Rivers Cuomo

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Rivers Cuomo

Born June 13, 1970
New York City
Genre(s) Rock
Affiliation(s) Weezer, Avant Garde, Zoom, Homie
Notable guitars Warmoth Stratocaster
Gibson Flying V
Gibson SG
Years active 1989 - Present
Official site riverscuomo.com

Rivers Cuomo (born June 13, 1970), is most well-known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and songwriter of Weezer.

Cuomo was born in a New York City hospital, and raised on an ashram run by the late yoga master H.H. Rev. Sri Swami Satchidananda in Pomfret, Connecticut. Cuomo's parents moved to nearby Storrs, Connecticut when the ashram (known as Yogaville) was relocated to a plot of land along the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Cuomo attended E. O. Smith High School and Harvard College.

Contents

[edit] Musical projects

Cuomo began his musical endeavours with the pseudonym Peter Kitts (Kitts being the surname of his stepfather), formed a progressive metal band known as Avant Garde, and played several shows in Connecticut. He moved with the band to Los Angeles in March 1989, at which point Avant Garde changed its name to Zoom, though the band dissolved in late spring of 1990. After a series of musical projects in L.A., Cuomo formed Weezer on February 14, 1992 which included members from Rivers current band "60 Wrong Sausages." The original Weezer cast included Rivers Cuomo on vocals and guitar, Patrick Wilson on drums, Matt Sharp on bass, and Jason Cropper who at first played exclusively on acoustic guitar. Cropper later shifted to playing electric and acoustic guitars depending on the song. Jason Cropper left the band during recording on their first album, and Brian Bell joined in his place. Weezer signed with DGC, a subsidiary of Geffen Records, on June 25, 1993. They began recording Weezer (also known as The Blue Album), in August, 1993 at Electric Lady Studios in New York with producer Ric Ocasek.

[edit] Musical talent

Musically, Cuomo is best known for his melodies, guitar solos, and distinctive vocal harmonies. He is also a prolific songwriter, having written and recorded nearly 800 songs in his life, either with Weezer, earlier bands or self-recorded demos. Of these songs, despite the large amount of unreleased material available on the internet, large chunks of his work remain unheard by fans. These include certain demos for The Blue Album, various songs from the scrapped Songs from the Black Hole project, over a hundred songs he composed and demoed throughout 1999, and well over a hundred songs that didn't make the cut for Make Believe. Recently on Rivers' myspace he began satisfying fans need to hear these unreleased demos "in the most legal way" he could by posting sheet music and lyrics for the Songs From the Black Hole tracks "She's Had A Girl", "Oh Jonas" and "Who You Callin' Bitch?" as well as the Blue Album-era demo "Getting Up and Leaving."

He has been known to use experimentation to inspire his writing, for example, fasting for a day and then writing a song, as he did on "Hold Me." [1] Cuomo has familiarity with a wide array of musical instruments: besides the guitar, he is also skilled at the piano, bass guitar (he frequently demoed songs on his own, a la the 1995 Fort Apache Studios Pinkerton demos), clarinet, drums, and harmonica.

Cuomo has cited a wide variety of musical influences throughout the years, from artists as diverse as KISS, Lou Barlow, Pixies, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Brian Wilson, and Giacomo Puccini. He took it upon himself to become a student of rock and pop music when in the late 90s, Cuomo created "The Encyclopedia of Pop" for himself, a three-ring binder which broke down the mechanics of pop and rock songs. [2]

[edit] Other bands

Rivers fronted a band called Homie on certain dates in 1997 and 1998. In 2003 he went through a phase in which he contributed to recordings by various other musicians (Crazy Town, Cold, Mark Ronson). He also briefly managed the band AM Radio in 2002 and 2003. The frontman for that band, Kevin Ridel, is quoted as having said "I was actually giving up hope the summer of 2001. Right before Rivers called me... he’s done everything. He's our manager, he's our record label. He's pretty much guided us through everything we’ve had to do."[3] He also sang on the AM Radio song "Inspiration." [4]

In early 2004 he made a surprise appearance onstage with ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp at his California State University, Fullerton show to play two old Weezer favorites ("Say It Ain't So" and "Undone"), a rare Weezer demo that they worked on together ("Mrs. Young"), and a new song they wrote together, "Time Song." Also, Sharp announced that they might work on a collaborative record together. But later that year, Sharp announced on his website that although they had come up with "15 or 16 new song ideas, some good, some not so good" for their new album, their "special brand of dysfunctionality" kept them from finishing the project. [5]

Additionally, Cuomo has had cameos in a number of music videos. These include Crystal Method's "You Know It's Hard" and the video for The Warlocks' "Cocaine Blues."

