After months of promises, Weezer finally made good on releasing a Weezer Snuggie, perfect for fans who want to cozy up with the band’s new album Raditude, out today. Rivers Cuomo and gang even star in a new infomercial for their blanket with sleeves, which comes in one size and three awesome colors. “A Wuggie is basically exactly like a Snuggie, except it says Weezer on it,” Cuomo told Rolling Stone in May when he first floated the idea. “The people at Snuggie are doing it with us and promoting it with us. It’s a totally legit Snuggie.”

Check out Rivers Cuomo’s Surf Wax Adventure: photos from his new RS shoot. (more…)

Photograph by Jeremy and Claire Weiss for Rolling Stone
Tucked in the middle of Adam Lambert’s For Your Entertainment track list, squeezed between songs written by Lady Gaga and producer Max Martin, there’s a tune called “Pick U Up,” credited to a surprising name: Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo. “He has the kind of voice I convince myself that I have,” Cuomo tells Rolling Stone in our new issue. The team-up is just the latest in an ongoing stream of collaborations that began with the hootenannies Cuomo hosted on Weezer’s 2008 tour.

As Cuomo started to move into a poppy direction — he tells RS he sought out everyone from Dr. Luke to Aly and A.J. — another of his collaborators, Butch Walker, told him, “I want ‘My Name Is Jonas, not Nick Jonas.’ ”

Rivers Cuomo’s Surf Wax Adventure: photos from the Weezer frontman’s RS shoot.

The results of Cuomo’s sonic exploration are all over Raditude (read the RS review here). Weezer recruited Lil Wayne for “Can’t Stop Partying,” though the two parties never met: “He snuck into the studio while I was away,” Cuomo tells RS. The All-American Rejects’ Tyson Ritter co-wrote “Put Me Back Together,” and told RS, “If I die tomorrow, I’ll have one of the biggest shit-eating grins on my face.”

Cuomo has also spent in the studio penning a song with Katy Perry, Sugar Ray (the band’s recent Music for Cougars featured Weezer’s “Love is the Answer,” a song now bound for Raditude) and Shirley Manson (”It was a master class in pop writing,” Manson tells RS). “I really like all the female pop stars,” Cuomo tells Rolling Stone. “Miley Cyrus is my favorite.”

For more on the birth of Raditude and how Cuomo managed to start a family and commune with the universe without losing his geek-rock mojo, check out the feature in our new issue, on stands now.

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• Weezer Say Lil Wayne “Tapped Into the Spirit” of “Raditude” Track

Photo: Flanigan/FilmMagic
Rivers Cuomo loves his job. It wasn’t always so for the Weezer frontman, who was visibly wary of the spotlight in his earliest days on the Los Angeles music scene, even after he became a consistent craftsman of modern rock. But just weeks ahead of their newest album, Raditude, Weezer delivered a high-energy concert of flash and warmth at the Hollywood Palladium Saturday night, emerging onstage in resplendent white, hooded track suits, equal parts hip-hop and retirement colony, to thunder through 70 playful minutes of alt-rock and pop.

From the opening roar of “Hash Pipe,” Cuomo both toyed with and reveled in the frontman role, hopping in place or muttering in German before “Pork and Beans” and then punching the air to shout a defiant lyric: “I don’t give a hoot about what you think!” As the dreamy opening guitar from 1994’s “Undone – The Sweater Song” unfurled in the old dance hall, the singer lifted a slogan from his heroes in Kiss to announce: “You wanted the best? You got the best. Weezer!” (more…)

Weezer have a reputation for releasing clever videos — they unearthed Happy Days for “Buddy Holly,” hung out with the Muppets for “Keep Fishin’ ” and partied with YouTube viral sensations for “Pork & Beans.” In their new clip for Raditude’s first single “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” which premiered today on Babelgum, Rivers Cuomo and the gang welcome you to Weezerville, Population: Four.

In a nod to the 1950s-inspired film Pleasantville, the town in “I Want You To” is filled with people who look like Weezer’s four members. Rivers Cuomo is being watched onstage by a child Cuomo while Pat Wilson is downtown getting a haircut from a barber played by Pat Wilson. You get the idea; it’s a Leave It To Beaver utopia where the Weezer folk live in perfect harmony. That is, until the femme fatale drives into town. (more…)

Photo: Loccisano/Getty(Ritter), LaVeris/FilmMagic
Of the countless bands that cite Weezer as an influence, few can claim that they’ve ever inspired Rivers Cuomo and Co. But now All-American Rejects frontman Tyson Ritter and guitarist Nick Wheeler have bragging rights as the exception to the rule: the pair were invited to write a song with Cuomo for Weezer’s upcoming album Raditude, and their collaboration “Put Me Back Together” appears on the disc, due November 3rd.

