Weezer celebrated their 30th anniversary on Tuesday (February 15). On February 15, 1992, in Los Angeles, the band held their first practice with singer-songwriter Rivers Cuomo, drummer Patrick Wilson, early bassist Matt Sharp, and early guitarist Jason Cropper.
Weezer’s longtime assistant, documentarian, and roadie Karl Koch sent a thoughtful statement on social media commemorating the occasion, which went on to personify mid-’90s nerd-core for a generation of rock fans.
“And just like that, it’s been 30 years to the day that Weezer was born,” Koch said. “On 2/15/92, Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Matt Sharp and Jason Cropper met at TK Productions at 1956 Cotner Ave in West LA, for the first of 3 days of rehearsals, running through about 20 different songs numerous times, including a few songs that would make it to the Blue Album 2 years later.”
Weezer’s triple-platinum self-titled debut album from 1994 was dubbed “Blue Album.” “Undone – The Sweater Song,” “Buddy Holly,” and “Say It Ain’t So” are among the album’s successful rock songs.
Koch continued, “The room at TK was hot and sweaty — gross, frankly — and the band worked very hard, ironing out a million snags and mistakes, repeatedly jamming the songs until they sounded like rock music. On day 3, Rivers rolled tape on his 8 Track cassette recorder, and they recorded everything till they had something they could listen back to.”
He added, “For all of this, weezer wasn’t really even ‘weezer’ yet, because the band wouldn’t get its name until a few hours before their first show on 3/19/92, closing the night out at Raji’s after the debut performance of Keanu Reeves’ Dogstar. But regardless of when the name stuck, the band that has been going strong for 30 years now was born.”
Weezer went on pause after the “Blue Album,” releasing the cult classic Pinkerton in 1996. However, they came back in 2001 with the “Green Album” and have since released 12 studio albums, including Van Weezer and OK Human last year. SZNS, a new Weezer project, is set to debut later this year.
Koch also paid homage to late Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh, who filled in for Matt Sharp on the “Green Album.” Since then, bassist Scott Shriner has filled the role. Before Weezer’s “Blue Album,” guitarist Brian Bell took over for Cropper.
Koch also paid tribute to Mykel and Carli Allan, Weezer’s first fan club managers, who perished in a vehicle accident with their younger sister Trysta in 1997.
“So much has changed,” Koch concluded, “and yet, having been there for it for every step of the way I can truly say that for all the changes and amazing adventures that have happened, the spirit of weezer has not changed hardly, if at all. … 30 years on, we are nowhere near the end of the story.”
Weezer claimed for years that their first practice was on February 14, 1992, Valentine’s Day. Although that date has now become widely publicized on the internet, Koch rectified it a few years ago.
