Karl's Corner - 04/05/2008

04/05/08 there we were, now here we are

***UPDATE 4/15***
Folks, just got word that the new album will be dropping on 6/24, not 6/17. So you'll have to add 7 more days to your weezer countdowns...

***UPDATE 4/12***
Hear a clip of "Pork And Beans", the 1st single from the new album, HERE at amazon.com! This single is out April 22!!! [still awaiting word on whether it wil be all digital or digital and CD. But I've heard some b-side whispers, which tells me there ought to be a CD...]

(note that the Amazon page lists the "album" title to be 'Pork And Beans', but this is very likely an Amazon error, via erroneously calling the single an "album'.)

Also, the rumors of an upcoming cover article/interview in a major music mag appear to be correct. No word on when, nor which mag yet.

...a recent spate of articles broke free recently about the new Weezer album, and a lot of requests have come in for some confirmation. None has been forthcoming so far due to the fact that things are still a bit fluid. But in the interest of not driving fans completely crazy, heres a rundown of what is known and not known:

1. Album release date. This has been reported as being June 17th. This is very likely, however release dates are never truly guaranteed until a week or two before the album arrives. So its probably 6/17, with a small chance of changing.

2. The Album's title. The album has been reported as being self titled, i.e. just called "Weezer" like the Blue and Green albums were. This is also very likely. In fact, as of last Friday, it was technically not possible to change it - unless the release date is changed too. So we can say its very unlikely to change.

3. The Album's theme (color). This has been reported as "The Red Album". This is a strong possibility but it is not for sure. As I understand things, many competing visual ideas are being played off against each other (none of which would affect the self titled aspect), and some are "Red" in style or concept. But whether this ends up as the final theme remains to be seen.

4. First single. Confirmed as being "Pork And Beans". Could this change? Maybe a tiny chance of that. But it is definitely a song on the album (and it is unrelated to the demo song "Pig" that made it onto the internet in '06). As for the release date of this single, this information is TBD, likewise the potential (if any) for "physical" single format(s).

5. Other songs on the album. Many song titles have been kicked around the 'net, including "Everybody Get Dangerous", "Automatic", "Ms. Sweeney", "?" (a '12 letter word starting with T and ending with R'), "I'm the Greatest Man That Ever Lived", "Daydreamer". All are real weezer songs, but none are 100% confirmed as actually being on the album as of this writing.

6. Producer/Mixer. The album was made in 3 phases, produced by Rick Rubin (Malibu, spring '07), Weezer (mostly) (Malibu, summer/fall '07), and Jacknife Lee and Weezer (Santa Monica, early '08), and was mixed by Rich Costey.

...in other news, Rivers has been writing a new song with fans' input, using Youtube.