Weezer’s struggle with label delays CD, angers listeners
Weezer is making up for lost time. Not even a year after it released what some might call its “comeback” album, 2001’s “Weezer,” it already have another album in the can.
This past winter, Rivers Cuomo (vocals and guitar), Pat Wilson (drums), Brian Bell (guitar), and new bassist Scott Shriner retreated into a Los Angeles studio to record songs for an upcoming album. The band had been recording songs since the release of “Weezer.”
The band went into studios around the country while on tour, recording demos for its next album. Then Weezer made the demos available for download on its Web site, and fans quickly began buzzing on the new tunes.
While recording for “Weezer,” the band worked through more than 100 songs. Weezer frequently favored recording the demos so it would be easier to decide what to focus on in the next album.
Weezer continually put songs on its site during the winter sessions, posting the daily progress of songs and giving listeners an unherald look into the making of an album.
Cuomo made it no secret the band was not on good terms with their label, Interscope.
As Tom Lord-Alge, a famed mixer who worked with Blink 182, Pete Yorn and Sum 41, finished the tracks, the band posted final versions in their audio-video section. Radio stations had already been playing the unmixed versions of several songs, including “Dope Nose,” “Take Control” and “Keep Fishin,” amongst others.
With the final versions available, national radio jumped on the songs. Then, in February, Weezer sent to radio stations and music critics, a self-made CD sampler, containing eight full songs from the album, entitled “Maladroit,” along with a letter signed by each member of the band asking to play the songs on radio and generate a buzz for the album.
Radio stations around the USA added the songs to their playlists. “Dope Nose” in particular got the strongest amount of air time, most notably being added to Los Angeles’ KROQ, the largest radio station in the country.
The band received significant news coverage for their “do-it-yourself” methods. Interscope denied those reports saying “Maladroit” would be released on April 23, and the public learned Weezer had not given the label the album yet.
Soon after, Interscope shut the Weezer audio-video section, disabling the downloading of the songs. They also forced Cuomo to send out a letter asking stations to stop playing the songs until the label can appropriately service the “Dope Nose” single.
The letter appears to have done no good, as “Dope Nose” is now No. 1 on KROQ, and was the 9th most-added song to radio stations around the country. A song not officially released by any record label, becoming No. 1 on the largest radio station in the country is a virtually unheard of feat.
According to the band’s Web site, weezer.com, relations with Interscope have become even more strained. Despite the success of “Dope Nose,” the label took a new interest in the album and wants to claim ownership of the “Maladroit” master tapes, which Weezer created, produced and paid for independent of the record label.
With the future of “Maladroit” in limbo despite its imminent success, the band began recording tracks for a fifth album. To help the convince Interscope to put out the album, go to www.uwftm.com and sign the “release Maladroit” petition.
Jonathan Pretus