Recording History - Page 4

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The Weezer recording history: Page 4

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9/30/92 - show #25 - acoustic show at Ghengis Cohen club/restaurant

...another "bootleg" by Karl

10/21/92 show #28 at English Acid

...another "bootleg" by Karl - second half of the set only. Note that this recording was recently discovered, and was unfortunately undated aside from being between 9/92 and 11/92, so it could possibly be from any of the bands 5 shows in 10/92. There are a few clues [sound quality, crowd reaction, etc] that have led to the tentative dating of the 10/21 show at English Acid.

11/7/92 show # 31 - at the 5092 club, Huntington Beach

Karl "bootleg"

(there was more- but the tape ran out)

11/?/92 Demo #3 AKA "the real demo"

This demo was recorded at a weird little 16 track studio in Hollywood. It was actually a converted garage at some dude's house. Weezer's acquaintence Jon Pikus (of El Magnifico and later the Campfire Girls) was the engineer. They banged it out over the course of 2 days. They could have worked faster but the studio was being "borrowed" without the knowledge of its owner, who was only absent at certain times.

In any event, Jon was at the time a capable but still learning engineer, and the tape, while being the best-yet representation of the band, was still flawed by sonic strangeness, such as a snare drum that sounded like a tennis ball hitting a racket at Wimbledon.

Jon Pikus writes:

"i actually was paid for my services, in the form of a pair of stereo speakers (the kind you buy from a dude in a van for like $100, who lures you in by asking if you want to buy some "studio monitors"). the studio's usual monitor speakers had gone missing and we needed to mix, so one of the guys in the band brought these giant speakers in, we mixed on them, and then in lieu of payment (which i think we all estimated at around $200, but no one had any cash) they left me the speakers as my compensation. then i blew them up shortly thereafter on another session.

matt and i mixed it late night 'cause the others had gone home, until 4 am, heavily referencing the surfer rosa CD which was the only album we had there, the cracking snare sound was an impulsive late night decision that just seemed to lend itself to the recording (in retrospect does it crack a little too much? well, sure)

the intro of undone had some talking from band members of Wax, joe sib & soda i think, in addition to the vinyl snippets we mixed in..." [actually I recall a lot of mentioning of Wax done by Matt and the guys in their vocal takes. I don't recall any actual Wax member in attendance, but it HAS been over 10 years...] -karl

"...i had my mastering guy Alan Yoshida at A&M master it for me for free as a favor. there was also a short bonus track of rivers playing beethoven's 9th symphony for like 30 seconds that got left off. i thought that say it aint so was the real gem of the session, and i kept it on my production reel for a few years to follow." ---Jon pikus

The band dove into the bizarre world of trying to get signed at this point, printing up many copies of the tape, and aggressively sending them to label offices, lawyers, and producers, and giving them out to label-personnel at shows. Overall there were 3 different printings made. There were no j-cards, just adhesive label stickers on the cassettes. The first set (about 75 cassettes) had light blue labels. The second (about 100) had green ones, and #3 (about 100) had yellow labels.

The tape consisted of 4 songs, listed below. However the band recorded 5 songs. They were never quite satisfied with "Surf Wax America", so that song was only added to a handful of copies for the band's friends. it was put on the unlabelled side B. I would guess that less than 15 copies have "Surf Wax" on the back side.

The "Undone" on this demo had karl's first weezer recording contribution, a short sequence of samples from various weird records, recorded in the beginning 2 verses. The band also did the talking thing, and the result was pretty chaotic. I used Star Wars quotes (Darth's "you are part of the rebel alliance, and a traitor!"), Gollum (from the Hobbit movie: "tasty morsels..."), and some other bits of nonsense.

the 9th symphony bit that Pikus recounts was in fact recorded, but I believe was a 'coda' to "Undone" on the original demo tape. It breaks down with wacky chords after a mistake. This bit never made it to mp3/bootleg form.


Demo #3
song comments
"No One Else"
"The World Has Turned and Left Me Here"
"Say It Ain't So"
"Undone - The Sweater Song"
"Surf Wax America" (on side b of a few copies)


December 11, 1992

An important (yet unrecorded) event in weezer history: Weezer and Carnival Art do a show together at Club Lingerie in Hollywood. Rivers and Matt are impressed with Brian Bell's playing, and make his acquaintence. Their memory of this event would play a major role the band in another 10 months.....

