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Weezer comes up for air
Author: Vinnie Penn (Connecticut Post)
Published: November 29, 1996
Why is it that whenever anyone asks what Connecticut's contribution is to the modern music scene, most people clear their throats and apprehensively reply, "Michael Bolton"?
"There's Michael Bolton, Fate's Warning, and Weezer," said Rivers Cuomo recently, saving his quirky quartet for last. The lead singer/guitarist has done his home state proud, too; along with guitarist Brian Bell, bassist Matt Sharp, and drummer Pat Wilson, Weezer's eponymously titled 1995 debut went down a double-platinum path, and the video clip for their hit, "Buddy Holly," earned the guys four MTV Video Music Awards and two Billboard Music Video Awards.
Now, Weezer returns with their sophomore set, a page from the same book called Pinkerton (Geffen).
"Pinkerton is a character from the opera 'Madame Butterfly," explained Cuomo, who is also a pianist, though no ivory-tickling has made its way onto either Weezer effort. "He's the ultimate rock star kind of guy. Actually, he's a sailor in the opera. He goes from port to port, hooking up with various women."
Cuomo was planning to spend this Thanksgiving in his home port of Newington, though he's originally from Storrs. While at a Fate's Warning concert at the Agora Ballroom some time ago, he tapped the band's guitarist for a few six-string lessons. He was 16 years old at the time, and is not at all concerned that someone may now approach him with the same request.
"I think our songs are a lot easier to figure out than a Fate's Warning song," Cuomo added in regard to the heavy, complex music of Fate's Warning.
"You don't need lessons to play a Weezer song."
Pinkerton is indeed brimming over with the same type of garage gusto that propelled the band's first record into the national spotlight. The single, "El Scorcho," is as raw and unpolished as "The Sweater Song" (the initial release off Weezer), and the "plug it in, pour it on" mentality of the music bodes well in this age of the slacker.
"I want it to be music that you don't really have to think about," said Cuomo, "but, at the same time, if you want it to be about a message or a story, there's a lot of interesting details that you can look at. But, I don't want it just to be details and a message. I want there to be a basic rocking quality to it that you can listen to in a kind of brainless, 'Beavis and Butt-head' fashion. Because I like to listen to music like that."
Weezer produced Pinkerton themselves, with the record mixed by the prolific Jack Joseph Puig (who has worked most recently with The Black Crowes and Susanna Hoffs). Many of the tracks begin with a high school band try-out clumsiness, only to kick in with a Weezer-style chorus (the approach is at its most appealing on "Tired of Sex," the record's opening cut).
The lyrically hilarious "Pink Triangle" is probably the most polished piece on Pinkerton, with the record's second single, "The Good Life," not too far behind. The rough riff-work at play on the latter makes the difference.
"That song is basically me saying, 'I want to go out on tour and this time I want to have fun," said Cuomo, who had previously admitted to being overwhelmed by the nature of the band's first road trip.
"When we were touring for the first album I totally withdrew and didn't go out and meet anybody or anything. I just stayed in the bus and moped, basically.
"I don't know what happened, but I just got really freaked out. Anti-social. But, that's not the case this time around."
Such is the crux of "El Scorcho," a song Cuomo claims is more about his shyness than the "half Japanese girls" that he raises a flag to in the opening verse.
Cuomo's preoccupation and lack of confidence with the opposite sex makes up the bulk of the Weezer repertoire.
"It's about a girl," the singer/songwriter said with a laugh. "But, actually, it's more about me Because at that point I hadn't even talked to the girl; 1 didn't really know much about her. So, it's more about my inability to say 'hello' to her."
And "Buddy Holly"?
"It's about a girl. That song is particularly twisted and hidden. It's really a violent, gruesome, sad song, but it's really hard to tell. You have to listen closely to the lyrics and you'll hear that it's pretty...gross."
Or you can just sit back and let it move you with its melody, much like most everything by Weezer can. Even "Pink Triangle" - the tale of a girl our hero wants to marry, but finds out she's a lesbian - sails over its subject matter with power chords and hummable harmonies.
"Yeah, that's about a girl, too," he laughed again. "It's another girl that didn't pan out for me. For the obvious reasons."
Weezer plays an all-ages show at Toad's Place in New Haven on Wednesday. Ash is the opening act. Call 624-TOAD for information.
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