Karl's Corner - 02/26/2005

...more euro tour dates confirmed (patience, USA fans!)
June 5 - Hamburg, Germany - Grossefreheit
June 10 - Nickelsdorf, Austria - Nova Rock Festival
...In a series of recording sessions over the last 2 weeks with Rick Rubin, Rivers has finished all the necessary vocals that were still needed on several Album 5 songs. Also, he oversaw the recording of some special additional instrumentation and arranging on a few songs. Now the album is finished, save for the mixing process and any possible minor changes that come up between now and the deadline. 
15 (or 16) (reports are conflicting) tracks are going to mixing, and from that most likely 12 will end up on the album, with the leftovers presumably saved for b-sides. At this point who is actually doing the mixing has not quite been confirmed, but it is almost certainly someone who hasn't mixed a weezer album before, and whoever is chosen will be starting very soon.
The makeup of the album is roughly as follows - about half of the tracks are from the summer/fall '04 sessions at Grandmaster. These are what remain of the 12 songs originally intended to be the album, chosen from Rivers spring '04 demo sessions. The other half of the album is a mix of songs from the original 12/03 recording sessions at Cello (that have now been finished up with Rivers recent vocal sessions, etc), and several songs from fall '04 that were worked on by the rest of the band after Rivers went to school for the fall semester (which have also now been finished up with the recent addition of Rivers vocals.) Some may recall that the 12/03 sessions were reported to be dropped from consideration for the album, but several of the songs jumped back into consideration when checked out over a year after their recording, and were suddenly rivalling (and indeed, replacing) some of the summer/fall '04 recordings.
An important clarification needs to be made at this point - back in summer/fall of last year, it was announced on this site that Rick Rubin was no longer formally producing the album, but was still in place as a guiding hand and mentor for the band and the album. This annnouncement generated immediate speculation amongst fans and press that Rick had been fired from the project. However, nothing could be further from the truth. While it is true that Rick stayed clear of the studio over the course of the summer/fall '04 sessions (as opposed to being at the helm for the 12/03 sessions), this was due to a mutual agreement between him and the band that the band needed to try and work without Rick's direct influence for the time being. Rick was still listening to the daily efforts (via cd's) and still frequently discussing the project with the band and management. While Rick was not physically present for the fall '04 sessions, he was in effect still producing as it was his support and inspiring presence that catalyzed the band back into the studio in the first place, and his thoughtful guidance that kept the band energized throughout the whole process. And with the recent album finishing vocal sessions of Rivers being directly helmed by Rick, the Album 5 project has come full circle. Weezer.com's Karl apologizes for any confusion generated by his inaccurate interpretations of these events that appeared in past news stories.
...A possible album title has been chosen, but has not been confirmed at this time. The cover art is currently being finalized.
...The 'Beverly Hills' single release date (to radio) is still pending, possibly 3/23, possibly a bit later.
...Album 5 should still be in stores in May. No exact date set yet.
...In the last week, the band did a lengthy interview and major photo shoot, for a US music mag.
...'Beverly Hills' video shoot tomorrow! 150 weezer fans are now signed up and will be a part of the video!
...a reminder: sign this petition to bring back Y-100 Philadelphia!
Category:Karl's Corner - February 2005