, Brian,
what do you? What do you? What the process for you?
How did that? Uh? How did they work? I didn't
mean to wake you up there, but I had about
ten ideas, uh, for each song, maybe more, maybe more,
(08:42):
and I would just go through with Jake and I
got this idea for this verse, like maybe five different ideas,
and Jake was good at arranging those ideas and kind
of ways that I might not have thought of. So
once we started on that kind of working path, earned
it came really easy to do the rest. I think
(09:02):
the first time we do was thank God for Girls,
and we've both were in a lot of pressure on
that one. He was in a lot of pressure to
like kind of produce a hit for us, and uh,
I was under pressure because of the first song of
the record that I worked on. And we got a
little argument and it was one of those arguments that
makes the relationship stronger. It was apologies and you know
(09:25):
that kind of thing. What was there a fair amount
of that sort of push and pull between between you
guys and Jake in terms of the direction. Maybe he
wanted to take the band and where you thought you
were going. He was clear. He was like, we're gonna
make my favorite Wheezer record, okay. And then I'd be like, hey,
let's put this, let's make this kind of crazy sound here,
(09:46):
and we'll do this. He's like, now we're not doing that.
We want a bass guitar. And I was like, come on, man,
we've done bass guitar and every record. Like, let's try
some different stuff. He's like, maybe the next record. I
think that the argument I had with them was really
important to uh clear the air and like kind of
let let all those anxieties rest. And then it came
(10:07):
really easily, and all my ideas were put on there
and uh, you know, new vocal ideas came up. We
came up with things together, and now we we have
a very good working relationship. Took it took that kind
of ugly moment to get there. Rivers, did did you
have some ugly moments with Jake Um? I don't know.
(10:30):
I guess I saw him as like the conservative force
in the room, like he as he's just a super fan.
He really wants it to sound like the records he
heard in the nineties. I'm kind of on the other
end of the spectrum where I just want to storm
into the future and try things I never tried before.
So it's good to have both forces in the room.
(10:50):
I think you called and Brian was talking about Thank
God for Girls. You've referred to that as pretty experimental.
How how how so? Well? I mean, it's it's an
unusual groove. First of all, that that feel to the song.
It sounds nothing like what we would have done on
the Blue album or Pinkerton in the nineties. It's in
a minor key, which is we almost never have songs
(11:11):
and minor keys. Um. And then in the verse um
kind of wrapping, kind of talking. I don't know what
it is that thing um, and it doesn't rhyme. It's
it's very stream of consciousness. It's hard to understand what
I'm trying to say. I don't know. It seemed pretty
pretty unique to me. Did you guys feel that that
was kind of a departure Thank God for Girls? Absolutely? Yeah,
(11:33):
for sure. Yeah. I mean the reaction to it has
been lyrically, it's really cool and it's fun to see
people singing along and like, are they going to know
these lyrics about the popcorn and the weird things being said?
And they kind of do. Yeah. I'm it's fascinated sometimes
better than I do. And you I've I've read things
(12:01):
where um, you've been on tour for a while here
and there's you know, opportunities to give you, particularly a
break from singing every song during the set. Is that
you know, kind of helpful for you guys to break
that up a little bit so you're not necessarily carrying
the load for the entire show. Yeah, every day I
would watch the previous night show on a video and um,
(12:24):
the one thing that kept coming up is I like
as as a listener, as a viewer, I like to
see a variety. I like to see things changing. So, um,
I would definitely encourage the guys to take over the
spotlight for a minute, come up with something a bass
solo or here, Brian, here's a light up guitar. Play
a guitar solo by yourself. Um. I just enjoy that
(12:44):
as a viewer, and it's and it does give me
an upbreak from my voice How do you guys feel
about stepping out, stepping out in front? How does that?
How does that work for you? It's awful. It's definitely
a little scary. It's not an ego thing. And really
it doesn't matter if I'm singing the song or Scott
singing the song. Wherever rivers is, that's where people are looking.
