Draft:Weezer Recording Chronology: 1992

<- 1991 | 1992 | 1993 ->
The Weezer Recording Chronology (WRC) is an attempt by Weezerpedia to create a successor to the Recording History, a detailed list of every demo, bootleg, and studio recording by the band Weezer and any directly associated bands, written by Karl Koch from the years of 2000 to 2011. Pages are separated by years. 
This page details the year 1992. It contains the beginnings of Weezer, and their first ever shows.
== January-August 1992 ==
=== The 50 Song Project continued ===
=== Weezer rehearsal, February 17, 1992 ===
Weezer forms on February 15, 1992 and begin rehearsing at T.K. Productions in West Los Angeles, California. After two rehearsals, Rivers Cuomo set up his Tascam 688 Midistudio 8 Track to record their third rehearsal on February 17.Historic event: 02/14/1992 by Karl Koch.Koch, Karl. Weezer (The Blue Album) (30th Anniversary Deluxe) liner notes. The tape has a label marked with various names thrown around for the then-unnamed band, which includes Fuzz, Meathead, Outhouse, Hummingbird, The Big Jones, This Niblet, and The Sweet Green Leafy Reefer Machine.
=== Pat Wilson 4-track master, ~March—April 1992===
===Rivers 8-track recordings, March—May 1992===
Various Rivers Cuomo demos recorded on his 8-track recorder.
=== Whisky a Go Go concert, March 30, 1992 ===
Weezer played their second show at the Whiskey a Go Go on March 30, 1992. This show was taped by Karl Koch. This 4 song set was a part of a recurring open-mic style show at the venue called "No Bozo Jam Night."
=== 8121 Club concert, April 7, 1992 ===
Weezer played their third show at the 8121 club on April 7, 1992. This show is notable for being the first of many acoustic performances by the band. This show was taped by Karl Koch. 
=== Whisky a Go Go concert, April 13, 1992 ===
Weezer played their fourth show at the Whiskey a Go Go on April 13, 1992. This show was taped by Karl Koch on a handheld voice recorder. This 4 song set was a part of a recurring open-mic style show at the venue called "No Bozo Jam Night."
=== Left Nut concert, April 17, 1992 ===
Left Nut played at The Middle East on April 17, 1992. Video of the performance was shot by Francis DiMenno.
=== Pat Wilson & Karl Koch demo, ~April—May 1992===
Patrick Wilson and Karl Koch wrote and demoed "Martha" live to a micro-cassette, with Wilson on acoustic guitar and both sharing vocal duties. This would be the first in a long line of song-writing between the two, which would eventually become Southern Fried Swing. 50-60 cassettes were made by the duo from late spring 1992 to 1997, mostly recorded during downtime while touring with Weezer.
=== Matt Sharp demo, spring 1992 ===
Four instrumental tracks recorded in early 1992 by Matt Sharp, found in spring 2024 during research for the 30th Anniversary Deluxe edition of 
The Blue Album. All of them were labelled "Windows Down" and bare little resemblance to each other, though the fourth and final demo would later be practiced (with lyrics) in May 1992.Karl Koch (November 1, 2024). Weezerpedia Discord server message. Archived at Weezerpedia Discord Q&A with Karl Koch - November 2024.
=== Weezer practice, May 1992 ===
An early Weezer practice in the Amherst House's garage, recorded in May 1992. Many rehearsals and practices took place in the garage, some taped to study and scrutinize later on. This practice may have been recorded on Cuomo's TASCAM 688 Midistudio 8 Track recorder, which was then mixed-down to stereo. In between songs, the band would talk and work on guitar parts.
This is one of two rehearsals known to have been recorded, and only survive via lucky duping of the master tapes.
=== The Central (Club Dump) concert, May 7, 1992 ===
Weezer played their sixth show at The Central on May 7, 1992 as part of Club Dump, a weekly club held at The Central on Thursdays. This show was video taped by The Central for $10, the tape is currently in the possession of Matt Sharp.
=== 8121 Club concert, May 21, 1992 ===
Weezer played their seventh show at the 8121 club on May 21, 1992. Another acoustic set, this show was taped by Karl Koch, which includes recordings done to test their tape recorder.
=== Weezer's first demo (English Acid tape), May 25, 1992 ===
After multiple shows and rehearsals, Weezer decide to record their first demo tape on May 25, 1992, with the hope to send out and get more gigs. It was recorded in the Amherst house garage on Rivers' 8-track recorder, track by track.
About ten copies were made on blank cassettes and given to clubs in the Los Angeles area, one of which reached the owner of English Acid and led to Weezer booking their first gig at the venue. Due to this, the tape was nicknamed the "English Acid tape" by Karl Koch.
====Mixed Weezer Shit====
===Rivers 8-track recordings, May 1992===
====Mixed Weezer Shit====
=== Weezer practice, early June 1992 ===
Another rehearsal, recorded directly to 2-track at the garage in early June 1992. The tape ends with Jason Cropper jokingly suggesting "let's play "The Biggest Animal" now," leading to laughs and groans from the other members.
=== English Acid concert, June 10, 1992 ===
Weezer played their eighth show at English Acid on June 10, 1992. This show was taped by Karl Koch directly off the venue's mixing board, which had the vocals mixed too loud.
=== 8121 Club concert, June 11, 1992 ===
Weezer played their ninth show at 8121 Club on June 11, 1992. Another acoustic set, this show was taped by Karl Koch. Pat Finn joins the band for the final planned song, "The Biggest Animal", before playing a medley of The Smiths songs.
 	 
