Karl's Corner - 04/09/2002

...Today in the studio the band was visited by an interviewer from Spin Magazine, who is working on the band's big story for next months issue (Im not sure which cover date that is). More on todays studio work in the 4/10 post.
...Monday's "Dope Nose" video shoot: notes from the field...
Now, I wont be able to give you as much detail as I'd like, as the suprise shouldnt be spoiled. But I can say that from what I hear, everyone was really stoked by what was put on film, and that the results are likely to exceed expectations...Anyway, this was a night shoot, so the guys were asked to show up at the scene at 6:30 PM. "The Scene" was in Griffith Park, Hollywood, near the merry-go-round thing. After clothes and such were decided on, they headed up a dirt path to the set where the cameras and lights were set up.
First the guys did some performance run throughs surrounded by an insane combination of lights and people. Pat was in his element and was cracking everyone up (as is to be expected from the telegenic little wildman!). There were some bizarre costumes happening, and a rather unorthodox choice of drumkit, and some stellar motorcycles on display. Next, each band member did a bunch of close up solo shots in the same location, running through the song. In a move that reminds me of the insanity of the "Undone" video shoot, the song speed was altered for some shots, forcing the guys to go extra fast, which of course made it even funnier. The overall impression of this part of the shooting was "extreme rock-out".
Then it was time for a 'lunch' break (11:30 PM lunch) and an interview for Mtv (though no actual Mtv interviewer was on hand- a stand-in read the questions(?!?))
Finally the guys headed back up to the set where phase 3 of the shooting was done. In these shots, they were filmed individually in the middle of the road while stunt riders whizzed by, performing rediculous stunts at very close proximity to the band! The guys just placed their trust in the professionals and didnt flinch. Well, not most of the time anyways! Then, after the individual shots, the guys all got together with instruments to perform in the middle of the road. The band did their thing, the bikers did their thing, and everyone breathed in a lot of exhaust. Then the guys headed home. there was a good deal of more shooting to go, but the bands shots were done and the remaining work involved just the bikers and other extras. ...thanks to Sarah for the deets!
...confusion removal machine:
Recently some music news sources have been reporting a curiously different version of recent events between weez and their label. Over at CDNOW's website, this was spotted:
:::"Contrary to the band's Web site, Interscope reps had confirmed April 30 as the release date for the album last month (allstar, March 6). But, the release date has been changed to May 14 to give them more time to finish the album."
and in the new (May) issue of Spin, in a small weez news article:
:::"...the band's webmaster posted a message saying that Interscope had insisted Cuomo write letters of apology to the stations, asking them to cease playing the new songs....An Interscope source says the label did not recall the music and that Cuomo probably decided the tracks weren't finished and pulled them himself (after wasting all that postage). Weezer's rep at the label would only say, "When Rivers is ready to put out a Weezer record, so are we."
now, everyone knows that the Maladroit tracks have been finished and "in the can" for over a month now. Whoever told Spin that the music wasnt ready simply didnt have the facts, or was avoiding them for some reason. Rivers did indeed get a call from the president of the company asking him to remove the mp3s from the site, and Rivers complied. Rivers was also asked to write the letter to the stations, and he did. These are just plain facts that have been badly distorted by the source at the label. Here's a new Rivers interview over at Entertainment Weekly's website that should help further clear up the issue.
Category:Karl's Corner - April 2002