(13:07):
Except for this one show and the one person I
remember in in uh Portland, Oregon, this one girl about
twelve years old. She would not she locked eyes with
me the whole time she was standing right here, and
it was a moment we had. Clearly, Yeah, clearly, And
I can tell you're still talking about it. So No,
(13:29):
that's the kind of energy that when you see these
young people like getting into your music, that's what you're
why you do it. Almost it's an energy that I'm sorry,
but older people don't have. Hey, hey, watch yourself now.
Somebody on this stage is old. Um. So it's funny
(13:50):
you're talking about, you know, audience reaction. And one of
the things that seems to be a constant for you
guys is not necessarily wanting to alienate your audience in
terms of kind of giving them music that maybe they
would expect from you, but also continuing to push forward.
Is that is that kind of always an internal conflict? Yeah, yeah,
(14:12):
that's the conflict right there. Uh. I'm with him, man,
I'm just pushing forward. You're not as concerned with what
goes on with the audience. I feel like if we're
having a lot of fun, that will be reflected. So well,
one of the I mean one of the things that
that and it's not just between us and the audiences,
between the four of us or four of us and
(14:33):
the producer. Well, one of one of the things that
that you've mentioned is because of the relationship you have
with your audience, which is kind of remarkably interactive, that
they allow you to kind of take a step. Is
that is that like the best place you could be
as an artist? Yeah? I think so. Like, um, maybe
(14:54):
your radio Head has that seems like, um, their audience
expects them to put out something they've nothing they've ever
done before, which is pretty cool, right right? Do you
feel you have that that sort of latitude? I don't.
I think that's pretty rare. I don't know many arts
to have that besides radio Head. So no, we can
(15:18):
do it, man, But Scott, I really like your glasses. Well,
thank you, thank you. It's good to look at the
world through rose colored glass. It's like it's important. Um
so so rivers. One of the things I wanted to
ask you about in in reading some stuff for this interview.
You maintain a rather kind of meticulous, uh spreadsheet, I
(15:39):
guess of lyric fragments, song titles, I mean, even going
so far as you know what a good first line
would be. And is this a place you always go
to when you're writing songs or maybe just when when
you're stuck. I'm just constantly changing, and um, I always
(15:59):
think I finally figured it out, this is how I'm
going to do it, and then he asked me a
month later and it's something totally different. But I do
have things that they come back to stock a stockpile
of lyrics, and yes, now it's on a Google spreadsheet
and it's it's every line is tagged so I can
sweart like I'm looking for a first line that rhymes
(16:19):
with Kate and it has ten syllables, so and it's giant.
I have thousands of lines now, so if I'm ever
if you're ever stuck and you need a line, you
can just I may call you up. Yeah, in referring
to this record, you said there was a fair amount
of kind of cutting in pastings. So were you taking
from that and sort of figuring out what fit in
(16:40):
in what se um? Sometimes I would, Um, there's a
song called Summer Lane and Drunk Dory, and I did
a podcast called song Exploder all about that song, and
I talk in great detail about how all the pieces
came together. So in some cases I would I would
take some line from that spreadsheet. And in other cases
(17:02):
I would go to my journals and find like the
page of Stream of Consciousness about something that happened the
day before at my daughter's second grade graduation party. Um,
something like that. And Um, maybe I might go to
some like story online and or a book I had
been reading, maybe Ernest Hemingway, and I just start moving
(17:23):
lines around and putting it all together until it tells
a new story. Yeah, They're much was made about your
joining Tinder too, not in the ways that that you
might be thinking, but in an effort to you know,
spark some thinking about about songwriting, you know, feelings about
you know, meeting women or whatever it might be, and
what I want to get the band's reaction Because you've
(17:45):
been doing this for two decades or so, You've got
a family, now, you've got kids. Things that matter to
you now may be a little bit different than they
were twenty years ago, to to a certain degree. And
I'm wondering, if you guys start to bust him on
if there are song idea, is that maybe skew a little? Um?
