Sounds.com interview with Brian Bell - 1997: Difference between revisions

{{Interviewer|Tony Lopez|WHAT MAKES IT HARD TO FEEL LIKE A NORMAL PERSON, THE INTERVIEWS, THE FANS?}}

{{Brian|A lot of times interviews for me can be very therapeutic. I feel like I'm talking to a shrink and I find out about myself more.}}

{{Interviewer|Tony Lopez|IS WEEZER STILL FUN?}}

{{Brian|It is. It's been more fun this time than it's ever been before. Maybe it's because we know we have a long break coming up. All four of us are communicating much better. You've probably read things in [[Alternative Press interview with Weezer - January 1997|Alternative Press]] and Spin, but it's a relationship like anything else. We're four extremely different people and each of us is talented in our own right, and very smart. We try to be a democracy, but when you have four leaders there's bound to be problems. So, you just have to talk about things. We've been way more open with each other and we've been getting along really, really well. [With a renewed excitement] We had a band meeting the other day and the whole talk was about doing the next record and future plans. Contrary to what you might hear in the media, we are continuing to make records.}}

{{Brian|Dishwasher at Red Lobster. It was like working on a ship. I did when I was 16, it was my second job. I was working to save enough money to get a car stereo - a cheap one that was just loud as fuck, that's all I cared about. It was for my '74 Capri. Working there was like being on the deck of a whaling boat. It's insane how many dirty dishes that place had. There was this 40-year old guy that was working with me that was on crack or something. Seeing him just made me realize that I didn't want to do this, that I had to get my act together. Then I moved to LA when I was 18, and I had numerous jobs. Most of them involved delivering. Delivering pizza, delivering movie scripts to Frank Zappa and Penny Marshall. Delivering flowers to some 80 year old woman on her birthday. Flowers are the hardest thing to deliver because you have to keep them nice and the water is spilling all over you. The first time I ever delivered flowers I get way up in Beverly Hills somewhere and I get them to this old lady's house and she says, "these roses are crushed. I've been ordering roses for myself for years and these are crushed." I had to go all the way back and get new flowers. That was pretty depressing, but I felt sorry for her. She seemed so lonely. It was also bad going to the hospitals and places like that.}}

{{Interviewer|Tony Lopez|WERE YOU STILL DELIVERING OUT OF THE CAPRI WITH THE STEREO?}}

{{Interviewer|Tony Lopez|WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING TODAY?}}

{{Brian|I'm playing a '66 Telecaster Thinline. It was the first year they made them. Then I'm playing a sort of put together '59 Les Paul Jr. I had to find them in less than a week because we were heading out to Europe to do the Redding Festival and all of these other big shows. I was totally rushed. I was kind of bummed on the Les Paul Jr. when I found out it wasn't totally original. It's hard to keep it in tune and I found out that all Gibsons are a little off and it's impossible to get them perfectly in tune, but I've always dreamed of having a Telecaster. I was really depressed about the guitars I lost, and I called up [[Rivers Cuomo|Rivers]], and he said that I should just get the guitar that makes me the most happy. I went to the place off of Sunset Strip and it's basically this museum of vintage guitars. Very nice, but very pricey.}}

{{Interviewer|Tony Lopez|WHAT ABOUT COLLEGE RADIO?}}

{{Brian|The problem with college radio is that it doesn't break bands anymore. One of my favorite bands is [[Stereolab]]. I think that they're just incredible. But, I don't think that they've sold hundreds of thousands of records. They've been on top of the college charts, they're a great band, they're breaking new ground and have an awesome album, but..[trails off] As a musician and artist I think that this is more important anyway. I plan on doing this the rest of my life, so I'm not worried about doing this before I'm thirty. I'm already 28, and I look at someone like Tom Waits, who I take as my mentor. That guy gets better every year, and with every album.}}

Brian is human. He's tired and I can respect that. Leaving the dressingroom he thanks us, and I think to myself that those years of payingtuition and reading clinical psychology texts have paid off for me. As Weezer takes the stage I'm struck by their renewed vigor. Brian struts about the stage like a young David Byrne, and not unlike this former Talking Head, Brian and the rest of the band will have a future beyond Weezer.