Weezer bassist Scott Shriner discussed joining Weezer in a new Gigcity.ca interview. He said he did not hit it off with frontman Rivers Cuomo.
“No, we did not hit it off,” Shriner says. “Rivers wouldn’t even look at me. He was showing me the songs with his back turned to me. They weren’t there to make friends with me. Musically we gelled pretty well. I came in looking like a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang. I didn’t look the part. But I was very much a fan. Can we do this song? Can we do this song? And they were like, ‘ugh, please, kid, cut it out.’ It was funny.”
It was soon announced that Welsh was leaving Weezer for good (he died of a suspected drug overdose in 2011). Shriner wound up filling in for more than a minute, both in the studio and on tour. Together, they would continue to tread the line between earnest and ironic, crafting easy breezy beautiful hit songs like Beverly Hills, Weezer’s biggest hit to date, along with Pork and Beans, and more recently Thank God for Girls. It’s still hard to know how silly or serious they are, how much they’re playing off the nerd image, but they obviously make a connection. Shriner credits Cuomo for his “deep and interesting personality, and heart.” And yes, Rivers did eventually make eye contact with his new bandmate. They hit it off.
Shriner says, “Yeah, now it’s a marriage. We’re married and we’re also doing business together. I’ll tell you one thing: I am the last change that will be made. I’m the last bass player Weezer’s going to have, that’s for sure. I’m down for the cause.”