“I was playing Weezer songs when I was 13 at parties, so now I can die happy,” Ritter tells RS. Both AAR and Weezer share the same label, so after a couple phone calls, Ritter and Wheeler found themselves being picked up by a Lincoln Towncar and shuttled to Malibu, where Cuomo was waiting for the pair in a shed behind his house. Once there, “I pulled out a chorus that I’d been carrying around for a couple years from my pocket,” Ritter says. “I thought there was a reason why I didn’t use it, but I knew, after hearing him doing the song, I dropped to my knees and exalted to the sky.”

“Put Me Back Together,” the fifth track on Raditude, is the song that accomplishes the difficult task of following up the Lil Wayne collaboration that precedes it, “Can’t Stop Partying.” (more…)

Photo:Westcott/WireImage(Cuomo), Parra/WireImage (Perry)
For someone who classifies himself as a “geek,” Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo sure is spending a lot of time hanging out with the cool kids: In a word-association interview with Buzznet, Cuomo revealed he’s collaborating with Katy Perry in the near future. “We’re writing together next week. Can’t wait,” Cuomo said. It’s unclear what the “Tired of Sex” and “I Kissed a Girl” stars will be concocting, but it’s possible the fruits of their collaboration may appear on Perry’s follow-up to One of the Boys.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, Cuomo has been feeling quite collaborative lately. He recruited Lil Wayne to join his Raditude posse for the Jermaine Dupri-produced version of the song “Can’t Stop Partying.” The dictionary-defying album also finds the Weezer gang collaborating with the All-American Rejects’ Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler on “Put Me Back Together.” 30 seconds clips of Raditude are now streaming over at iTunes, where fans can also sign up for the iTunes Pass to get exclusive tracks. (more…)

Photo: Hoffman/Getty

Weezer fans eager to find out just how rad Raditude really is should head over to the iTunes store, as Apple’s digital-music service has posted 30-second clips of the album’s 10 tracks and two bonus songs. In addition to first single “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” fans can also get a taste of pub rocker “The Girl Got Hot,” touching closer “I Don’t Want to Let You Go” and Rivers Cuomo’s collabo with the All-American Rejects, “Put Me Back Together.” (Word of caution: There’s a band called Raditude! already on iTunes, so make sure you click the right one.)

It’s hard to choose favorites among half-minute excerpts, but we’re especially excited for “Can’t Stop Partying,” Weezer’s collaboration with Lil Wayne. Even though Weezy’s verse isn’t previewed on iTunes, we do get a sampling of Rivers’ awesomely offbeat lyrics for the track. “Monday to Sunday, I hit all the clubs, and now everybody knows me when I pull up,” Cuomo sings. “I got the real big posse with me, yeah I’m deep, and if you’re looking for me, I’m in VIP. Just follow the smoke, they’re bringing bottles of the Goose, and all the girls in the corner are getting loose.” The song is one “makin’ it rain” reference away from being a Lil Jon song, even though musically it’s closer to MGMT than Crunk Rock (and light years more party-worthy than the demo version that appeared on Cuomo’s Alone II). (more…)

Wondering exactly how Weezer met Weezy on record? Rivers Cuomo is opening up about his band’s collaboration with Lil Wayne, telling Pitchfork how Tha Carter III MC “really tapped into the spirit of the song.” As Rolling Stone previously reported, Cuomo recruited Wayne to lend a verse to the R&B-flavored, Jermaine Dupri-produced Raditude track “Can’t Stop Partying”.

“The first time I really became aware of [Lil Wayne] was when he worked the Ninja Turtles into the [Tha Carter III bonus track] ‘Kush,’ ” Cuomo said, reciting the lyrics, “‘I feel like I’m racing a bunch of little turtles/ Keep a bandana like the Ninja Turtles.’ First of all, he rhymes ‘turtles’ with ‘turtles,’ which is crazy! Second, he pronounces ‘turtles’ with this real hard ‘R’ so he sounds super nerdy, which is something you don’t often hear from black rappers. Third, he references the Ninja Turtles! That’s another thing you don’t often hear.” (more…)

Photo: Flanigan/FilmMagic

Even with his Rebirth perpetually delayed, Lil Wayne seems to be everywhere these days: The new Madonna song “Revolver,” Chris Brown’s first single off Graffiti called “Transformer” and, as MTV reports, Weezer’s Raditude.

That’s right, Weezy and Weezer will appear together on the band’s track “Can’t Stop Partying.” On the band’s dictionary-defying new album, out October 27th, frontman Rivers Cuomo wanted to try his hand at some different genres, including R&B. For the transformation, Cuomo hooked up with producer Jermaine Dupri for “Partying.” (more…)

The new Weezer album will be called… Weezer. For the third time in six albums, the band is going the eponymous route, except this time around the band are referring to their new one as the “Red Album.” Comprised of sessions produced by Rick Rubin, Jacknife Lee and themselves, frontman Rivers Cuomo says, “We put a lot of emphasis on blowing our minds with creative freakouts,” as evidenced by the probable first single “Pork and Beans.” To read more about Weezer’s June 17th release and many other upcoming albums, look for our comprehensive Spring Music Preview on stands tomorrow. Check back for an expanded version at RollingStone.com on Friday.

[Photo: Getty]