Shall we say old? I mean, like like if we
(18:07):
start talking about family things, taking the kids to you know,
to school for you know, parent teacher conference, I think
I bring that up, don't. Yeah, did you write a
lot of p t A songs? And ah? Yeah, I
mean Brian will definitely he helps me with the lyrics
(18:28):
a lot if I if I'm going out and into
like an unrelatable topic. Um. But more often I think
I overcompensate and write things that sound too young, and
you know they'll nail me for that too. It was interesting.
I just wrote a song for The Monkeys for their
latest album and they're in their seventies, so um, it
(18:50):
was the first time I wrote a song for someone,
and I mean I was writing naturally from a forty
five year old point of view, and they thought they
thought it was too young sounding, so I had to
change it to make it even older. Usually the people
other artists want me to write younger, So fair warning here.
(19:10):
Eventually we're going to come to the house for some questions.
So working with working with Jake on on this record,
it's been out, the reaction has been really positive. Work
with him again, Well that's a big question right now?
Um what what what? What's the what's the central issue
to that? We all love Jake, he's great. Is he
(19:38):
too much of a Weezer fan like nineties Weezer fans? Um?
Is he the guy that can help us do something
completely crazy and different because that's what we want to do,
that's what you want to do. It seems to make
him panicky when we start doing stuff that's Unwheezer is.
Although he did produce a song we just put out
called I Love the USA, which is a very radical
(20:00):
departure and sounds nothing like anything we've ever done before.
So I think that was him saying, look, I can
I can be really different if you want. So this
record generally could be categorized as more of a classic
Weezer record, and the next one is going to be
something that would not necessarily be recognized as such. I
(20:21):
think that's a pretty safe bet. I mean, it's really
hard to predict the future with Weezer, and but I
hope that's where we're going. Yeah, I think it'd be great.
We all have a lot of ideas. We're all into
some new sounds and new ways to make music, and
we're excited about doing something different. So so you you
guys have been together for you know, a couple of decades,
(20:41):
and you know, I'm wondering at this you know, at
this point, what have you learned about being in a band?
Just to be nice? Be nice, to be It's easy,
just be really nice. That's good. It's harder than it sounds. Yeah, well,
in in the music business, that's not the rising. Be
respectful for everyone's talents. Yeah, it's pretty keep talking, keep talking, yeah, communication, Yeah,
(21:09):
and uh definitely. Um, you know, together we're much greater
than apart. So luckily we we haven't made the mistake
of trying to go separate ways. How do you think
you you in particular, have evolved as as a songwriter
over time, because you've clearly spent a lot of time
(21:29):
thinking about it, looking at it, kind of analyzing it.
How do you how do you think you've evolved? I
guess Um. I think one thing that's changed, not just
for me but for music in general, is it's way
more collaborative as far as songwriting goes. UM. My generation
came up and it was all about like the great
(21:50):
genius individual Kurt Cobain or whoever it is, and you
just hardly ever see that anymore. It's all about singing
different people together from different worlds and seeing what happens.
And Um, you've been out with touring with Panic at
(22:11):
the disco, Um, who actually Brendan will be here on
on Monday? And you co wrote Victorious. Um, are you
a different song writer when you collaborate? You're someone different? No. UM,
I'm only at my best when I'm just kind of
doing my thing, being myself. And generally that's kind of
(22:31):
what why another artist would come to me. They don't
want me to try to be like um a hit writers,
and they just want something of what I'm doing. And
oftentimes I'll present an idea that I had been working
on for Weezer anyway, and that was the case with Victorious.
I had Well, usually it's like, UM, a song a
(22:55):
song I'm writing for Weeezer, and then it doesn't work
for Weeezer, so then I'll somebody else wanted to be
um that you remember that song Magic by Um with
B O B that was trying to write a Weezer song,
You guys get disappointed by that we actually recorded. The
producer Jack knive Lee, was like, we're never doing this song,
(23:18):
and that was the end of Jack Knivel. We don't.
