Weezer goes indie, inks deal with Silver Lake’s Epitaph Records
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
No press release, and no further comments from the Weezer or Epitaph camps, but the band has announced that it has signed with the local indie label. The punk-leaning, Silver Lake Lounge-adjacent Sunset Boulevard fortress that Bad Religion and Offspring built will release the band’s new album, “Hurley,” on Sept. 14, according to Weezer’s Twitter page and official website.
Weezer will join Social Distortion as veterans to recently join the Brett Gurewitz-run Epitaph fold. It appears that that the band will release its album under the Epitaph brand as opposed to the imprint’s more eccentric Anti- label, which is home to Neko Case,Nick Cave’s Grinderman and the wonderfully weird Tim Fite, but Weezer’s relationship-focused pop gems have always had a shade of the Ramones and Buzzcocks, and the act recently toured with Blink-182.
Weezer’s contract with Geffen expired after the release of last year’s “Raditude,” bringing to end a 15-year relationship with the major label. Weezer used Rolling Stone to help unveil the news, and leader Rivers Cuomo had this to say in explaining the move to an indie: “At this moment in our career, it feels like we don’t need a major label, and the major label culture isn’t inline with our values,” Cuomo said. “We like Brett Gurewitz, and it feels like a smaller and more appropriate operation for what we like doing at the moment.”
-- Todd Martens
Clicking on Green Links will take you to a third-party e-commerce site. These sites are not operated by the Los Angeles Times. The Times Editorial staff is not involved in any way with Green Links or with these third-party sites.
