Weezer Tickets

About Weezer

The band formed in February of 1992 in Los Angeles, California with original members Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Matt Sharp, and Jason Cropper. Five weeks later they had their first gig, opening for Dogstar (featuring Keanu Reeves) at Raji's Bar and Ribshack on Hollywood Boulevard. Weezer began playing clubs to small audiences around L.A. and recording home-demos. Soon the band began to receive attention from various A&R reps, and was signed on June 25, 1993 by Todd Sullivan, an A&R rep from Geffen Records. The band was signed onto the DGC label (later became Interscope).

The band began recording their debut album in late August 1993 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Ric Ocasek, former singer/songwriter for The Cars, was chosen as producer. After the recording of the album, guitarist Jason Cropper was fired from the band by Cuomo. Cropper was replaced by guitarist Brian Bell, a former member of the band Carnival Art. Cropper's guitar parts were rerecorded by Cuomo, and Bell replaced Cropper's vocals. The recording of the album finished in early October 1993, and the band headed back to L.A.

On May 10, 1994, Weezer released their self-titled album, which became known as The Blue Album. The Blue Album included several hit singles, such as "Buddy Holly," "Undone (The Sweater Song)," and "Say it Ain't So." The video of "Buddy Holly" was included on the CD-ROM of Windows 95. The band's popularity soared, and front man Rivers Cuomo went into songwriting sessions for Weezer's second album, Pinkerton. The songs that came out of these sessions revealed much more about Cuomo's personal life than anything he had done previously. Pinkerton was released on September 24, 1996 and was immediately thrashed by critics (see 1996 in music). Sales of the album were, at best, lackluster. Cuomo declared Weezer in a state of hiatus and turned his back on Pinkerton, often saying he wished it was never recorded and even vowing to destroy all copies of the album in existence. However, thanks to the internet, Weezer's popularity grew tremendously during this hiatus, mostly emo fans that loved the album and demand for Weezer rose.

In 2000, Weezer re-formed and went on tour without a new album. The tour was a huge hit, and sold out several of the large venues it traveled to. During the tour, Cuomo began writing songs again, and Weezer played some of them live. Eventually, the band went back into the studio to produce a third album. Weezer (2001) was self-titled again to signify a sort of rebirth for Weezer. This album quickly became known as The Green Album. Shortly after the release of The Green Album, Weezer went on another American tour, attracting many new fans along the way. A fourth album, Maladroit, was released in 2002 (see 2002 in music), and served as a departure from the catchy pop-influenced music of The Green Album. In the summer and early fall of 2004, the members of Weezer recorded a large amount of material intended for a new album to be released in the spring of 2005. On Friday, January 7, 2005 several Weezer fans noticed that several radio stations had announced the next single from the band (entitled "Beverly Hills") would be released on March 21 or March 22 of the same year. The discovery set the tentative date for the release of the fifth album as April or May of 2005.

Weezer has also played several shows under the pseudonym Goat Punishment. In these shows, they have been known to wear bags over their heads and play mostly Nirvana covers. Goat Punishment has also been known to open for Weezer on several occasions.

Weezer is also very well known for their innovative music videos. While "Undone (The Sweater Song)" was big on MTV, it was the Spike Jonze-directed "Buddy Holly" video, which used footage from various episodes of Happy Days, that made them pop icons. The video is akin to other defining videos of the 90s such as Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight," because all three of these videos helped the artists reach an audience not often reached by alternative rock bands. However, Weezer's Pinkerton videos were not well played and quickly forgotten. It would take the sumo clip of "Hash Pipe" (or as the title card stated, "H*** Pipe") to bring Weezer back into the eyes of music video viewers. They then recorded two videos for "Island in the Sun," the first focusing on a Mexican wedding, and the second involving Weezer with animals in a wildlife reserve. Their video for "Photograph" was a staple for Much Music USA (now Fuse). Maladroit's "Dope Nose" was unspectacular at best, though it was put into a rather regular rotation. However, it was the follow up, "Keep Fishin'", that would place Weezer in an elite group of defining music video makers of the early 2000s. "Keep Fishin'" combined Weezer with the Muppets and became an MTV staple.

In March of 2004, Weezer released their first DVD. Titled "Video Capture Device", the DVD contains all of their current music videos, live concerts, and homemade movies. The DVD hit hard on the DVD compilation charts and was declared "Gold" on November 8, 2004.

As of July 2002, Weezer had sold more than 5,000,000 copies of their albums.

Members
The band currently consists of the following members:
Rivers Cuomo — vocals, guitar
Brian Bell — backing vocals, guitar
Scott Shriner — backing vocals, bass (since Maladroit)
Patrick Wilson — drums

Former members:
Jason Cropper — guitar (up to September, 1993)
Matt Sharp — bass (on The Blue Album and Pinkerton)
Mikey Welsh — bass (on The Green Album)

Discography
Weezer, a.k.a. "The Blue Album" (May 10, 1994)
Pinkerton (September 24, 1996)
Weezer, a.k.a. "The Green Album" (May 15, 2001)
Maladroit (May 14, 2002)
The Lion and the Witch — a live EP, recorded during the Maladroit tour in Japan (September 24, 2002)