Weezer's first demo

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Weezer's first demo
Demo by Weezer
Released May 1992
Recorded May 1992
Genre Alternative rock
Label Self-released
Weezer chronology
Weezer's first demo
(1992)
The Kitchen Tape
(1992)

Weezer's first demo was recorded in May of 1992. It was recorded in the garage on an 8-track belonging to Rivers Cuomo. Its intended purpose was to be given to be given to club owners to book shows for the band, although only one copy was ever made (given to the owner of the 8121 Club, where the band later played an acoustic set.) According to Karl Koch in Weezine Issue #3, only a few copies were made, and the three tracks were later reused for The Kitchen Tape:

And now back to the beginning. In May '92 the band made a three song demo in the garage. It contained three songs ("Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me,", "Lets Sew Our Pants Together", and "The World Has Turned")and only a few copies were made. It was designed to get more and better shows (they had been gigging since March), as many clubs and show promoters in LA would only book a band if they liked their demo tape. ("Thief" and "Sew" are "deceased" songs, don't try and request them!) Note that these demos are whole band efforts, unlike the countless song writing demos done solo by Rivers or Pat, that were never intended for anyone else's ears. Later, around July, "the kitchen tape", this time mostly recorded in the adjacent kitchen (for the acoustics) was made. It contained the songs: "Jonas", "Paperface", "Only in Dreams", "Say It Ain't So", and "Undone". (Again, "Paperface" is long, long gone.) This tape sounds rather good. Matt debuted his vocals on "Say..." well, and the "Only In Dreams" was particularly nice and is a well regarded gem to this day. The exact reasoning behind this tape in unknown to me, (why does any band make a demo?) but it apparently was to further promote the band show-wise and hopefully attract attention from "higher ups". I'm not sure, but I believe it was distributed as is, and with the three songs from the earlier session integrated as well. Most had all eight songs, I think. In any case, only a handful of copies got out, perhaps 10 or 20 total, all copied at home.

Track Listing

  1. "Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me"
  2. "Let's Sew Our Pants Together"
  3. "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here"

See also