60 Wrong Sausages
 |
| 60 Wrong Sausages | |
|---|---|
 The band in 2006 at the wedding of Rivers Cuomo. | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, CA |
| Years active | 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Rock, Hair metal, Pop/Rock |
| Label | None |
| Past members | Rivers Cuomo Patrick Wilson Jason Cropper Pat Finn |
60 Wrong Sausages (60WS) was a precursor to Weezer. It was founded by Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Pat Finn and Jason Cropper in 1991 in Los Angeles.
Biography
The band formed out of the ashes of Bush which had been active in 1990, until Tom Gardocki left the band late in the year, effectively pulling the plug.
For the first 4-5 months of 1991, Pat Finn lived in Petaluma, but frequently commuted back to LA for rehearsals and shows with the Dum-Dums. While Patrick and Rivers started Fuzz, Pat and Patrick stayed in touch and didn't let go of the notion that they would eventually figure out how to continue playing together later.
While up in the Petaluma area of NorCal where he still ostensibly lived and worked that spring despite being in LA quite a bit, Pat Finn met Jason Cropper. Pat and Karl's' Buffalo skateboarding buddy Tim Ganlee had moved to Buffalo in 1986 from Santa Rosa, and later gave Pat Finn the contact info of one of his friends, Jesse Humphereys, to help Pat find work when he moved back up from LA in Jan 1991 (Jesse was a self-made home improvement specialist). In turn, Jesse was a friend of Jason Cropper's, and recognized that both Pat and Jason were musicians and it might be good for them to meet. They did meet, recognized similar styles and interests, and Pat realized perhaps with Jason he could get his band Bush - soon to be renamed 60 Wrong Sausages - back up off the ground. The two were soon planning for Jason's move to LA, to Join Patrick Wilson in a new apartment on Stoner Ave in West LA, a short distance from Rivers' new rented room on Urban Ave.
The band's name was decided on soon after Pat and Jason got to LA and the thought turned to getting a band going. Patrick Wilson recalls that he came up with the name "The Wrong Sausage", which met with instant approval from Pat and Jason. However, shortly thereafter Patrick corrected his idea, saying "No, it can't be just one wrong sausage. It needs to be, like, SIXTY Wrong Sausages!"
The sausage reference was likely borne out of Pat and Patrick's experience rehearsing with Tom Gardocki in Bush in 1990. They booked time at a very low cost rehearsal studio in the Vernon area of the Los Angeles, a meatpacking district. The studio was next door to Farmer John's, a large slaughterhouse. Such were the powerfully bad smells of meat being processed in the area, that they came to call the rehearsal space "The Sausage Factory". Several rehearsals were recorded, including one with Matt Sharp playing keyboards. (Matt would soon thereafter move up to El Cerrito, CA, remaining there until early 1992). Due to Pat and Patrick's time spent with Rivers, a lifelong vegetarian, they became vegetarian themselves, making the slaughterhouse-adjacent aspect of rehearsing a source of lyrical inspiration, such as in the song "Pigs - Fat As Fuck"
60 Wrong Sausages existed solely as a demo recording outfit for much of the summer of 1991, until they convinced Rivers to join up with them late in summer. This was a way for Rivers to express himself with his new post-Fuzz songs, as well as bring the older heavy Fuzz songs into the band that they all loved to play.
Acting on previous experience, 60WS decided they first needed a great demo tape to open the door and get shows. Cuomo's small apartment allowed no room for drums, so Wilson put drums to tape using a Roland OctoPad. Friend of the band Karl Koch said, "The demo took several weeks. Sessions squeezed into school and work schedules." The final demo was called the Cholesterol EP and contained four tracks.
Cholesterol EP
Tracklist
- "Evil Nest" (a Finn song from the old Bush days)
- "Ben Gi"
- "Mega Man" (Wilson)
- "Workplace" (Cuomo on drums)
Rehearsals
60WS held seven practices in total between October 20 and November 20 of 1991, all at a cheap, filthy, and very popular with young starving bands rehearsal place called Fortress in Hollywood. The band rehearsed the performances of their Cholesterol material as well as new songs like "The Barnaby Jones", "Tennis Ball" and "Run the Gamut". Additionally, old Bush songs like "Beyond Life" and "Crayon Man" were rehearsed. Cuomo's own Fuzz songs "Answer Man" and "Burn My Britches" were rehearsed and finally, the Wilson/Finn song "Sheriff Wong", which was a song about a member of law enforcement who carried a bong.
Over Thanksgiving weekend 1991, the band stayed at Finn's mom's house in Petaluma, and 60 Wrong Sausages played the Phoenix Theater, it's only gig. Matt Sharp, then living in El Cerrito, CA (near Berkeley), attended this show, and was captured on video yelling "WHO HOLDS THE SCEPTER?!" to the band between songs. (Jason Cropper replied through the PA: "I am the bearer of the scepter"). Shortly after this show, the band was no more. Around that time, Koch wrote "band breakup seems inevitable."
A recording of "The Answer Man" was featured on Weezer's DVD Video Capture Device from 2004. Koch videotaped all 7 rehearsals as well as the Phoenix Theater show. The "Answer Man" featured on Video Capture Device was drawn from one of the 7 rehearsals.