Wannabeezer

"wannabeezer" was the username used by Jake Sinclair on allthingsweezer.com forums in January of 2016. Sinclair posted intermittently leading up to the release of The White Album, which he produced, sharing updates and insights about the upcoming record. The username was an homage to the Weezer cover band that Sinclair was a part of in high school. His interactions with fans are part of somewhat lengthy history of Weezer band members interacting with fans through online message boards.

Postings

Rivers & Jake Sinclair, from Rivers' Twitter Mar 29, 2015

January 15, 2016 - Thread: "Producer(s)?"

"hi ATW,

i've been watching things unfold on these forums for a few months now. the confusion of TigFag, the delight of DYWGH. the incredible gifs! (i particularly loved "Rivers' face when he realizes we've hacked his dropbox and have all 235 songs he sent to Crush").

as far as i know (and without giving too much away) Alex Goose will receive an additional production credit. we kept the organ part from his instrumental demo that Rivers used to write TGFG (lyrics/melodies are 100% "Cuomonly").

i'm definitely looking forward to seeing your reactions to the rest of the album, it leans more DYWGH than it does TGFG (although in context of the album, TGFG will make a lot more sense). believe it or not, L.A. Girlz will definitely be a forum favorite. i think it'll draw a lot of Suzanne comparisons (which was a favorite of mine during that era).

cue the feedback, jake sinclair

p.s. i imagine i'll be ripped to shreds on here because of my other recent production credits. just know that my taste is much more in line with yours than you'd think. Andrew McMahon and I actually bonded over the fact that we both had Weezer cover bands in high school (mine was called Wannabeezer)."

January 15, 2016 - Thread: "Producer(s)?

"@itreallyhappened - here's the link, sorry about the autotune, sign of the times - http://tinyurl.com/hqbvopv

@BigPete - yes, the humor here is next level, and really what has kept me checking in. please don't filter yourselves now!

@Alec Eiffel - HA! he actually laughed pretty hard when i told him i was lurking. but now there are cameras in my house?

@Seth i don't want to give too much away... hope you like brian wilson inspired melodies and guitar solos.

@HMC - hey BW, sounds good, i'll have Suzy drop a copy off to you.

for the more technical geeks out there... you'll be pleased to know that i sourced a 1977 mesa mark 1, identical to the one used on the blue album in every way (including the handmade labels on the back). 99% of the guitars were tracked through it. and for anyone that enjoys air-drumming to pinkerton as much as i do, you're in for a serious treat.

also, Shawn Everett unfortunately wasn't involved with this record. i think he's one of the most talented guys out there and i couldn't be happier about his grammy nom for the shakes record. also, delightfully canadian."

January 16, 2016 - Thread: "FUCK dem drums on point"

notes: Referring to drums. Link 1 was a youtube video of "When The Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin, and link 2 was "Cissy Strut" by The Meters.

"it was actually a 6.5" ludwig supraphonic (very un-picollo). not a fan of the 311 thing myself... the idea was more [link] or rather [link] the rest of TWA is a 5" ludwig black beauty, tuned fairly low."

January 16, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

"i'm not going to be able to give you guys a track by track description, but regarding jacked up, endless bummer, etc... did you think that do you wanna get high was going to good when you read the title?

if you guys take it easy on me, i'll stick around and drop some knowledge from time to time.

@astralweeks these are the kinds of questions i can answer! i'll start with vocals - dwygh/cali kids are my Wunder CM7, the rest of the album is a U87. after a shootout, we found that the u87 just "fits" rivers (he's used one since the beginning) always through a 1073 (or BAE equivalent)/1176/LA2A"

January 16, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

"@DisgracedCop i did see the endless bummer thing!! that was crazy! please don't eat your copy of maladroit, there are some great songs. death and destruction, december, burndt jamb.

more importantly, and excuse my ignorance, but can someone tell me what this is from? [IMG]"

January 16, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

"@erddie no tuning, but yeah, i like to compress the vocal until it makes it sound like person is right there in front of you, if that makes sense. an 1176 4:1 slow-ish attack, fastest release usually does the trick. the best production tip i can give is to make as many recordings as you can. compare to records that you like and try your best to beat the sound/feeling, the details get figured out over time. most of my early recordings had out of phase drums, all sorts of issues... your method starts to form. it really all comes down to the song anyways.

@Conner Williams for rivers, no pedals except for solos (boss turbo distortion). we borrowed Brian's gibson lp jr, sometimes one of my guitars or his strat for a solo or something. brian mostly used an SG that he has that sounds great, occasionally his tele. i have a collection of pedals that i used sparingly for him... like, the bridge of KOTW, divided by 13 dyna-ranger, strymon el capistan, EH pog, holy grail. but unless i'm going for a distinct effect, straight into the amp is always best.

@Electric_Wheeze don't drink the pellegrino

January 16, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

"also, i feel like ATW just got really boring. please keep up the fun stuff. Sadness acceptance thread, etc."