We don't get as possible with this songwriting. There's plenty
of songs to go around, to go around like, and
I'm super happy for any great song that makes it
out there, whoever's best, most ready to sing it and
it works out great, That's awesome. Yeah, And you know,
(23:38):
I keep going back to production a little bit because
it's such an interesting collaboration between a band and a
and a producer. You've worked with names who people would know,
Rick o'ka Sick or Rick Rubin. This process, I think
you've all said was remarkably fast. Yeah, and I'm wondering
if that was because of the working relations, a ship
(24:00):
with Jake or something else. Yeah, it's definitely Jake and
our new managers, UM. They just came in with tons
of ideas and energy and um, it said. Maybe it's
a generational thing too. Um, it's just the way younger
producers are working now. It's just it's really fast and
it's fun and easy and all right. It just seems
like that's a tour went on. We started trying a
(24:22):
little different things here and there, and some of the
older songs, and Pat's kind of similar with me, where
we'll rarely play the same thing two nights in a row.
So I don't know, it still seems kind of exciting
and a little bit dangerous. Yeah, yeah, Sat and so
has never felt old. Why Why? Because it's such a powerful,
great song, A song I think we'll play every time
(24:44):
we ever played live show. And I'm as I've said
throughout the interview, your interaction and your relationship with your
fans is such that it seems like no matter you know,
how popular the song or how many times you've played it,
it's exciting to continue kind of that dialogue with your
with your audiences. You guys feel that way. It's the
(25:07):
energy of the crowd, it's the the energy of youth.
That's something that, Uh, we're very lucky to experience what
we do and we still connect with you with the
youth and I'm Tanya. That's just nothing like it. It's
three ages. Yeah. So um, I said before, we're gonna
take a couple of questions from the house. Yes, right here,
(25:32):
going back a little way, but you guys did the
front to back, so a couple of times gives then
the ankerchon. It was a trend at that time. Everybody
was doing it, mainly an older band. But what was
your reason for doing those? Um, well, anniversary kind of
like twenty year aniversary, the blue that maybe no, oh oh,
(26:02):
there was, yeah, there's something like that. I can't remember. Well.
We had a song called Memories that kind of no
I think it was. It was it was kind of
the original idea was by popular demand, and at first
I was like, uh, you want us to go back
and play more old songs. But as it turned out,
(26:25):
once we got into relearning and rehearsing all that stuff,
it was incredibly fun because the in a way they're
kind of new songs because we never get to play them,
especially most of Pinkerton. It's like we did a few
months of touring and then that in ninety six and
ninety seven and and that was it, and then we
never played those songs again for fourteen years, so it's
(26:49):
it was incredibly fun to play and they're they're such
a good rock band type of songs. Who else Yes
in the back as they were in all our venues,
which were packed with people who knew every word of
those songs. So that was just like a dream come
true for us. UM. When we were touring opening for
(27:10):
No Doubt in nineties seven, nobody knew those songs and
it was really depressing. Yeah in the back, go ahead.
Thanks guys for making a great record. And it's not
just like a it's an immediately great records has to
grow ont records. So thanks for that, thank you for
saying thank you with the whole I think you guys
(27:33):
never talked to leader currently or the past Beach Boys,
no um. I think one time I tried to contact
Brian Wilson through music business people and said, hey, if
you'd ever like to write a song, that would be awesome,
and never heard back and that's cool, um. But Brian
(27:54):
and I we had we have a connection with the
Beach Boys. The piano teacher named m O p Ler
who also does string arrangements, so he was the beach
Boards keyboardist, and yeah, he was the touring musician who
played all the Brian Wilson parts, and Brian Wilson didn't tour,
so there's our connection with He has all the keyboard
transcriptions and he came and taught them to me and Brian.
(28:16):
That's pretty cool. Who else? Yes, right here? Sorry, right there.
I just just want to say thanks for all the reading
albums in those society for gazing, like looking forward to
all your two albums. I have questions for Brian. The
Relationship album was so awesome. I just wanted to give
them an album coming out. I have another record finished,
thank you. Yeah, thanks, coming out for one or two more? Yes,
(28:39):
they're right there, yep, yep. I think love your last
two records a lot. And I was wondering if there
are being unreleased B sides from the White album. Yeah, Um,
they're all coming out real soon, but we're not supposed
to say how or when, but yeah, look for that wherever. Yeah,
(29:02):
and they're incredible right there. We went on the first
might might we get another Weezer cruise? What do you think?
