The Province article - November 7, 1996

Print interview with Brian Bell
Publication	The Province
Published	November 7, 1996
Interviewer	Tom Harrison
Interviewee	Brian Bell
Title	Bandmates differ on 'inner-Pinkerton'
Format	Print
External link	Archive on Newspapers.com
References	See where this article is referenced on Weezerpedia

Bandmates differ on 'inner-Pinkerton' Author: Tom Harrison (The Province) Published: November 7, 1996 Brian Bell doesn't think he could be as public with his "inner-Pinkerton" as his bandmate Rivers Cuomo has been with the songs that make up Weezer's current Pinkerton album. "It's definitely a love story, very sad," the guitarist says of the album's 10 songs, which roughly tell the tale of a doomed relationship in which Cuomo found a parallel in Madama Butterfly. Thus the allusion to the opera's Lieutenant Pinkerton, who deserts his "Butterfly." "Being in a rock band, you're always leaving your loved ones. In Madama Butterfly, Pinkerton impregnates her and leaves her on the shore waiting for him." Of his own present relationship, Bell says, "Like in any relationship, there is turmoil once in a while and if you want it to work, you talk it out." But Bell doesn't think he could put this turmoil onto a record that complete strangers could hear or sing about it in public. "When I write songs, I like to make little four-track tapes - usually about how this girl broke my heart and they are so brutally honest I don't want anyone to hear them." He likes to know what Cuomo is saying in his songs, however, as these feelings suggest what he plays on the record. "I'm really inquisitive about it," Bell says. "I know Matt (Sharp, Weezer's bassist) and Pat (Wilson, drums) care, too, but I like to know what the songs are about." It's not hard to figure what Pinkerton is about as the otherwise media-shy Cuomo tends to think out loud in his songs with such lyrics as "My girl's a liar but I'll stand beside her; she's all I've got and I don't want to be alone" (from No Other One) or "God damn you half-Japanese girls, you do it to me every time" (from El Scorcho, which is a tale in itself). Insecurity, frustration, disillusion, lust, Cuomo lets it all out in direct contrast to the brighter, engaging Buddy Holly or Undone, the hits from Weezer's 1994 debut. The songs, which were recorded in the chronological order that Cuomo wrote them, get appropriately nervy, twisted backing from the others in the band, especially from Bell's guitar playing. But would he record that way again? "Definitely. I thought it was a very creative process," Bell said. {{{reviewtext}}}