January 17, 2016 - thread: "King of the World Yay Or Nay?"

"'MyNameIsLuke said: DYWGH is a Green era song. It is an exception to the rule.'

Wrong... DYWGH was written in 2015"

January 17, 2016 - thread "King of the World Yay Or Nay?"

"Sorry - not sure if I used the quote function right... Dywgh was written entirely in 2015, but about an experience in the 90's.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk"

January 17, 2016 - thread "King of the World Yay Or Nay?"

"'Murphdirt said: Not meaning to be an asshole but how could you know this for certain? Were you there when he wrote it? Even if you were how can you be sure he wasn't just remembering a song he wrote years ago and passing it off as brand new?

Ultimately it doesn't really matter either way, a good song is a good song, but there's enough evidence that I believe High? was at least partially written years ago.'

this may be opening pandora's box, and i won't be doing this for every track! but yeah, i'm sure. i was there.

RC and i worked very closely on the writing for TWA starting around March or so. we had decided to keep 1 of the 235 demos (that was a fun weekend of listening), there were a few delightful nuggets from the green era in there, but this wasn't one of them. usually at that stage i'll co-write with the artist, but like you guys, i prefer it when rivers writes entirely by himself and by far the majority of this album is that (although i think you'll be fairly pleased with a co-writer that appears on 2 of the tracks). do you wanna get high started as a demo that he made in late march/april or so... it had the "do you wanna get hiiiiigh" part first, a lyric about romeo and juliet, then a demo/mumbling version of what is now the verse. i thought it would be cool to flip the two parts, make dywgh the chorus, even though the melody was lower. it's possible that he recycled the title, but i'm almost positive that the "d'ya wanna get high" thing is a coincidence (via his method for coming up with titles/concepts at that stage).

i was over at his house a couple of days after he sent over the demo. he said he wanted to find a different title, didn't want to have another pro-drugs song or something that could be perceived as such. i had just broken my hand in a motorcycle accident, had surgery, was in a cast, had just gotten off of the meds. we had had a few conversations about prescription drugs, about his past with them. he had also given me a copy of Pinkerton Diaries, so i was asking a lot of questions about that time period of his life. i advised him to write the song about himself, his own experiences, a narrative, and to keep the "do you want to get high" lyric/title. a day or two later, he sent over a new demo with the lyrics as they are (except for the 2nd verse, which i had him re-work - light up the pipe / If there’s no neighbors / we don’t want them to see /cuz they’ll narc on our ass... as seen on rap genius). the bridge came from an entirely different song which i believe was called, at the time, "i'll never get tired of you". one thing we were very conscious of at the time was to not have "lazy" bridges, one of my favorite things about pinkerton are the adventurous bridges. again, i thought the lyrics worked out nearly perfectly as is. it was as if the narrator was now singing to the drugs themselves. he made a few adjustments lyrically to the bridge, to make it fit. i was pumped!

i'm glad that people picked up on the pinkerton style production... there's a lot more of that coming. i'll take a green comparison, but to my ears it's not as "slick" as that, the drums are more bombastic, everything more raw/unpredictable. the palm muting may have been what turned it green. we tried a version without it, but it just seemed to work in this song. there are only one or two more bits of palm muting on TWA, but only when absolutely necessary. i see my job as a producer is to help put weezer back in the spotlight, with the public. my job as a weezer fan is to alter everyone's "top 3" section of their album rankings."

January 17, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

"just a touch of glockenspiel. RC's electrocomp 101 is pretty odd... i eventually had to switch to a moog because it became impossible to keep in tune, but there's nothing like it."

January 17, 2016 - thread: "King of the World Yay Or Nay?"

"my fav comment so far - 'this is buttrock'

@Shaq i met Brummel, lovely guy. but he wasn't involved with the record."

January 18, 2016 - thread: "Who the hell is the guy who co-wrote King of the World?"

"i'd love to tell you guys more, but it wouldn't be right. you may need to adjust your thinking as to what a co-write is. let's just say that co-writes aren't always done in the same room, and sometimes the co-writers never even meet. and sometimes a co-writer can be someone that doesn't have any contribution to the lyrics/melody, but his/her instrumental track was the used as a writing tool to get an idea started and then is replaced. sometimes."

January 18, 2016 - thread: "Who is the cowriter we'll be "excited" for according to Mr. Sinclair?"

"'donny provalone said: Maybe it's Sinclair himself. He seems to be very involved with Rivers's writing.'

i have no writing on the album, but won't be giving any more hints.

god, i wish it was john stamos."

January 18, 2016 - thread: "King of the World Yay Or Nay?"

