Rolling Stone article - February 4, 2000

Weezer Brace for Return
Weezer's Rivers Cuomo sets the record straight on the band's going-ons

by JENNIFER VINEYARD

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Disputing a rumor posted on a Smashing Pumpkins Web site earlier this week, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo says that D'Arcy (who vacated her SP post last September) has not joined up with his band. In fact, former Julianna Hatfield bass-player Mikey Welsh, who joined the band after Matt Sharp's departure in 1998, remains the band's bassist at large.

"I have no idea how they got that idea [about D'Arcy]," Cuomo said. "But I like to hear crazy rumors. Didn't I die in a car accident? My mom called me about that one -- she was really concerned. And then there was the time I raped someone. My mom also called me about that: 'I'm so disappointed in you!' But she doesn't call me about them anymore. I banned her from the Internet."

Perhaps some of the speculation stemmed from Weezer's relative absence from the music scene. The band's other members have been busy with side projects (guitarist Brian Bell in the Space Twins, Welsh and drummer Pat Wilson in Special Goodness). And other than contributing a cover of "Velouria" to the Pixies tribute album Where Is My Mind? on indie label Glue Factory last spring, Weezer has been rather quiet. The band's anticipated third album, the follow-up to 1996's Pinkerton, had been expected to come out on Geffen last year. Industry shakeups may have delayed things, as the band's longtime Geffen A&R rep lost his position in the Universal Music Group merger.

Meanwhile, Cuomo is still working on songs for the album. Having relocated from Boston, he recently bought a house in Los Angeles, where he hopes to convert the garage into a studio. However, Cuomo doesn't plan to start recording until his braces come off -- which won't be for at least another six months.

"I've got the accelerated program with high-tension wires," he says. "It hurts twice as much, but it's worth it. But it makes it tough to sing. I can't get out certain words clearly, like 'free.' And who wants to be on MTV with braces?"

Cuomo is vague about the new material. A hint of things to come, albeit an ironic one, was found on the band's Web site (www.weezer.net). It cited a comment supposedly posted Dec. 19 by someone claiming to be Cuomo on amazon.com (though it's no longer there): "Our new album will be out soon, and if you want a preview, let's just say 'Weezer meets hip-hop and funk." Cuomo himself will only say that it sounds like "Weezer."

Which Weezer, though? The undeniably catchy, irony-rich Weezer from the band's debut (which yielded four hits and sold two million copies)? Or the Weezer from Pinkerton, which is much more serious and bitter?

"A bit of both," he says. "It's pretty much the same old thing. It's good."