It came up again and we decided not to do it.
But there's plenty of other cruises. Maybe we could do
(29:23):
something like it that's not at the sea too, and
on a boat, you know, somewhere else, something else, camp,
something cool. Okay, we got time for yeah, by the soundboard.
Okay you guys. Yeah, first first four actually, no, first
(29:56):
that change things. I think music over the world. Actually
it can totally. We I spent lots of time because
I get all kicked up about the way things sound.
We would flip between the tape and then pro tools
back and forth, and and honestly, it wasn't It was
hardly any different because it was coming from tape going
(30:17):
into tools, so it was like it was very close.
It seems like with pro tools we could give everything
really perfect. And we experimented with that with everything being
right on the kind of grid and that. Then like
we did that, and then a couple of records later
we're like, all right, let's especially with ric ocastic, We're like,
just get in there and tear it up. He'd be like,
that was great. It was like, are gonna moving around?
(30:38):
He's like, no, I'm not really gonna move around much.
So then we would I find that a lot more
exciting sounding personally, yes, right there, so weird out cover
of Buddy Holly? And why why did you decide? From
where do you get this infermation? I didn't know this
this is in I think, Yeah, I never approved it.
(31:04):
Buddy Holly it was a polka song. Yeah he I mean,
he doesn't have to get approval. He could just put
it out. Um, but he's a really good guy and
he and he sent it to me and said would
you be cool if I put this out? And I
listened to it and it was a medley of the
current alternative hits, like I remember Nine Inch Nails was
on there, but done kind of Tolka style, and they
(31:27):
were all incredibly funny. And then suddenly he starts playing
Buddy Holly, and it was it just sounded like Buddy Holly.
It wasn't remotely funny. So it's like, I don't think
that's really funny. So, um, probably shouldn't put it out
in retrospect. Who cares? Just put it out. So if
you're listening weird, I'll go ahead and put it out
all right, so um on on on this tour, I
(31:51):
read something about that you developed a computer program to
generate randomized setlists. I I want to, but you haven't
done that yet. I'm taking a computer science class now
um C US fifty through Harvard. It's most popular online
class in the world. It's really incredible. Um, but I
haven't yet learned how to make a automatic set list generator. Okay,
(32:14):
well we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll save that question for for
for when that happened. We used to use dungeons and
dragon dice. Yeah, well that I understand. There were generated
set lists and each song had if it was a
hit song, it had more of a higher chance of
being in the set. How did that turn out? We
(32:38):
had some pretty crazy selling it. It's exciting because it'd
be like, oh, that song would be like backstage like
how does this go on? Me and Briani be like wait, no, no, no,
it's like this, like get off the record. I don't
I like stuff like that. It's exciting. Well, on the downtime,
people don't think realize from sound check to the show,
like you're sitting there twiddling your thumbs for a lot
(32:59):
of bit and um, it's nice to actually have something
to intellectually do. And then if it's a learn a
song before, it's kind of makes the time go by
faster at least well. Um, First of all, thank you
guys for not only coming but putting up with a
slight fire drill in the middle of the Q and A.
It's awfully thoughtful of you. So, ladies and gentlemen, Weezer,
(33:31):
that was my conversation with Weezer. Have a listen to
their latest album, Pacific Daydream, and decide for yourself if
they've pushed themselves in a new direction. And that's your
required listening for today, We're coming to you with fresh
episodes every Thursday. We're on all the socials at Grammy Museum.
(33:51):
If you're coming to Los Angeles, I do hope you'll
come see us, perhaps even join us for a future program.
All the infos at our website grammy museum dot org.
Many thanks to the team that makes this podcast happen.
Jason James, Justin, Joseph Jim Cannella, Lynn Sheridan, Miranda Moore,
Callie Wiseman, Lynn Brown, Michael Roorbacker, Jason Hoak, Chandler May's,
(34:12):
Nick Stump, and everyone at How Stuff Works for required listening.
I'm Scott Goldman,
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