===Welcome to Vas Llegas, May—June 1992===
Carnival Art record their second and final album, Welcome to Vas Llegas, throughout May and June of 1992. It was recorded at Cherokee Recording, with overdubs done at A&M Recording (both in Los Angeles, California) and Greene Street Recording in New York City.
=== The Central (Club Dump) concert, July 9, 1992 ===
Weezer played their eleventh show at The Central on July 9, 1992 as part of Club Dump. This show was video taped by The Central for $10, and is notable as the first Weezer show attended by Mykel and Carli Allan. Rivers Cuomo's amp blew out during the intro of "Undone - The Sweater Song", leading to the riff lasting for minutes while Rivers went to borrow a new one.
 
	 
=== 8121 Club concert, July 18, 1992 ===
Weezer played their twelfth show at the 8121 club on July 18, 1992. Another acoustic set, this show was taped by Karl Koch. After "Only in Dreams", Pat Finn would replace Matt Sharp on bass and backing vocals for a rendition of "Been Gi", effectively reuniting 60 Wrong Sausages for a brief moment.
A brief humorous interview with Koch was taped after the show.
=== Coconut Teaszer concert, July 27, 1992 ===
Weezer played their thirteenth show at the Coconut Teaszer on July 27, 1992. This show was video taped by Karl Koch.
	 
There were plans to play a cover of Wax's "So Much Talk", but due to Rivers Cuomo's guitar strap breaking and disrupting the set, it was skipped.
=== Rivers 8-track demos, July—August 1992 ===
=== Weezer's second demo (The Kitchen Tape), August 1—4(?), 1992 ===
Weezer were never happy with their first demo, so in August 1992, they sought out to record an album. If the recording went well (in their eyes), it would be shopped to indie labels for a small release. The drums would be recorded in the Amherst house's kitchen, with the rest recorded in the garage, all over a period of three to four days. After recording was done, it was decided it would be their second demo, nicknamed The Kitchen Tape after the kitchen used to record the drums.
About twelve copies of the demo were produced and given to various people, including local producer and engineer Paul du Gré. These copies came in two configurations, one leaving off "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here", "Undone - The Sweater Song" and "Say It Ain't So". The shorter configuration was bootlegged in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with "Let's Sew Our Pants Together" mislabeled as "Silent Dreams".
=== Coconut Teaszer concert, August 12, 1992 ===
Weezer played their fourteenth show at Coconut Teaszer on August 12, 1992. This show was video taped by Karl Koch.
	 
