Weezer may not be a metal band, but in the single released in early September , the group drew inspiration from 80s hair metal.
The song will be on their next album, Van Weeze , which is only expected to be released in May of next year. Vocalist Rivers Cuomo spoke about the new work: “It’s kind of like the Blue Album but with more riffs,” he said. “Metal riffs, hard rock riffs. But it’s still pretty catchy pop rock.”
He further explained where the idea for an album with more guitars came from. “At our shows, we noticed that in recent years the audience went wild when I did a solo, a tapping, or a whammy. The audience loves that kind of thing. So we started doing more and more. And suddenly we were shredding the guitar throughout the entire show. So we needed to make an album in that style.”
What few people know is that metal is not a strange style for vocalist Rivers Cuomo. Back in the 80s, the musician formed the glam and hair metal band Avant Garde , which lasted five years, between 1985 and 1990.
Even though the band only played a few shows, thanks to the internet, we have access to tapes and videos from Rivers Cuomo's metal past.
Iron Maiden influence . Galloping beats, two-guitar harmonies, and vocals reminiscent of Bruce Dickinson . There are also elements of Slayer , such as chromatic scales and the use of a whammy bar.
In an interview with All Music, Rivers even talked about the first time he heard Reign In Blood . “I was very, very scared. It seemed super evil. It took me a while to understand it and for it to connect with me. Then I said, 'I want to listen to this and I want to enjoy it.' So something in me expresses itself through this kind of music,” he said.
The difference in style compared to Weezer, formed in 1992, seems striking. But Rivers explains how that transition happened in the same interview:
“I definitely grew up with incredible bands whose foundation was instrumental, without much vocals, and it was amazing. That's how I learned to play and compose, by copying those things. It was an act of suppressing that in myself when we made the first Weezer album. It was really a matter of capturing the essence of things. In the '80s, we went as far as we could, so the idea was to go back to communicating with the audience. We were very inspired by bands like Pixies and Nirvana, but also Velvet Underground, Beach Boys and Beatles. They were such simple and powerful songs.”
Until we can hear the Van Weeze and find out what this "return" to metal will be like, we'll have to make do with the sound of Avant Garde:
