Karl's Corner - 06/09/2002

...the mini-break time continues for the band, as the hours tick away till the time they are back together recording demos in another 12 days or so. Rivers has been attending world cup games (go USA!) over in Japan and Korea, and I am expecting some pix and details to share with you soon. The rest of the guys are recharging their batteries in L.A., sorting out house and car issues, and catching up a bit on some solo band biz. Im back at the secret laboratory working on the dvd and other weez projects. And thats how it is for now. Its cool to have a little social life for a while.
Of course, if you think everything's calm in the weezer world, you don't know weezer very well! Already the band is contemplating very seriously the gameplan for Album 5. The rough plan calls for recording it sometime this fall, springboarding off of the current set of partially finished recordings and demos, and adding a significant amount of songs written over the last few months, plus undoubtedly several songs that havent even been written yet! The details of the upcoming post tour sessions are a matter of great debate. Will the band get a producer this time? If so, who? Will there be any additional instrumentation this time? Whispers of the guys trying some upcoming rehearsals with a guest keyboard player abound. The thinking caps have been put on...
...in the "if you blink you'll miss it" department, there were some choice extras in the audio video section for a few days, in-progress mp3s of album 5 contenders "367" and "The Victor". If you were sleeping, Im sure your fellow fans can hook you up with the goods. Now on the a-v page is the oddly pleasing "George Hartwig", which is essentially a synth-programmed muzak instrumental version of "Keep Fishin'" (though not the whole song), that Pat came up with. Here's hoping he finishes it, I'm grooving on the silky sounds. Any guesses as to what the track's title means?
hey, the July issue of Spin, featuring the first ever time weezer has gotten on the cover, has finally hit magazine racks nationally! Look for it wherever the signs say "this is not a library". (And in libraries too) 
...meanwhile, the Maladroit action continues globally... 
* "Dope Nose" action...
So whats going on with the 1st single from "Maladroit"? The very first station to play it, KROQ in LA, has already gone through the full cycle of introduction, requests, hitting the playlist hard, and finally letting go. However, while the song has dropped off the Modern Rock top 20 list, in many areas youd never know it! For example, in South Florida on 103.1 The Buzz, the song is currently at #2 in their Top 10 listing! And the Dope Nose video is still getting exposure in the US and Canada. On M2's "Control Freak", the video recently defeated DMX's "Party Up" and The Strokes "Last Nite", due to heavy weez-fan voting. And on much Music Canada, the video has continued to rise up, and is currently #18 on the top 30 video countdown. Also of note, on the recently aired 2002 Mtv Movie Awards, "Dope Nose" was played for the final credits, and again later as background music during the post show party. Meanwhile there is activity in far away lands: a fan reports that "...dope nose is on heavy rotation on New Zealand music television, i saw it played 2 times in one hour..."
* "Keep Fishin' " action...
Meanwhile, the newly revamped "Keep Fishin'" has gotten some suprise early play on several stations around the USA, after once again getting the sweet debut on KROQ in LA, where nutty, fishy DJs seem to be quoting this very website after playing the song! (Are you out there, you nutty, fishy DJs?). Additionally, some international Fishin' action has sprouted up, for example on Triple J in Australia, the national radio station, where what is beleived to be the original album version has started to see play.
* other Maladroit action...
Some stations seem to still be playing whatever they want to off of Maladroit, perhaps inspired by the original 8 song sampler spirit of choosing whatever song(s) float the DJs boat that day! Thief River Falls's KSRQ 90.1 is playing lots of Maladroit tracks including Keep Fishin', Dope Nose, and Burndt Jamb. And longtime weezer supporters Y100 in Philadelphia have played "Take Control" on Sunday nights...
* Enlightenment Tour action: stay tuned for additional info to appear on the Tour page, regarding additional opening acts, slated for special side stages or small venues, depending on the city. Details on all that stuff is still being sorted out, but we should have it soon... Meanwhile, Chicago radio station Q101.1 had a "weezer weekend" this weekend where tickets to the chicago show, an autographed guitar and other stuff was won by lucky callers.
* international maladroit news:
Mexico news, from a fan living in Mexico City: "...the green album gets a lot of play here on 97.7 fm (rock/pop station) but as of yet not maladroit. i have not heard a maladroit track on radio nor seen the video of dope nose on the latin american mtv here. [In fact], i have only seen "island in the sun-animal version"-but a handful of times. BUT... pirated copies of maladroit are all over the black market here, less then 2 days after it was released. I got my official copy 2 weeks ago here at a Mixup (a chain store), [USA import copy] #63566. so although i am against piracy of groups i love, i figure that may be some kind of gauge of how well the record may be doing here (and an "honor" maybe). on radio, basically you only hear hash pipe, photograph, and island in the sun....in my search for the new cd-it was originally said to be released on the 14th of may but i didnt get it until about 2 weeks later-i checked lots of cd stores and i saw that you can get all the albums (maybe not all in 1 store but if you go to 2 or 3-you will)-but especially green which i think is the only album that did well here (super easy to find pirate copies of green)."
Meanwhile, in Indonesia... "...Over here in Indonesia, there isn't really a nationally-recognized albums chart, but one I personally vouch for is the Aquarius Top 40, Aquarius being probably the most respected music store in Jakarta. Anyway, in terms of cassette sales (because it's a predominantly cassette-oriented market, when people aren't buying pirated CDs...;p), Maladroit came in at number 12, which is very excellent. Most of the positions above it were albums by Indonesian artists, and it beat out debuts from some big Indonesian acts. So you could say it's doing well...Elsewhere, on the 102.3 Prambors FM Top 40 chart (where 'Dope Nose' was a recent hot shot new entry and eventually made it to number one), 'Burndt Jamb' has picked up the slack and is on the same chart. Maybe because it's got great crossover appeal; I've played the song a few times to unsuspecting listeners who were really into it, and were surprised to find out it was a Weezer song. I have a feeling many people listening to Prambors will also be surprised..." note that due to unusual Indonesian liscencing restrictions, the Indonesian "Maladroit"s do NOT have the 7 mini movies included.
And in Hong Kong: "...I got to Hong Kong three days ago, and much to my surprise, Weezer doesn't really have a huge fan base in the great country of China. After hours of searching horrible record stores, I was finally able to find a copy of Maladroit, and I must say...It freakin' rocks...."
...The upcoming Adam Sandler flick "Mr Deeds" features "Hash Pipe" in the soundtrack, and the song is indeed heard in the currently airing commercials for the movie.
...Weezerfest fan events mini-update:
The UK [London] weezerfest is actually on July 27th (Saturday), NOT the 26th. The event has been named "Butterfly Collector Meet 2002, and is planned to be an annual event starting with this year's. Hyde Park is still named as the gathering sopt, but details are still forthcoming. According the the organizer, the event will include "...weezer art , weezer kareoke (sing along to acoustic guitar weezer renditions!), weezer face-paint, weezer graffiti (draw the =w= on everything we see in permanent pen!), and weezer twister (a giant twister board will be played!)..."
Category:Karl's Corner - June 2002