(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SAY YES")
WEEZER: (Singing) Everybody here's gonna try and drag me down.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, HOST:
Rivers Cuomo knows what it's like to realize the world around you has changed.
RIVERS CUOMO: One day, you wake up, and you're spending all your time by yourself composing at a computer. It's just not the world we started in.
KURTZLEBEN: Cuomo's band Weezer has been making music for more than three decades with albums known by colors like "Black," "Teal," "White," "Red" and "Green." But they looked to their debut, "The Blue Album," to learn how to get back to basics.
CUOMO: So this time we met at this guy's house, and we just hung out in his living room all day and out on the porch and strummed guitars and told dad jokes, and it turned into the record.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SAY YES")
WEEZER: (Singing) And say yes, I'm down if you're down. Say yes, like Yoko to John. Say yes. Ooh, what else can I do? Say yes, even if I don't believe it is true.
KURTZLEBEN: Weezer's newest album is "Gold."
CUOMO: Out of any decent colors, we considered pink, but in the end, it seemed time to switch from colors to metallic. And I was reminded of dragons because there are two classes of dragons - colored dragons, which are evil, and then metallic dragons, which are good.
KURTZLEBEN: Wait, the colored and metallic dragons thing - was that, like, a D&D thing?
CUOMO: Yeah, I know it from D&D, but I think it's actual fact, I guess.
(LAUGHTER)
KURTZLEBEN: Great. Next time I see a dragon, I'm going to check that out. All right, so Weezer is a band that's known for trying new things, having lyrics with a touch of the absurd, even whimsy. There's "Say Yes," which we heard earlier. There's a lyric in it about having only one weird life I get to live. And then there's the song "Don't Make It Weird" right here.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T MAKE IT WEIRD")
WEEZER: (Singing) And then it got weird, yo. It's hard to relate. Feels like I'm lost in the wilderness these days. When they tried to reach me, I'm already gone, I'm already gone. Don't make it weird. It don't gotta be. Everything's cool if you let it be. Nobody cares...
KURTZLEBEN: I'm curious, How does weirdness play into your life or your identity as a band?
CUOMO: Yeah, wow. You caught me there. It's cool. You're finding these connections between the songs that I was unaware of myself. But I think about weirdness - and I guess at times I try to not be weird or try to be normal. And then at other times, I realize that's futile, and I just accept and enjoy being weird.
KURTZLEBEN: Yeah, same.
(SOUNDBITE OF WEEZER SONG, "DON'T MAKE IT WEIRD")
KURTZLEBEN: Your first color album, "The Blue Album" - it came out 32 years ago. And on that, I know that you and drummer Pat Wilson co-wrote songs like "My Name Is Jonas"...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY NAME IS JONAS")
WEEZER: (Singing) Thanks for all you've shown us, but this is how we feel.
KURTZLEBEN: ...And "Surf Wax America" on that first record.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SURF WAX AMERICA")
WEEZER: (Singing) You take your car to work, I'll take my board.
KURTZLEBEN: What was it like collaborating with him again on songwriting?
CUOMO: It's fantastic. He's different from me. He's less of a sellout. He's this total purist music guy. And it's so inspiring. As soon as I hear it, I - just melodies and words come to me.
KURTZLEBEN: Wait, why do you consider yourself a sellout?
CUOMO: Oh, I'm always thinking, like, oh, gosh, are people going to like this, or what can I do to make them like it more? He just does not think like that. I'm remarkably stunted in my maturation.
KURTZLEBEN: "Hoops" might be the song on this record with the most bite.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOOPS")
WEEZER: (Singing) Bought a toaster just to make some toast. First I had to scan a QR code. Where's the jerk who built this hamster wheel? I'm gonna tell 'em exactly how I feel. Hoops, hoops. Jump, jump, jumping through hoops.
KURTZLEBEN: When you are frustratedly snapping a QR code that you got with your toaster - is that just a general sense you have that the world is overly complicated now?
CUOMO: Yeah, I think it's hard to survive. A lot of hoops you have to jump through.
KURTZLEBEN: Just to get your toast. You have a song on this record though called "Shine Again." It feels like a counterpart to this, though. Here's a cut from that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHINE AGAIN")
WEEZER: (Singing) The dog walk, the dishes, the good-morning kisses. I'm nailing each task on my list. And I will tell you once again. You were always great. Remember how it feels.
KURTZLEBEN: I mean, I hear in this, it's not just about the frustrating parts of daily life, but it's at least in part about having optimism and joy amid all those mundane activities. Is that what's in your mind when you're singing it?
CUOMO: Patrick wrote that song. He wrote those lyrics, and I think that's exactly what was in his mind when he wrote it. I'm just having a great time 'cause I love playing and singing that song. It's so fun.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHINE AGAIN")
WEEZER: (Singing) Shine, shine again, shine again.
KURTZLEBEN: Pat writes some songs. You write some songs. I mean, when you have different songwriters, are there some songs that - when they come and you think, oh, yeah, that is a Pat Wilson song? Like, what are the elements that make it a Rivers Cuomo song or a Pat Wilson song or anything else?
CUOMO: Well, he loves Mixolydian mode, which is a little darker, bluesier, tougher sound. And I love major mode, so it's a little poppier and more uplifting, I guess.
KURTZLEBEN: This is your 20th record. Weezer has been around for more than 30 years, like I said. It's an iconic band. It has so many fans. What else do you want Weezer to accomplish?
CUOMO: We want to go more in the direction we went on this record, so more just showing up in a room. Nobody brings anything. We all just start trying to come up with stuff on the spot...
KURTZLEBEN: Yeah.
CUOMO: ...And improvising and see where it takes us.
KURTZLEBEN: That was Rivers Cuomo of Weezer. The band's latest colorful creation is "Weezer (The Gold Album)." It's out this week. Rivers Cuomo, thank you so much for joining us today.
CUOMO: Thank you, Frau Kurtzleben.
KURTZLEBEN: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LA SOUND")
WEEZER: (Singing) Wake up the guys.
CUOMO: I'm just stuck on Kurtzleben.
KURTZLEBEN: (Laughter).
CUOMO: I took German in high school. Does it mean short live?
KURTZLEBEN: I have been told that it means short life. I never know what to do with that. I have no idea why, but good catch. Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LA SOUND")
WEEZER: (Singing) The club smells like piss. And there's three... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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