Pitchfork

"I want to do a really cool event to promote Alone II on the day of release," Weezer frontguy Rivers Cuomo told us last week when we chatted about his second collection of solo demos, due November 25 from DGC Records.

"It's basically another Hootenanny," Rivers said, referring to the spate of audience-inclusive gigs he and Weezer ran in the wake of the release of this spring's The Red Album. "But it's a little different. Anyone can come, you don't have to bring an instrument. But if you want to, you can bring an instrument, and you the audience will pick the songs we play, and it can be anything. And I'll just print up the lyrics right there on the spot, I'll have a computer there or something, I'll get them off line, off the Internet. It can be any of my songs or any cover, and so, in some cases, it might just be one person says, like, 'Oh! Let's play this obscure B-side!', or something, some song from [unfinished Weezer disc Songs From] the Black Hole, and he may be the only person in the room [who] knows it, besides me, and then it will just be me and that person giving a concert to the rest of the room. And then the next song, there might be 20 people who know it. So that will be a very dynamic event and very fun for me. And I won't have to bring a guitar!"

Indeed, that's exactly what's going to happen.

A guitar-less Rivers will make his way to Long Beach, California's Fingerprints Records on the evening of November 25 for the record release jam session, and if you're up for a little commerce, you're invited. To secure a spot, you'll have to preorder Alone II either in person at Fingerprints or via phone (562-433-4996) starting at 11 a.m. West Coast time today. (Note that web orders, while appreciated, won't get you in.) If you snap up Alone II in time, you and a friend will get yourself in on the action. As Rivers noted, they're seeking both musicians and non-musicians, and you'll be asked when you place your order whether you wish to play or not.

With their fall tour wrapped, Weezer currently have no live plans to speak of. Rivers is promising a video for one of Alone II's tracks soonish, so keep a horn-rim-framed eye out for that one.