weezer.net
weezer.net (also known as the Rebel Weezer Alliance, abbreviated RWA) was a Weezer fan website created in late 1994 by Anuj Behal. Karl Koch became a contributor and webmaster for the site around 1999–2000, christening it as the band's official webpage. In 2001, its contents were migrated to weezer.com.
The RWA was home to the first online Karl's Corner entries following the demise of the band's fanzine, Weezine. The site has been credited for Weezer's renewed popularity in the early 2000s, following their post-Pinkerton hiatus.[1]
History
Anuj Behal created the "#weezer" channel on the IRC network EFnet in 1994; possibly the first centralized destination for Weezer fans on the formative internet.[2] Later the same year, he created the "Rebel Weezer Alliance" website at weezer.net — its name a reference to the "Rebel Alliance" faction in Star Wars. The site was ran by Behal and a Utah-based programmer named Tim Boisvert (who joined sometime after the site's formation) until Boisvert became inactive in 1998.[3] Dan Gdowski became a secondary webmaster in the interim, alongside Steve Carman, who provided technical support.
The website hosted a variety of content: bios for each band member and their respective side bands, news updates, information pertaining to the official fan club, a discography, fan-authored tablature, mirrors of print interviews, contests, audio/video/image files, among other miscellanea.
Behal and Gdowski were both members of the Weezer fan club (members #2264 and #2162, respectively) and would communicate often with its founders Mykel and Carli Allen.[4] The sisters shared news and tidbits with the two to be published to the website for the benefit of online fans, boosting RWA's popularity. In 1996, Behal and Gdowski met Karl Koch at a Weezer concert in Cincinnati. The three stayed in contact, and Koch occasionally offered content for the site.[4] In 1997, Behal conducted an interview with Koch for weezer.net.
In the fall 1997 issue of the fan club zine Weezine, in a section dedicated to Weezer websites, Koch praises RWA. He described it as "official/unofficial".[5] The section also contains a detailed guide by Behal and Gdowski on how to access the #weezer EFnet channel.
Around 1999, a merchandise section was added to the website. It served as an official online storefront for the Weezer fan club.
On January 6, 2000, the first online Karl's Corner post was posted to weezer.net. Karl's Corner was originally a column in Weezine, however the impending dissolution of the fan club meant RWA would serve as a primary means of communication with fans. The column continued online, rather than in print, in the form of smaller, more regular updates. More content was contributed to the site by Koch throughout 2000, including an FAQ, the fall 1999 and spring 2000 Special Goodness tour diaries, the Recording History, and the Equipment History. With Koch having become a webmaster for the site, weezer.net became a wholly official webpage for the band. Around this time, RWA grew substantially in stature and popularity.[1]
In January 2001 the band acquired the weezer.com domain name.[6] The contents of the RWA were slowly migrated to this website and, on May 11, 2001, it officially went live as the new Weezer homepage.[7] After this, the weezer.net domain became a redirect to weezer.com, and it eventually went offline completely. Behal and Gdowski continued to serve as webmasters on the new website for a short time.[2]
Legacy
In 2014, an entry to the "Today in Weezer history" series of social media posts celebrated the anniversary of the first online Karl's Corner post made to weezer.net, and briefly covered the history of early online Weezer activity. An illustrated T-shirt and poster design featuring the "Rebel Weezer Alliance" name was sold at shows on the EWBAITE Tour later in the same year.
A page in the Weezine Omnibus: Deluxe Edition is dedicated to the history and relevance of weezer.net to early online fandom and the Weezer fan club.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Brad Cawn (April 15, 2001). "NOTHING BUT NET". Chicago Tribune. Archived.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Karl Koch (January 6, 2014). "Today in Weezer History: 1/6/2000 - On this day in 2000, the very first online "Karl's Corner" post was put up, on weezer.net ...". Facebook post.
- ↑ Rebel Weezer Alliance (1998). "where's tim?". Archived.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Karl Koch (2016). "weezer.net". Weezine Omnibus: Deluxe Edition p.341.
- ↑ Karl Koch (1997). "weezer on the web...a guide to finding weezer in cyberspace!". Weezine Issue #11 - Fall 1997 p.5.
- ↑ weezer.com (2001). "Buh-Bye." Archived.
- ↑ Karl Koch (May 11, 2001). "5/11/01 Workin' Out The Bugs!". Karl's Corner.