On Weezer’s third self-titled album, conveniently dubbed The Red Album in reference to the colour of the background behind the photos of the four members of the band on the cover, there’s a sense of democracy in action. Rivers Cuomo, band frontman and leader, forgoes his position as singer on two songs, allowing bandmates Patrick Wilson and Scott Shriner to sing lead on two numbers, Automatic and Cold Dark World respectively.
Scott is now the longest-serving bass player in Weezer history, having taken his place over the course of three albums – Maladroit, Make Believe, and The Red Album. “I’m the world record holder,” he deadpans.
“It was absolutely the most democratic effort yet,” Scott says of the making of The Red Album. “At the beginning of the record cycle we sat down and listed all of our goals and the things we wanted to accomplish on this album, and I think we all definitely got to do that – from singing lead vocals on songs to songwriting and co-writing we all got to participate more than ever.”
It must be a thrill to have one of your own songs, which you sing, on a Weezer record. “It was really exciting. It’s a thrill to write with Rivers, and it was just this dark piece of music that I was working on. I played it for the guys and they really liked it, and Rivers had some lyrics and melody ready to go, and we matched it up.”
When something like this happens – when other band members start to be allowed room to breathe around a frontman who has previously had something of a totalitarian nature – it becomes very much a changing point for the group. Now, there’s no going back; collaborative efforts are what we can expect from all future Weezer efforts, or so Scott believes. “It seems like that’s what we’re evolving into,” he confirms. “It’s more exciting for Rivers and more exciting for everyone for us to go in that direction. It’s not easy getting a song on a Weezer record – we always pick the best songs for the record. That’s what’s important.”
Previously, Weezer have been anything but democratic – they’ve been very much Rivers’ band. But there’s a real sense that the controlling frontman has fallen be the wayside, replaced by a gentler, more caring Cuomo. Now happily married and with a kid, Rivers is not the man he was, and as such is open to so much more. “I think it’s been a big deal to him,” Scott says of Rivers’ more open approach. “I think he really wanted a family and now that he’s accomplished that I’m sure it doesn’t hurt his disposition any.
“It’s moreso not wanting to repeat the same thing over and over again,” he continues, “and thinking more about pleasing ourselves rather than thinking about what’s going to make other people happy.”
Yet this Weezer is making the fans deliriously happy – many are calling it the best album since the group’s second album, the epochal Pinkerton. It’s been called a ‘return to form’, despite that previous album Make Believe is one of the group’s best-sellers. “It certainly feels that way,” Scott agrees.
Perhaps part of the reason for the volte-face in the public reaction to this album is because when it rocks it really rocks – but as Scott explains, it wasn’t always the case. “We were taking it one song at a time and then when we went back and listened to it there were perhaps too many slow songs,” he claims. “So we went back and recorded some more with Jacknife Lee, and that’s where we came up with the Pork & Beans single. That’s what makes it feel really special – we were trying to think of what was get us the most excited.”
Pork & Beans has one of the most amazing film-clips seen for some time, incorporating every YouTube video sensation into its three-minute length, giving all those 15 minute of famers an extra second of notoriety. Indeed, the clip itself has become something of a viral video.
“We thought it was genius,” Scott says of the original spec idea for the video. “I think we have a couple of other songs that are equally as interesting, but how can we possibly come up with a video as exciting as that first one?” Now that is a challenge worth taking.
Weezer’s Weezer (a.k.a. ‘The Red Album’) is out now.
