Weezer Share Nerdy, Self-Referential New Single ‘Back to the Shack’
Weezer have shared “Back to the Shack,” the first single from their upcoming ninth LP, Everything Will Be Alright in the End (out September 30th on Republic Records). The nerdy alt-rock jam debuted via national radio (and Weezer’s Youtube channel) on Monday morning and is the first new song from the group since 2010.
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A sturdy, self-referential sing-along that name-checks frisbee-catching drummer Pat Wilson, “Back to the Shack” was first debuted onstage back in February during the band’s latest Weezer Cruise. “Sorry, guys / I didn’t realize that I needed you so much,” sings frontman Rivers Cuomo, between glorious six-string squalls. “If we die in obscurity, oh well / at least we raised some hell,” he offers later in a ragged tone, moments before tearing into a noisy guitar solo.
The song will be available to purchase on iTunes at midnight EDT on Tuesday, July 22nd. On Wednesday, July 23rd, the band will give “Shack” its television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Since March, the band has been teasing their new LP with cryptic in-studio teasers. These clips, part of their #WeezerWednesday webisode series, have offered snippets of new music – including a track dubbed “Return to Ithaca,” which showcases a harder-than-expected edge with aggressive triplet snare rolls and metallic riffs. Everything Will Be Alright in the End was produced by the Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, who previously helped sculpt the power-pop brilliance of 1994’s Blue Album and 2001’s Green Album.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Wilson described the album’s sound by suggesting a blend of the band’s beloved first two albums: “If you took the Pinkerton band and then play all the other records – that’s what we sound like now,” he said. “Bombastic, loose, kind of booming. This record sounds like it’s going to have the tight structure of Blue Album with a little bit more abandon like Pinkerton.”
According to a press release, Everything is “organized thematically around three groups of songs” and “utilizes that sound from the band’s earliest days to tell new stories in 2014.”