Weezerpedia Discord Q&A with Karl Koch - May 2022

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Jason B: Hello Senator Koch - why do I have it in my mind that Matt sings both of the harmony parts during the breakdown of Holiday. The "we will write a postcard to our friends" section. That's Matt harmonizing with himself, plus Rivers singing the "on the road with Kerouac" part... yes?

Karl: the other voice in that part is Pat actually

May 3, 2022 7:02 PM (#karlification)


Joel-G: Hey Karl, do you know the reason/story as to why so many of the blue album’s vinyl reissues had the wrong font on them?

Karl: youd think that record labels have things really set in stone when it comes to doing reissues, but Ive found every new project can be led by different people over time, as some quit or get promoted etc. Theres a physical giant folder, an "art file" for each album (before things were totally digital) that Ive seen with my eyes when we went to do the Blue Deluxe, so i know its all there. But it appears that numerous times there was a directive, often from affiliates in Europe, etc, but domestically too, that fell to people who didn't know the history and made assumptions about the font, layout, etc. Leading to a number of reissues that all look basically like the blue album, but aren't exactly right (Which baffles and infuriates me). You might ask, "why didnt they ask you"? and thats what i have asked myself, but its important to remember, anyone working at the label since like 2000 has a decreasing chance of even knowing i exist. And our management Crush has been very helpful since they got on board in 2015, to crack down on the viral spread of the wrong logo in ads, posters, releases etc, so i give them big ups.

to a previous question - this generally started with Green getting the wrong logo from jump in 2001. I was not directly consulted with the art beyond the early stages for that one, and sure enough they popped that in and it got approved before i even knew it was a thing. from there it spread like wildfire.

there wasnt a strong sense of tradition at that point, and ive speculated the temporarily adopted idea at label was "it doesnt make a difference". I think RC could have stopped it had he noticed, but he was not really interested in the art beyond keeping it simple. He and I spent hours and hours on the interior spread (MST3K photoshop), but i didnt see the final front cover until release day.

Moony B: Was there ever a point where you did have to step in?

Karl: ive stepped in numerous times over the years, pointing out errors in drafts and mock-ups And ive pushed hard to get them to crack down going forward (only to see new errors pop up later). But in the cases where they already printed and released something, there wasnt much i could do.

May 6, 2022 5:03 AM (#karlification)


justinho: I have been obsessed with the album 5 demo BOOBY TRAP for like a month now. Do we know anything about this song? And do we only have that one band demo?

Karl: whatever i may have on that is currently shrouded - both physically by unknown layers of stuff, and mentally by time. I wont let it go though!

May 9, 2022 6:58 PM (#karlification)


justinho: I think it was you (right?!?!?!) that did the video for Prodigy Lover from these sessions, right? I hope someday all of that other stuff comes out.

Karl: i edited it, from beautiful 16mm film that Rod Cevera shot

May 14, 2022 6:27 AM (#karlification)


Joel-G: Going back to the wrong font on the blue album conversation, did you or the band have any say in MoFi changing the font on Green to the proper Weezer font rather than the font used on every other green release?

Karl: I had a say in that, supported by management at the time. "At least this one will be right" was my attitude. Band may not have even noticed?

May 14, 2022 6:29 AM (#karlification)


Jason B: Do you still have the sound collage you made for undone, before it was nixed by the label and replaced by the spoken word stuff?
(and would you share it with us :smiling_imp: )

Karl: i do. Share? not right now. Hopefully there will be a time and place for that.

May 14, 2022 6:29 AM (#karlification)


justinhoenke: Any info you can share on the Rivers/Pat tune 392 Baby Come Back? Those synths are killer and I am assuming that was Pat.

Karl: synths were in fact Pat!

May 22, 2022 11:58 AM (#karlification)


deckra: karl, i cannot believe it has taken me so long to ask this, but do you know anything about the Half-Life weezer guitars

deckra: for context, this screenshot is from an unpublished, early version of a book called Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, which was about the development of the first and second half life games. in this uncorrected proof of the book, these guitars are featured as being constructed and given to weezer. they don't appear in the final book, and i have never seen any evidence of the band using them

Karl: never seen that image, nor the guitars! i suspect those are digital mock ups (not pix of real guitars), and they ended up not going ahead with them..

May 22, 2022 11:58 AM (#karlification)


Burnst Jamp: More Karl-y Pink Triangle question: Do you know how many promos of the song exist, outside of the common cardboard sleeve one? Tony Voda has one in a jewel case, and an old Karl's Corner collection image shows a similar jewel case variant which may or may not be the same. Do you have any of these in your vault?

Karl: i doubt there are more than those variations. the only "mass produced" one is the cardboard sleeve one. the others are one offs or small sets for internal label use etc

May 22, 2022 11:59 AM (#karlification)


Joel-G: Hey Karl, I know this question has been asked over and over, but I don't think I've seen anything on it from the last 15+ years. Just want to know if you know anything more about the Blue album vinyl pressing with the feet. To me it always seemed like there was an error in printing the sleeves for the original UK pressing and they just exported the misprint (feet) records to Japan for sale. I asked the owner/founder of Timebomb records in Japan a while ago, but never got a response.

Karl: your theory is the strongest one. Sadly, getting confirmation of that could be just about impossible now. It was likely nearly impossible in 1995.

May 23, 2022 7:48 PM (#karlification)



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