Late Winter/Spring 1993: Various 8 Track recordings by Rivers, and Pat.

song who rec'd comments
unknown instrumental P.W. early 1993 (prototype? of a later P.W. song?)
«Show Me How to Ride This Thing» P.W. spring 93 ("Old and Wise" prototype) (partially cut off)
"All I Want Is You" P.W. (brief U2 cover)
"Lullaby for Wayne" R.C. 2/93
"I've Thrown It All Away" P.W. 4 track (bass n drum machine only) original version
"I've Thrown It All Away" PW P.W. 4 track (Yamaha workstation only) original version
"I've Thrown It All Away" R.C. 2/93
«Afraid of What We Need the Most / Keep Your Distance» R.C. 2/93
"Please Pick Up the Phone" R.C. 2/93 ("Mykel and Carli" prototype)
"When You're Near Me" R.C. 3/93 acapella doo-wop style thing
"Don't Quit Your Day Job!!!" P.W. this song rules 2?/93
«Minutemen/Crazy Song» P.W. 2/93
"Lady Madonna" P.W. 2/93 Beatles cover
"She's Leaving Home" P.W. 2/93 Beatles cover
"A Day in the Life" P.W. 2/93 Beatles cover
"Thank You" (1st version) P.W. 2/93 (prototype of "Congratulations")
"Thank You" (2nd version) P.W. 3/93 (prototype of "Congratulations")
«You Make Me Wacky» P.W. 3/93
«Can't Keep My Hands Off You» R.C. AKA: "I Refuse to Be Your Friend" exact date unknown
"Left My Broken Heart in Carolina" R.C. 2/93 (goofy, country-folk)
"Jamie" R.C. original version, 3/93
"Because" R.C. (Beatles cover, acapella)
"Because" R.C. (Beatles cover, acapella)
«A Final Tear of Red» see ---> early spring '93: Jason Cropper music, Rivers lyrics. Vocal tracks wiped, no mix w/ vocals exists. Music later became an early Chopper One song


3/15/93 Show #47 - at Club Lingerie taped off the mixing board

4/93: Rivers 8 tracks

4/93 : Rivers 8 tracks
song comments
"Lemonade"
"Surf Wax America" just the chorus, with pitch shifted 'chipmunk' vocals to figure out the harmonies
"If I Fell" Beatles cover, 'chipmunk' style vocals to reach notes he otherwise couldn't
"Don't Worry Baby" Beach Boys cover, 'chipmunk' style vocals to reach notes he otherwise couldn't
«Old Melody» (vocal harmony experiment- classical? or classic rock? arrangement)
"Ode to Pat Finn" barbershop quartet song, lyrics altered
"Punk Rock Girl" written in tribute to that dog.


4/93 Pat and Jason record some funny songs together......all 4 track

4/93 goofiness
song comments
«Techno Ono» (funny rap song- by "Black Plant Forceps", which was just Pat n Jason for a few minutes)
«Song for Los Angeles» (instrumental w/ TV: local LA news highlights)
«Song for Los Angeles» (Reprise)
«Techno Ono» (Echo Chamber Magnum Mix) somewhat unnecessary remix
«Techno Ono» (Echo Chamber Magnum Mix 2) somewhat unnecessary remix


spring 1993 Pat Wilson and Pat Finn collaborate, make some 8 tracks at Finn's Apartment ('The Blue Diamond Terrace')

Exact tracks done are unknown, except for an epic 5 part "Caffeine Saga"

Sessions at Loyola Marymount University, (L.A.) Spring 1993

Dale Johnson, a student at LMU had seen a weezer show, and asked them to come record at the LMU 24 track studios, for his final project in music engineering class. They recorded several takes of "Jamie". a few weeks later, a classmate of Mark's asked the band to come back, for her own final project. The second time, they recorded various takes of "Lullaby for Wayne" and "My Name Is Jonas". On both occasions, the students had to select microphone placement and recording techniques. In all cases, the music was recorded "live", each microphone assigned to its own track. There were no overdubs.

The word from Dale Johnson: "I was the LMU student that brought Weezer into the studio and engineered the version of "Jamie" that appears on DGC Rarities Vol 1. I saw Weezer for the first time in the early spring of 1993 when i did the sound for them at an in-store at Rhino Records in Santa Monica. I had worked there for a bit and had become familiar with them thru my friends Rachel Haden and Kerry Murphy, who had booked the show there that night.

So, I asked them to do the recording assignment which was a live to 2 track version of "Jamie". I still have the shitty copy of the original 8-track demo that was dubbed on the back of a Grant Lee Buffalo sampler cassette somewhere in my closet (this would be the Rivers-only demo mentioned earlier in the History -karl). I hooked them up with another classmate of mine named Sharon when she didn't have a band lined up at the last minute. I tried to get her That Dog (who was the other band I really wanted to record) but they couldn't get it together in time so I figured the Weezer guys would be down with coming back for a second time.

