Sunday, Monday. Weezer Days

Rip It Up, Issue 214, 1 June 1995, Page 15

Sunday, Monday. Weezer Days

We all know overnight success stories never really happen overnight these days. Weezer’s is no exception, but it still happened quickly in comparison to the rise of many of their contemporaries. The way drummer Pat Wilson (he of . the way cool bottom wiggle in the ‘Undone — The Sweater Song’ video) tells it, it was a mere hop, skip and jump to super stardom. "We all moved to Los Angeles at different times, around the turn of the decade,” explains Pat. “We started as a band in 1992. We rehearsed for a year, then got a record 'deal, rehearsed some more, made a record, and got super famous.” Just like that. Has being a,' big famous rock star proved all . it’s cracked up to be so far? “Personally, I stay away from all the bullshit that’s associated with it.” One might think scoring an album deal with Geffen would be cause' for celebration. How did Weezer mark the occasion? “We didn’t really celebrate. We're not very rock ’n’ roll. I think we might have had a beer. Just because you get a record deal, that doesn’t mean anything. In some cases it’s the worst you can do. The record company’s just like a bank. They just loan you money and then you pay a huge finance charge to pay it back.” ' J * 1 /' Touring is another thing that'initially proved less exciting than it’s supposed to be, and Weezer have been doing a lot of touring. While on the road, Pat keeps himself entertained playing golf and Sega games. “It’s difficult for me because I’m married,” he says of the nomadic side

of band life. "Jennifer comes out and visits us a lot, so it’s not so bad, but it is sort of hard in a way. "It gets easier all the time. For a while we were very burnt, but it’s much easier now than it used to be. In fact, I’m starting to enjoy it, which I never thought I’d say.” There is at least one area of this rock ’n’ roll business that has worked the way it should for Weezer so far, and that is music video. Take their extra cheesy ‘Buddy Holly' clip (which achieved merciless rotation on Max, the Music Channel), for example. This ingeniously realised piece plays just like an episode of Happy Days. A uniformly attired Weezer perform on stage at Arnold’s to an audience of series regulars, including a Cossack dancing Fonzie. The drive-in’s proprietor Al (played by Al Molinaro) interacts with the band in the clip, and was the only Happy Days cast member to actually appear live with Weezer. Knowing this, it’s amazing to note Al doesn’t seem to have aged at all. “Well, we spray painted his hair black,” reveals Pat. The next Weezer video to hit our screens will be for the new single ‘Say It Ain't So’. “It’s a pretty basic video, because we couldn’t really try to top ‘Buddy Holly’,” says Pat. “Now that I think we've established ourselves pretty much as far as like a visual identity, we can just be ourselves in this video, and it works really well.” See, you don’t need matching beige sweaters, striped ties and a novelty video to progress in this business, but they do help.

BRONWYN TRUDGEON