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Weezer wheezing through tough time
Author: Ben Wener (The San Bernardino County Sun)
Published: June 1, 1997
After only two interviews, Brian Bell is already fed up with the topic.
No, he says, despite little air play, scant touring and low sales of its sophomore effort, "Pinkerton," his band Weezer is not breaking up. The members just took a little time away to cool off.
They open for No Doubt tonight at The Pond in Anaheim.
No, Rivers Cuomo, the group's singer songwriter and reported erstwhile dictator, is not a tyrant to work with. He just has different ambitions for the group.
And no, side projects such as Bell's Space Twins, bassist Matt Sharp's the Rentals and drummer Pat Wilson's Special Goodness didn't cause all the inner turmoil.
Buddy Holly did.
Or more to the point, the Spike Jonze-directed video for the group's cheeky single "Buddy Holly, which catapulted the band to overnight fame by cleverly inserting Weezer into an episode of "Happy Days." Ultimately, it's what almost tore the band apart.
"We call this period we're in 'The Rethreading of Weezer'," Bell said by telephone from Newton, Mass, referring to a particularly probing piece in the Alternative Press titled "The Unraveling of Weezer". The piece detailed Sharp's and Wilson's increasing disenchantment about operating as Cuomo's sidemen and Bell's deepening role as peacemaker.
"That piece made it sound like we were all out to get each other and really inflamed the whole thing way out of proportion. What it really comes down to is that the rest of us wanted to do more videos like 'Buddy Holly' - that we knew that's what would keep us selling and that that's what our fans wanted but that Rivers wanted the music to be taken more seriously. That's all."
Nonetheless, Bell says, the piece did serve as a mirror to the band, illuminating its trouble spots. Now, he says, the alternapop group is tighter than ever before.
"We're all a bit more clearheaded about the whole situation now," he said. "Why abolish something that you're part of, that you've created? Why destroy that when people want it? We finally resolved those issues with ourselves, and now we're moving forward."
Well, to a point. Weezer has joined No Doubt as opening act for the final leg of its U.S. arena tour, and "Pink Triangle," the strongest track off "Pinkerton," has been picked up by many modern-rock radio outlets. But Bell says that as much as he'd like to play up the humorous elements of the band's sound, don't count on seeing much of it soon.
"The thing is, we're just entertainers," he said. "It's hard to take yourself too seriously when your job is just to get up there and rock out. There's a fine line between what we do and what serious rock is all about. We're still learning what the difference is between the two, and we're still trying to bridge the two together, still trying to patch those things up between us. That will take some time."
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