Anyways, I guess the guys were happy with the LMU version of "Jamie", but i never entirely was completely satisfied. I mean, only so much you can do with a live take and only a few hours! Rivers seemed to be really completely amazed when i told him I only got a B+ on the project. "But it's gonna be on a CD, man....!" I remember Matt being really adamant that they would do the recording project with me, but that they had to own the master. Smart boys they were, and I agreed to it, I just really wanted to be credited with the recording."


LMU #1 4/15/93
song comments
"Jamie" take #1 : incomplete, breaks down
"Jamie" take #2 , complete but determined to be inferior
"Jamie" take #4, complete but determined to be inferior
"Jamie" take # 5 selected for a final mix, then rejected in favor of #6
"Jamie" take # 6 : this was used on DGC Rarities, Vol. 1


LMU #2 : 4/27/93
song comments
"My Name Is Jonas" (number of takes is unknown), there was one selected for a final mix)
"Lullaby for Wayne" (number of takes is unknown), there was one selected for a final mix)


4/29/93 show #53 - at Club Dump, Hollywood

this show was both audio bootlegged by Karl and videotaped by the in house camera

5/93 Matt and Rivers collaborate

  • "Mrs. Young" (aka '"Jamie II"). (This is an early version of "Please Let That Be You" ) Matt wrote much of the song and then asked Rivers to help with some parts and harmonies ; 4 track

Late Spring-Early Summer '93 Rivers 8 Tracks

Late Spring-Early Summer '93 Rivers 8 Tracks
song comments
"Negativland" 5/93, early prototype of "Blast Off!"
"To Mykel and Carli (From a High School Friend)" 6/93 original version of "Mykel and Carli"
"Buddy Holly" 6/93
"Chess" 6/93
"Holiday" 6/93
"Souvenirs, Novelties, Party Tricks" a very silly song, done with Adam Orth (later of Shufflepuck) (rec. 6/25/93, the day weezer signed to Geffen)
"The Purification of Water" 7/93 (second version) (master is 1/2 taped over)


6/7/93 show at Club Lingerie, Hollywood Taped off the mixing board

July and August 1993 Rivers 8 tracks

July and August 1993 Rivers 8 tracks
song comments
"Hot Tub" 7/93
"Port o Jones" ( = "Part of Jonas": "workshop") 7/93
"In the Garage" 7-8/93
"I Swear It's True" 8/93
"Waiting on You" original: summer '93, piano only, live to 1 track
"Waiting on You" take 2 - summer '93; piano only, live to 1 track
"Getting Up and Leaving" 8(?)/93 ; master missing


August 6, 1993 - Practice at Cole Rehersals, Hollywood

Rehersals were underway for the forthcoming recording sessions in New York City. Rivers bought a portable DAT recorder and taped the band after they had settled into the new environment of Cole Rehersals.

8/6/93 rehersal
song comments
"No One Else" (note the DAT master is likely missing for all these)
"The World Has Turned and Left Me Here"
"My Name Is Jonas"
"Surf Wax America"
"Mykel and Carli"
"Holiday"
"In the Garage"
"Buddy Holly" molasses slow tempo!
"Say It Ain't So"
"Lullabye for Wayne"
"Getting Up and Leaving"
"Just What I Needed" Cars cover!


july/aug 93 Cole Rehersals:

vocal rehearsals, including much silliness, as well as barbershop songs (recorded direct to a cheap microcassette)

8-9/93 NYC: microcassette recordings

all kinds of nonsense in the studio and out. includes some impromptu folk songs and some very silly material.

8/11/93: Practice Demo recorded by Ric Ocasek

The band flew to New York and was booked time for final rehearsals at S.I.R. Studios in Manhattan. Ric Ocasek, along with Ric's assistant Haig, and engineer Chris Shaw recorded the band to get a feel for the sound of the group and try and narrow down the song selection for recording the album. This demo was taped on a big Akai 12-track that used beta video style tapes. I'm sure Ric still has the master tapes.

Also, various videotape was shot of the rehearsals and during the recording of the demo.

8/11/93 : 12 track demo
song comments
"No One Else"
"The World Has Turned and Left Me Here"
"My Name Is Jonas"
"Surf Wax America"
"Say It Ain't So"
"Lullabye for Wayne" would not make the cut
"Undone - The Sweater Song"
"Mykel and Carli" would go on to be attempted for the Blue Album
"Only in Dreams"
"Holiday"
"Buddy Holly"
"In the Garage"
"Getting Up and Leaving" would not make the cut
"I Swear It's True" would not make the cut
"In the Garage" (Reprise) kind of a weird mellow vocal harmony thing


Weezer Recording History
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