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Namespaces Page Discussion. Views Read View source View history. Navigation Main page Recent changes Contents Random page. This page was last edited on 5 September , at Around this time, Steven and Beverly Kitts began having marital problems, which would eventually end in a divorce.
Despite the divorce impending, Rivers' house was band headquarters. There, the band would hang out with Leaves, work at Domino's Pizza, play Zelda and Metroid on Nintendo, eat at Denny's, play at arcades, and always focused on the music. There were no alcohol or drugs allowed. According to Michael Stanton, Rivers was, by this time, a "rock star in the area". According to him, one of Rivers' favorite pastimes was calling up girls and talking to them "seemingly all night".
Around this time, Rivers parents were finalizing a divorce. While there, the band played a few big shows and eventually changed their name to Zoom in an attempt to make themselves more marketable and focused. At the time, Rivers was attending the Guitar Institute, but not attending classes. He received notice that he would not graduate. At the time, he was also working at Tower Records in LA. At Tower, Rivers came in contact with Pat Finn. Cuomo's time at Tower opened his eyes to a whole new sound of music.
Rivers also was turned onto Nirvana. The first song he heard by them was "Sliver", and Cuomo says that when he first heard it he started to dance. Cuomo also enrolled at LA City College part time. His interest in music shifted from guitar technique to songwriting. Rivers friendship with Pat Finn grew. I totally admired and respected him, how completely nuts he was. He was always trying to grab my balls or trying to get fired so he could collect unemployment. He was trying to get the boss to hit him.
He played me a lot of great music, and taught me a lot about cynicism. How to talk, how to act. And he also introduced me to Matt and Pat. With his life finally looking up again, Rivers was also a 4. Rivers continued to record his own songs and then took them to whatever project he was pursuing at the time. Rivers very much enjoyed collaborating with Pat Wilson. Cuomo was mostly an engineer and aided backup vocals and guitars where needed on songs such as "My Salvation", "Eyes of the Children" and "I Belong to God".
Rivers rehearsed with 60WS until they played their one and only show on Thanksgiving weekend. Rivers was slowly losing interest in the band and was more excited in his own material. Feeling inspired by Pixies and Nirvana, Rivers and Pat set out to collaborate on a 50 song collaborative project. According to Jason Cropper , Rivers sensed alternative music was about to explode.
Jason also recalled the first time he and Cuomo heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at the Italian restaurant where they worked. After the song finished, Rivers was upset that it was Kurt who had written the song and not himself. Jason said, "My fondest, pre-Weezer memory is I'm cooking, Rivers is cleaning, and we're both standing in the same kitchen, and that song comes on the radio, in like the first week of its release, and Rivers says, 'I should have written that.
That's totally true. Every day he wrote a better song. Rivers thought it best that the band have a large catalogue of songs before they even began playing. That way, they wouldn't waste studio time and would be more focused and cohesive when they finally formed.
Matt was so impressed that he came down to Los Angeles to help form Weezer. On February 14 , , a still-unnamed Weezer held their first rehearsal. The vibe was so strong and positive that they practiced for several days in a row, recording the fourteen songs they played on their third practice.
Cuomo said, "When we first started practicing, I mean from our very first rehearsal, I thought to myself, 'We're amazing. This is incredible! Everybody's going to love us! Unfortunately, the band did not take off as quickly as Rivers had hoped. So we had really low self esteem. We must have bad taste. Eventually, Weezer did generate a buzz. It was enough to capture the attention of a strong LA fanbase and even some label interest.
Todd Sullivan decided to sign Weezer. Rivers quickly wrote some new songs in a fit of happiness and nervousness. Following Weezer's success, Rivers was worried that the band was made famous from the gimmicks of the " Buddy Holly " video and not his songwriting.
He removed his glasses because he felt they were also a gimmick. He began to talk less and took complete control of the band. He felt somewhat cheated that the rock star life was not like the life Kiss promised him when he was younger. Beginning to question his rock star life, Rivers wrote the song " Longtime Sunshine " while at home for Christmas in In it, he contemplated going to an East cost college, leaving the rock star's "lonely life behind" and confessed he would be satisfied in the simple things.
Rivers also began to outline what he saw as the next Weezer album. Rivers felt that Weezer was too simple and basic and was intending to go to Harvard to learn classical composition. This paved the way for Songs from the Black Hole and eventually Pinkerton. Rivers used the money that success afforded him to have corrective surgery on his leg, which had been shorter than the other since birth.
Rivers found himself wanting a place where he could retreat and become invisible. He grew a beard, put on his glasses and attended Harvard. At Harvard, Rivers began to abandon his space opera concept. A bad case of writers block kept Rivers from writing any material for quite some time. The only thing Rivers knew was that Weezer's next album should be completely without gimmick. At Harvard, Rivers was unrecognizable to most. He walked with a cane, had a thick beard, long hair, and thick glasses.
According to Rivers, fans would walk by in Weezer shirts and not recognize him. Rivers writers block let up when he received a letter from a Japanese fan girl. The letter would inspire the song " Across the Sea ", and help to kill the Black Hole project. The song's lyrics reveal that the letter meant so much, and he was in such need of attention, that he would lick the envelope where she licked it, and have sexual fantasies about the girl.
Around this time, Rivers was also reading lots of Joe Matt comics, studying classical composition, had a strong interest in Madame Butterfly , and was inspired by the guitar stylings of Yngwie Malsteem. All of these things played a strong roll in the songs he wrote. Furthermore, the idea of holding nothing back and exposing everything is similar to the comics Joe Matt makes such as Spent. Cuomo would also fall in love with girls at Harvard, most of whom he was terrified of approaching, one of which turned out to be a lesbian.
This prompted the songs " Pink Triangle " and " El Scorcho ". Rivers walked with an "old man cane", was "bitter and alone", was looking more bizarre than he ever had "who's that funky dude? When it came time to record Weezer's second album Pinkerton , Rivers had taken complete control of the band. He was less social with his bandmates, he was more reserved, and he wanted no gimmicks.
He wanted Pinkerton to have a raw and rough sound, which he said was closer to Weezer's actual sound. When Rivers toured for Pinkerton , he had more of a drive to make sure he was having sex with groupies and living the rock star life.
But this does bring up his marriage, in itself a circumstance that has gone relatively unexamined. Introduced to meditation by producer Rick Rubin in , Cuomo immediately decided that he had to go on this one particular day meditation retreat, but to be accepted into the program, he either had to be married or have gone without sex for two years.
At first, celibacy, which also forbade masturbation, seemed like the only viable option. Suddenly, he changed his mind about abstinence. He tried to join eHarmony but was rejected. I was on day eight of this apostate meditation course. It was almost like a switch got flipped in my mind. I let go of the Harvard girl, and Kyoko popped into my mind. I called her. We started talking again and then started talking rationally about what a future together might be like.
But Satan never sleeps, so one must wonder, when Satan does hop onto his shoulder, what does Satan whisper into his ear? I mean, it might be fun to perform sin X, but if I indulged every whim like that, I would destroy my life in 24 hours. And I love my life.
Is he able to remember his dreams? He nods. But then I read something that said new research is showing that Freudian analysis can do as much good as, or more than, cognitive-based therapy. I found this real old-school master who is, like, 84 and from Austria, and I lie back on a couch and talk about my dreams. It is terrifying. He says that I have generalized anxiety. Psychoanalysis is going to play a big role. He pauses, takes a quick breath.
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