=== Northern California tour recordings, August 13-16, 1992 ===
These were the first ever Weezer shows outside of Los Angeles. All three were videotaped by Karl Koch.
==== August 13, 1992 ====
Weezer played their fifteenth show at Marsuggi's on August 13, 1992. This show was video taped by Karl Koch.
==== Miscellaneous recordings, August 14, 1992 ====
While Weezer were looking for a gig to play, Karl Koch started recording the ride on his portable cassette recorder. These include Pat narrating their trip and an full-band acapella version of Rivers Cuomo's "Please Sweet Peepers".
After unsuccessfully securing a gig, the band would retreat to Jason's mother's apartment in Oakland, California, where they would make use of her piano and a flute. Among what was recorded at the apartment were a series of improvised jams, a short piano version of "Linus and Lucy" by Vince Guaraldi, and a jam later nicknamed "Symphony of Sludge" with Cuomo on flute and the others all on piano. Short clips of these have surfaced from a stickAM stream where Karl Koch showed off old recordings and demos.
==== August 15, 1992 ====
Weezer played their sixteenth show at the Power Station on August 15, 1992. This show was video taped by Karl Koch.
==== August 16, 1992 ====
Weezer played their seventeenth show at an outdoor party on August 16, 1992. This show was video taped by Karl Koch.
=== The Central (Club Dump) concert, August 20, 1992 ===
Weezer played their eighteenth show at The Central on August 20, 1992 as part of Club Dump, a weekly club held at The Central on Thursdays. This show was video taped by The Central for $10, the tape is currently in the possession of Matt Sharp.
== September-December 1992 ==
=== Rivers 8-track recordings, August-September 1992 ===
These were possibly never intended for Weezer.
=== Pat and Rivers 8-track recordings, summer/fall 1992 ===
=== Ghengis Cohen show, September 30, 1992 ===
Weezer played their twenty fifth show at Ghengis Cohen on September 30, 1992. Another acoustic set, this show was taped by Karl Koch.
=== The Central (Club Dump) concert, October 15, 1992 ===
Weezer played their twenty seventh show at The Central on October 15, 1992 as part of Club Dump, a weekly club held at The Central on Thursdays. This show was video taped by The Central for $10, the tape is currently in the possession of Matt Sharp.
=== English Acid show, October 21, 1992 ===
Weezer played their twenty eighth show at English Acid on October 21, 1992. Though which show Karl Koch's taping belongs to is unclear, it has been decided to be from this show. The following setlist is incomplete and indefinitive.
=== 5092 Club show, November 7, 1992 ===
Weezer played their thirty first show at 5092 Club on November 7, 1992. This show was taped by Karl Koch. The following setlist is incomplete, as the tape runs out after "Only in Dreams".
=== "The Real Demo", November 14—November 15(?), 1992 ===
Weezer recorded their third demo (often referred to as the Real Demo) on at least November 14, 1992, though it's likely they finished recording on November 15.Karl Koch [Karlophone]. (November 11, 2024). Message sent to the Weezerpedia Discord Server channel #karlification. Transcribed at Weezerpedia Discord Q&A with Karl Koch - November 2024. It was recorded at a studio (actually a converted garage) by Jon Pikus, friend of the band and drummer of El Magnifico, without the owner's knowledge. As of the time of recording, Pikus was still a learning engineer, and the demo was, according to Karl Koch, "flawed by sonic strangeness, such as a snare drum that sounded like a tennis ball hitting a racket at Wimbledon". Nonetheless, it was still the best representation of the band yet.
By this point, the band had gone on an aggressive campaign to get signed to a record label, making several copies of the tape and sending them to record label offices and personnel, lawyers, and producers. There were 3 different sets of the demo. The first, a set of around 75 cassettes, had a blue label, the second, a set of around 100 cassettes, had a green label, and the third, another set of around 100 cassettes, had a yellow label. There was no J-card.
The original tape contained 4 songs, although some contained 5. The band recorded a version of "Surf Wax America", but they deemed it not quality enough to put on the main demo, so they put it on the flipside of the tape of only about 15 copies for friends, unlabelled. The Real Demo's version of "Undone - The Sweater Song" contains Koch's first ever contribution to a Weezer recording: a sequence of samples from several sources for the song's intro. It samples audio from several vinyl records, including movie dialogue and Firesign Theatre albums.
===Cold Ethyl, 1992—1993(?)===
At some point in 1992 or 1993, Carnival Art records a cover of "Cold Ethyl" by Alice Cooper for the tribute album Welcome to Our Nightmare: A Tribute to Alice Cooper. This was recorded at Sound Castle Studios with co-producer and engineer Tracy Chisholm, who previously co-produced Thrumdrone.
== References ==