Weezer Celebrate 30 Years to the Day of Their First Band Practice
Weezer on Tuesday (Feb. 15) celebrated their 30th anniversary. The band held their first practice with singer-songwriter Rivers Cuomo, drummer Patrick Wilson, early bassist Matt Sharp and early guitarist Jason Cropper on Feb. 15, 1992, in Los Angeles.
The alternative mainstays who went on to personify mid-'90s nerd-core for a generation of rock fans commemorated the occasion with a thoughtful message on social media, written by Karl Koch, Weezer's longtime assistant, documentarian and roadie.
"And just like that, it's been 30 years to the day that weezer was born," Koch said. "On 2/15/92, Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Matt Sharp and Jason Cropper met at TK Productions at 1956 Cotner Ave in West LA, for the first of 3 days of rehearsals, running through about 20 different songs numerous times, including a few songs that would make it to the Blue Album 2 years later."
"Blue Album" being Weezer's triple-platinum 1994 self-titled debut. It has the hit rock singles "Undone – The Sweater Song," "Buddy Holly" and "Say It Ain't So."
Koch continued, "The room at TK was hot and sweaty — gross, frankly — and the band worked very hard, ironing out a million snags and mistakes, repeatedly jamming the songs until they sounded like rock music. On day 3, Rivers rolled tape on his 8 Track cassette recorder, and they recorded everything till they had something they could listen back to."
He added, "For all of this, weezer wasn't really even 'weezer' yet, because the band wouldn't get its name until a few hours before their first show on 3/19/92, closing the night out at Raji's after the debut performance of Keanu Reeves' Dogstar. But regardless of when the name stuck, the band that has been going strong for 30 years now was born."
After the "Blue Album," Weezer released the cult favorite Pinkerton in 1996 before taking a hiatus. They returned in 2001 with the "Green Album" and have since released 12 more studio efforts, including last year's Van Weezer and OK Human. A new Weezer project known as SZNZ is expected later this year.
Koch's note also paid tribute to late Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh, who replaced Matt Sharp for the "Green Album." Bassist Scott Shriner has assumed the position since then. Guitarist Brian Bell replaced Cropper before Weezer released the "Blue Album."
Koch also honored the late Mykel and Carli Allan, Weezer's original fan club managers who died in a 1997 car crash along with their younger sister Trysta.
"So much has changed," Koch concluded, "and yet, having been there for it for every step of the way I can truly say that for all the changes and amazing adventures that have happened, the spirit of weezer has not changed hardly, if at all. … 30 years on, we are nowhere near the end of the story."
For years, Weezer said their first practice was on Feb. 14, 1992 — Valentine's Day. That date has since circulated around the internet, but Koch corrected it a few years ago.
Keep up with Weezer at their official website.