Weezer on hip-hop, Lil Wayne and Raditude

Ever since No Doubt hooked up with The Neptunes for the genre-splicing synthrock of Hella Good in 2001, guitar bands have been knocking down the doors of hip-hop's star producers.

Linkin Park recorded an entire album with Jay-Z, while balladeers OneRepublic called in Timbaland to beef up the beats on their debut album.

The latest group to reach out to the mavericks of urban music are college rock mainstays Weezer.

Best known in the UK for the hit singles Buddy Holly and Beverley Hills, they've recorded tracks on their new album with rapper Lil Wayne and Jermaine Dupri - Janet Jackson's ex-boyfriend, and the man responsible for Mariah Carey's musical rebirth.

Frontman Rivers Cuomo explained himself to the BBC News website.

---

Lil Wayne crops up on the track Can't Stop Partying

You've talked in the past about being a control freak - so why did you suddenly decide to collaborate with these hip-hop producers?

Last year, we did a tour where we invited our fans to come down with their own instruments. Every day I was faced with the challenge of making music with people I didn't know and instruments I wasn't familiar with, and it was very invigorating.

So it was natural, when it came to writing songs for the new album, that I wanted to keep that feeling going.

The songs are very different to your past work, but they don't sound like R&B, either. How hard was it to keep the two elements in balance?

It was incredibly difficult. A perfect example was the song Can't Stop Partying, which was written with Jermaine Dupri. It was a real challenge to figure out how to meld his ideas with the kind of melodies I write. It took a lot of revisions to get the song to where it is.

Cuomo (second left) released two solo albums between Weezer's last album and Raditude

Lyrically, Dupri comes from a background of self-aggrandisement and girls and cars and sex; whereas Weezer write from a more introspective place. Did that cause problems?

There absolutely was tension there. In the song Can't Stop Partying, the ideas that Jermaine was bringing were just as you described - just all about the hip-hop party. That's a wonderful point of view, but it's not 100% authentic to me.

So I struggled for a long time and eventually I realised I could compose this sad and beautiful music that undercut and changed the meaning of those lyrics.

I think it gives it a real twist that makes it feel authentically Weezer for me.

The reviews so far have been split right down the middle - was that the reaction you were hoping for?

No! [laughs] I always hope to please everyone with my music, but that's just how it is.

The older fans - their tastes get frozen in time and they're not able to evolve with the band. We've found again and again through our career that we've had to shed some fans like a snake sheds its skin, just so that we can stay vital.

A lot of bands don't want to do that. U2 for example, have alternated between experimentation and retreating to a "safe" vintage sound. Have you ever felt that temptation?

That's a good point. We found that the more we follow our own excitement, even if it means rifting the success we have, we end up having new hits.

So maybe it's just because we don't have that tremendous early success that U2 had. They're probably always comparing themselves to that, and trying to get back to that.

Comedian Rainn Wilson was the unlikely source of the album's title

The album's called Raditude - where did that come from?

We knew it was this great, high-energy rock album but we couldn't figure out what to call it. So I asked my friend Rainn Wilson [Dwight on The US Office] what we should do, and he said, "call it Raditude".

He didn't say what it meant, so I've had to come up with my own definition.

Which is...

Raditude is the state of mind you attain when you're super-concentrated on something. You stop thinking, and you just get in the zone and you're able to pull off these amazing feats that you wouldn't normally be able to pull off.

And that's how we feel on stage with Weezer every night.

At what point do you snap out of that state?

Right when you walk off stage. I very quickly regain a feeling of normalcy and equanimity. I take shower and then I hang out with my wife and watch TV. It's like the gig never happened.

The Girl Got Hot is one of the stand-out tracks on the album. What's the story behind that?

I had recently been to my high school reunion and there was this beautiful woman there who I didn't recognise. It took me a minute, and then I realised she was this girl who, back in school, no-one really paid attention to. But over the intervening years, she's really blossomed and became the most beautiful girl in the room. It seemed like a good subject for a song.

Does she know you've written this track about her?

I've never told her, but she may have heard it by now! I don't think she'd be able to recognise I was talking about her just from the lyrics, though. I should tell her.

The band have become notorious for their quirky outifts and videos

What can you tell me about the single, If You're Wondering If I Want You To (I Want You To).

That song was also inspired by a situation in my life. I was attracted to somebody but I wasn't confident enough to make the first move, so I wanted them to do it. It's just about that extremely awkward moment when you're not sure what the other person is thinking.

In the video - you get to hit your drummer Patrick with a truck. Have you ever considered doing that for real?

This being a band of men that have been together for 17 years, yes, we have had our moments where we want to run each other over with trucks. But luckily we get to act out our frustrations in fantasy form in a video.

You have said the video is "set in Weezertown". What's life like there?

Weezertown is a great place to be. It's populated entirely by men and we don't have any real troubles, no girl troubles, we're just hanging out, driving around in our trucks, going to the barber shop and singing.

Who is the mayor of Weezertown?

I think I am the mayor.

Which public holidays will you be instigating with your new-found powers?

It kind of feels like everyday is a holiday in Weezertown. We're just hanging out and doing what we want to do.

Raditude is out now on on DGC / Interscope Records.