Weezer Went Back to the Rehearsal Room and Made Their Most Urgent Record in Years

After a sold-out 30th anniversary tour playing the Blue Album in full every night, Weezer went back to basics. They found a rehearsal space in Orange County — a midpoint between where they all live in California — and did the thing they hadn’t done in a long time: got in a room together and figured out what they actually wanted to make. What came out is their 20th album, simply titled Weezer, due August 21 on Reprise/Warner Records.

The lead single “We Might As Well Be Strangers” features Karly Hartzman of Wednesday trading vocals with Rivers Cuomo, and it sets the tone for an album that producer Kenny Beats wanted to make “the most violent Weezer album ever.” No grid, no click track, no pitch correction — drums recorded live with all four players in the room, listening to each other, reshaping songs on the fly. Co-producer Klas Ahlund brought a more mathematical precision to balance things out. The result sounds like a band that remembered they’re actually very good at this.

It’s also the first time Rivers Cuomo and drummer Pat Wilson have co-written song basics together since the first album. The record is tightly wound, meta in places — songs about aging as a band, weighing a legacy, still carrying on — and direct in ways their recent output hasn’t always been. Weezer: The Gathering North America Tour kicks off in September with The Shins and Silversun Pickups in tow. Pre-order the album below.

Pre-order Weezer ↗

1“Say Yes”

2“Shine Again”

3“Don’t Make It Weird”

4“We Might As Well Be Strangers” ft. Wednesday

5“C.E.O.”

6“Hoops”

7“Nowhere”

8“The Show Must Go On”

9“Up in the Clouds”

10“The LA Sound”