name: Rivers Cuomo birthday: june 13th, 1970 sign: gemini hometown: yogaville, connecticut status: single spare time: studies english at harvard "my name is rivers cuomo. i'm 23 and i sing and play guitar in weezer..." "i grew up in various little farm towns in upstate connecticut, completely sheltered from anything remotely "cool." at 18, i freaked out and moved to los angeles to become a rock star. i soon realized that i was an idiot and gave up. at the same time, my girlfriend broke up with me. i was really sad and started to write songs. most of them sucked, but it became a habit that stuck with me. because I'm so terrible at expressing my feelings directly, and because no one really cares, and because anything real is impossible to talk about, i've come to rely on music more and more to express myself.
name: Brian Bell birthday: december 9th, 1968 sign: sagittarius hometown: knoxville, tennessee status: single spare time: plays in the space twins "raised in tennessee, little brian knew he wanted to be a rock star at an early age. lucky enough to catch and elvis (presley, that is) concert at the age of four, he wanted nothing else but to be a hounddog. studying "geetar" pickin' on tv from such fine eastern tennessee programs as "the barneyloo and buster show" and, of course, "hee haw," little brian learned how to pick 'n' grin on a ukelele his grandma won at a bingo game. brian's dad, a wacky absent-minded professor and ex-college dj, turned him onto cool music he had from the 50's and 60's. so, armed with his first turntable, a fisher price lo-fi stereo system, little brian managed to scratch and destroy most of dad's valuable 45's. as brian grew older, he began to feel isolated and out-of-place with the other reindeer. while the "normal" tennessee boys were out hunting possum, chewing tobacco and making up fish stories, he preferred to stay home and watch billy mumy movies. ah, movies, music and show biz. Why was it all based in one glorious place -- los angeles? so, just like the clampetts, brian packed up my bags and moved to yucca St., hollywired (cause everyone he met at first was on crystal meth.) not at all like the movies." name: Patrick Wilson birthday: february 1, 1969 sign: aquarius hometown: buffalo, new york status: married spare time: works on his one-man-band the special goodness "my name is patrick wilson and i play drums for weezer. as i write this on a friday morning, i'm listening to our cd. it's a good feeling, but very strange. four years ago i was a guy with a bad haircut from buffalo, new york. the music scene there is lame, consisting largely of cover bands and bad metal. it seems that musicians in small towns have a gunslinger attitude that is also faintly bitter. some of them just have attitude. i decided to quit my day job and move to los angeles with my new friend pat finn (pat is responsible for us knowing each other.) after many growing pains, weezer was formed. since then, i've tried to understand what it means to be in a band. all i know about music is instinctual or from a record; i haven't witnessed much live music. as far as i can tell, being in a band can be just as important as any other occupation -- and so far, it's far more rewarding. we recorded this with ric ocasek and chris shaw at electric lady in n.y. i loved the experience and feel honored to have worked with them. the record sounds the way it does because the drums aren't the loudest thing in the mix. some how, phil collins' style of recording has taken over, and we didn't want that. the only effects used are fuzz bass on "in the garage" and a little compression here and there. Certainly not as much as they put on ringo. our live show is different from the record in terms of sheer power, so c'mon out when we roll through yer town. thanks for listening." |