Brian Bell

Brian Bell
Background information
Birth name	Brian Lane Bell
Born	December 9, 1968, (age 55) Iowa City, Iowa
Origin	Knoxville, Tennessee
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Years active	1989–present
Instrument(s)	Guitar, Bass guitar, Drums, Piano, Harmonica, Vocals
Website	The Relationship Official Website
Associated acts
Weezer The Relationship Homie Space Twins Carnival Art

Brian Lane Bell (born December 9, 1968, Iowa City, Iowa) is an American musician and singer/songwriter, best known as the rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist for Weezer. He has also fronted the rock bands the Relationship and Space Twins.

Bell, who previously played bass guitar for the band Carnival Art, joined Weezer in 1993, during production of the band's eponymous debut album, following the departure of founding member Jason Cropper. Bell has occasionally sung lead vocals on Weezer tracks, and is a credited songwriter on several songs, including "L.A. Girlz" and "Thought I Knew."

Early life

Brian Bell's senior photo, 1987

Brian Bell was born in Iowa City, Iowa to parents Tom Bell, a geography professor at the University of Tennessee, and Linda Menasco, an elementary school assistant principal. He was raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. He first gravitated to music at the age of four when his parents took him to an Elvis Presley concert at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium. Soon after, Bell became obsessed with his father's record collection, playing them constantly. At a young age, Bell asked his mother to let him take piano lessons, refusing to let him take guitar lessons until high school because she "wouldn't believe that he would practice." Eventually, during his freshman year in high school, his parents allowed him to take guitar lessons from Knoxville musician Ben Bolt. Bell first performed with brothers Glenn and Tim Maloof (later of Space Twins) during this time, playing in a group called the Blue Shrooms.

Music career

Carnival Art

Carnival Art

At the age of eighteen, Bell moved to Los Angeles, California, and enrolled at the Guitar Institute of Technology. Soon he became a member of Carnival Art, an alternative rock band who had previously released an indie album in 1989. After Bell joined as the bass player, the group released two albums, two EPs, and several singles through 1993. The band failed to gain traction and were eventually dropped by label Beggars Banquet.

In 1993, Bell also formed the projects Space Twins, with then-girlfriend Susan Fox on bass and Mike Elliot on drums, as well as a short-lived band called Jerkwater.

Weezer

Brian Bell's audition tape with note: "Hi Weezer. Please enjoy this fine recording, compliments of Radio Shack and Brian Bell. I hope to see you in New York soon.
Thank you,
—Brian"

Around the time of Carnival Art's dissolution, Bell became acquainted with the members of Weezer. "They started playing on the scene, and I instantly saw something unique in them" said Bell in 1995, "I didn't necessarily want to be in their band. They for some reason were in with the wrong crowd and playing at the wrong venues. I wanted to help them out any way I could and I wanted to play a show with them." Bell particularly found himself amazed with "Say It Ain't So." He believed it possessed a rare "classic" sound and expressed surprise that songs like that were still being written.^{[citation needed]}

One night, after resolving to quit Carnival Art, Bell returned home to find an answering machine message from Weezer bassist Matt Sharp. Sharp called again the next day, "Matt was just beating around the bush, and Rivers took the phone from him and said, 'Do you wanna join our band?'"

Bell then joined Weezer in 1993 during the recording of The Blue Album, replacing Jason Cropper. Since then he has remained a member of Weezer. Besides doing backup vocals and playing rhythm guitar and lead guitar on the Pinkerton classics "El Scorcho" and "Why Bother?", as well as on Van Weezer, Bell takes on many of the multi-instrumental duties during live shows. When songs call for the use of a keyboard or harmonica, Bell often plays them.

The Relationship

In 2006, Bell began recording an album for his new band, The Relationship. Multiple demos were posted onto the band's Myspace page that year and later in 2008 and 2009, reworked versions of these demos were released. The Relationship opened a few California shows on Weezer's 2008 Troublemaker Tour. On November 17, 2010, the album artwork for the band's debut album was posted onto Facebook along with a release date of November 30.

Other projects

In November 2006, Lyon introduced a limited edition guitar series called "the Brian Bell Limited Edition guitar package," each of which had been hand-signed by Bell, and were in the same "strat" body style that Brian prefers to play.

Bell was planning to release his own solo album which he stated would come out sometime in August of 2010.^{[citation needed]} Ultimately, this album was never released and there are no details about its tracklist.

In 2011, Bell played guitar on Ringside's second album, Lost Days, which also features drums from former live drummer Josh Freese and band friend Jon Pikus.

On September 28, 2014, Bell performed guitar on Chase Cohl's "For You Blue" at George Fest, a festival celebrating the music of George Harrison.

Film appearance

In 2006, Bell and Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson were cast as Velvet Underground members Lou Reed and John Cale, respectively, in the film Factory Girl, based on the career of Edie Sedgwick. The two also covered the Velvet Underground song "Heroin" for the film.

Bell plays the character "Dave" in the 2023 film Family Switch, wherein the members of Weezer portray members of the fictional band Dad or Alive.

Discography

With Weezer

This section lists only full-length albums. For more detail, please see Weezer discography.

• Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994)
• Pinkerton (1996)
• Weezer (The Green Album) (2001)
• Maladroit (2002)
• Make Believe (2005)
• Weezer (The Red Album) (2008)
• Raditude (2009)
• Hurley (2010)
• Everything Will Be Alright in the End (2014)
• Weezer (The White Album) (2016)
• Pacific Daydream (2017)
• Weezer (The Teal Album) (2019)
• Weezer (The Black Album) (2019)
• OK Human (2021)
• Van Weezer (2021)
• SZNZ (2022)

With Carnival Art

This section lists only full-length albums. For more detail, please see Carnival Art.

• 1991 - Thrumdrone
• 1992 - Welcome To Vas LLegas

With Space Twins

• 1994 - "No Show" (single)
• 1997 - "Osaka Aquabus" (single)
• 1998 - "TV, Music & Candy" (single)
• 2003 - The End of Imagining

With Homie

• 1998 - Meet the Deedles Soundtrack (backing vocals on "American Girls")

With The Relationship

• 2010 - The Relationship
• 2015 - "Oh Allen" (single)
• 2017 - Clara Obscura
• 2020 - Together Tomorrow (Archival release)

Interviews

See Category:Brian Bell Interviews

See also

• Sass
• The Impossible Bend
• The Power Rise
• Brian Bell's equipment

External links

• The 2006 Brian Bell Fan Interview
• Space Twins web page
• MySpace page for "The Relationship"