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Geffen press release - November 8, 1996
Author: Geffen Records
Date: November 8, 1996
CONTACTS:
Dennis Dennehy: (310) 285-2723; dennehy@geffen.com
Cybele Parsignault: (310) 285-7947; cybele@geffen.com
FAX: (210) 858-7063
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEEZER BURNS BRIGHTLY IN "EL SCORCHO" VIDEO: QUARTET ROCKS BY LAMPLIGHT IN LETTERBOXED CLIP
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 8, 1996 - Weezer has always lit up the screen in their videos, but never as literally as they do in the clip for "El Scorcho," the first radio track from their new album, Pinkerton (DGC Records).
The "El Scorcho" video presents the band arranged in a circular formation, performing the song in a large hall. They're surrounded by an array of lighting fixtures, from thrift-store lamps to chandeliers to twinkling Christmas lights. Meanwhile, giant Weezer logos flash from the walls. No other lighting was used in the shoot, which resulted in a colorful range of visual effects. "We looked at a lot of treatments and a lot of reels," says Todd Sullivan, the band's A&R rep, "and this idea was the simplest. It allowed enough room for improvisation."
Filmed in 14 hours at La Casa, an assembly hall in downtown Los Angeles, the clip was directed by award winner Mark Romanek (R.E.M.. Madonna. Nine Inch Nails), who presented it in a letterboxed format. "The band loves old movie musicals, Sullivan notes, so they decided to go with that letterboxed look. And they wanted vibrant colors."
This innovative lighting strategy conjures both a teenager's fantasy of rock stardom - enacted while playing air guitar, with whatever happens to be handy as a spotlight - and the realization of that fantasy, as the motley bulbs are choreographed to the song in the manner of concert lighting
Similarly, Romanek's precise vision and Weezer's spontaneity found a unique synthesis in the clip, which builds to a flashing, double-time peak to capture the manic joy of the band in performance. "They didn't want it to look like other videos," Sullivan maintains. "They wanted something uncomplicated that reflected the band's personality. And that's what they got."
Pinkerton is the second album from Weezer. The self-produced disc was released Sept. 24, 1996.
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