[edit] Trivia

  • Married Kyoko Ito, a woman he has known since 1997 on June 18, 2006. He had proposed to her in Tokyo shortly before Christmas 2005. The wedding was held at a secluded beach on Paradise Cove in Malibu and was attended by over a hundred people, including six of the seven members who played in Weezer (Mikey Welsh being the only no show) as well as notables Justin Fisher, Kevin Ridel and Rick Rubin.
  • Has a well-publicized affinity for Asian women. This can be heard in his music (songs such as "Across the Sea", "El Scorcho" and "Buddy Holly", which features the line "your tongue is twisted/your eyes are slit"), in interviews (usually when asked what celebrity he finds good looking, he has responded with Michelle Kwan and Zhang Ziyi) and in music videos (the "Dope Nose" video features a Japanese motorcycle gang with many female members). "Pinkerton" is also a slang term for a person with an Asian fetish.
  • Has had very close interactions with his fans online. Throughout 2002, Cuomo frequently posted on Weezer message boards as "Ace" to discuss music with fans. Since 2003 he has kept a MySpace page in which he has posted many blog entries, including his original admission essay and two subsequent re-admission essays to Harvard. Additionally, he uses his MySpace blog as a clearinghouse for clarifications, corrections, and addenda to interviews and press reports about him. This has included responding to misinformation on this Wikipedia entry.
  • Known to perform with his customised Warmoth Stratocasters. Throughout his career he has frequently played warmoth stratocasters that are covered in stickers. Rivers also notably played Gibson V's onstage in late 2001 and throughout parts of 2002 . Today, he almost exclusively plays a red Gibson SG with the Thai word Farang on it, meaning "a white foreigner." The sticker is placed on his SG that is tuned in E flat, and the SG tuned to E does not have this sticker.
  • For most of Weezer's existence, Cuomo has not been known for his on-stage banter, offering only occasional comment or letting then-bassist Matt Sharp do all the talking. Yet in late 2001 and throughout 2002, Cuomo began becoming quite talkative onstage resulting in many strange and humorous statements. The first leg of the band's 2005 Make Believe tour saw a return to more reserved stage behavior, but that fall's joint tour with Foo Fighters featured an appreciably more ambulant and emotive Cuomo.
  • In 2003 vowed to remain celibate for two years and said in late 2005 that not only has he succeeded, but he has continued past his self-imposed deadline. Cuomo said that his status as a rock star has not made avoiding sex difficult because Weezer "never had any serious groupies, anyway." [6]. Also during this time, Cuomo also began practicing Vipassana meditation. He considers his first Vipassana course in May 2003 to be "the turning point" of his life [7]. He soon after sold all his possessions and volunteered at a food bank serving HIV patients. [8]
  • Was born with his left leg 44 mm shorter than the other. After gaining success because of The Blue Album, Cuomo got surgery to correct the condition. This involved the experimental Russian technique of surgically breaking the bone in his leg and wearing a leg brace that required a painful daily "stretching" of the bone; Cuomo likened this to "crucifying (his) leg." An x-ray of the leg is part of the album art for "The Good Life" single, and the experience inspired him to write the song. You can see Cuomo wearing the brace on an episode of The Late Show with David Letterman; this can be found on their DVD "Video Capture Device".
  • Rivers is a big fan of soccer: "I'm not a supporter of any side except perhaps the U.S. National Team. I love the geometry of soccer, and the fact that it is something I can enjoy with people from all over the world, but I have a hard time relishing victories without feeling bad for the defeated." [9]
  • It's a popular misconception that Weezer are named after Rivers' supposed asthma. Rivers himself has openly admitted that although "Weezer" was his childhood nickname, it wasn't because he had asthma.
  • During Weezer's hiatus between the albums Pinkerton and Weezer (Green Album), Cuomo had gotten braces on his teeth. They were evidently removed before the release of the Green Album.
  • The Sugar Ray song "Rivers" was written as a "Weezer-style" song. Mark McGrath jokingly sang it at show once as a "tribute to the late Rivers Cuomo." [11]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Guest contributions

[edit] External links

Weezer
Brian Bell – Rivers Cuomo – Scott Shriner – Patrick Wilson
Former members: Jason Cropper – Matt Sharp – Mikey Welsh
Discography
Albums: Weezer (The Blue Album) – Pinkerton – Weezer (The Green Album) – Maladroit – Make Believe
Extended plays and live albums: The Good Life – The Lion and the Witch – Winter Weezerland
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