"'BigPete said: @wannabeezer:

I hope you aren't annoyed by all the questions, but can you tell us how you ended up producing this record? Were you recommended to the band, or did they seek you out? Did Crush play any role in this?'

i met the band as an engineer for butch walker during raditude (yup...). i always hoped that i would become accomplished enough as a producer someday to get a real crack at =w=. i re-connected with Rivers in 2014, lured him in with a 5 seconds of summer co-write (that was ultimately rejected), we hit it off as a couple of ocd weirdos, the band moved over to crush shortly after and we started forming concepts for TWA. the first thing i did was ask him to grow a beard, because he had one during the making of pinkerton."

January 18, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

"'astralweeks said: ↑ @wannabeezer This rules. Thanks. Did Claudius mix the whole thing? He mixed an EP for my band. He's the best.

That Wunder CM7 is on my Reverb watchlist. I'm getting greedy but I'd take your mic and pre choices for the guitars...'

yes. guitar at my place - josephson e22s/royer through a chandler tg2 pre. guitars elsewhere - 57/royer through neves."

January 18, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

"'saatanaperkele said: Wannabeezer, thanks for sharing! Great fun to read this thread.

I've been a little puzzled by the processing of the drums on these first three tracks. The heavy compression of the overheads/ambience mics... It sounds a bit like the idea was to go Tame Impala but stopping halfway. No offense. Did you have a specific ideal for that sound? Was Pat vocal in this choice, or was it mainly yours/the engineer's/the mixer's?'

no offense taken! like Tame Impala, i'm very influenced by the late Beatles thing... where the room mics/overheads are so compressed that when you hit the kick the cymbals "go away". if i were to take the concept as far as Tame Impala, i would have leaned heavily on snare/kick samples, almost in a hip hop way, like they do. i do that often on other records, but it doesn't feel right for weezer. i want it to sound like you are in the room with Pat (drums are very exciting when you are in the same room as them!). it's really a Pinkerton thing, but bands like Spoon have pushed the concept a little further. it's not the same aesthetic as blue/green/mala/ewbaite, i think of it as 2016 PP drums.

during tracking, Pat said that it was the best drum sound he's ever had. however, he's not a fan of modern mastering and neither am i. i was actually able to go back and re-master dywgh/tgfg to have a little more headroom for the album, which may not have been possible with a label involved."

January 18, 2016 - thread: "Who the hell is the guy who co-wrote King of the World?"

notes: In reference to a post by @whateverworks: "co-write may be a co-write but if you look at it as not a co-write then it's kinda like rivers wrote it all by himself."

"exaaaaaactly"

January 18, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

"yeah, there's a lot of red tape with vinyl. also, the way iTunes works, it's really only effective to surprise drop an album if you're beyonce. the new panic album was on pre-order for like 6 months, to build enough awareness by the time it came out. i'll say one thing... it's a hell of a lot faster now than it was 5-10 years ago."

January 18, 2016 - thread: "King of the World Yay Or Nay?"

"if raditude is your favorite record, you're really not going to like twa"

January 18, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

"I saw ewbaite as a huge step in the right direction. Things like the chorus of da vinci and the trilogy at the end certainly fired me up.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk"

January 19, 2016 - thread: "Who the hell is the guy who co-wrote King of the World?"

notes: referring to Thank God for Girls, Do You Wanna Get High?, and King of the World.

"on the 3 songs you've heard so far, the lyrics/melody are 100% RC. that's not to say that the rest of the album isn't, but that's not something that i'm able to share, so don't read into that. it's like the Mitch Hedberg joke - i used to do drugs. i still do, but i used to too."

January 19, 2016 - thread: "I don't like weezer being associated with panic at the disco"

"i know the panic thing is tough... i remember being on tour with my old band, sitting in a hotel room in germany, seeing a story on mtv about the singer getting a bottle thrown at him at a festival, getting knocked out. i thought it was the greatest thing ever. -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YHLPjEQL0A

i told brendon about this a few years ago, we had a good laugh.

i'm not going to try to turn anyone into a panic at the disco fan (i'm assuming most of you, like me, aren't the right age) but you have to appreciate a band that sells 5 times as many records that is excited to open. panic are HUGE weezer fans. also, believe it or not, brendon is the most talented performer that i've ever worked with, on any instrument."

January 19, 2016 - thread: "I don't like weezer being associated with panic at the disco"

"'justsomegohi said: (I really loved the first two Panic albums, the prior post is meant to be Rivers Cuomo feeling hurt by that comment. Thank you.)'

haha!! Rivers knows i think he's the chosen one. notice how i said performer."

January 19, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

"i work out of a mastering room (that i use as a production room) at a facility that specializes in vinyl (and has a really bitchin' Scully lathe). i was there to oversee the vinyl master. we used a separate version of the master for the lacquer, with no limiting at all."

January 19, 2016 - thread: "Producer(s)?"

notes: in reference to a post by @guesswho: "Any chance of that master seeing a digital release, say through HDtracks, like EWBAITE got?"

"it's entirely possible"