Icon vs. Icon

Influential multi-platinum, Grammy® winning alternative rock band Weezer have announced plans to release a new studio album entitled Hurley this September 14th on Epitaph Records.  Starting today, fans are invited to pre-order the physical album now at EpitaphStore.com or on Amazon.com.  The album’s first single, “Memories,” can be streamed now atMySpace.com/Weezer and purchased on iTunes.

Innovative rockers Weezer have inked a deal with leading independent label Epitaph Records signaling the next phase of their acclaimed career and the return to their indie roots with a highly personal and sonically exploratory album guaranteed to delight their fans.

“So far we’ve had a really good creative collaboration with Brett Gurewitz and the other people at the label, and I’m looking forward to collaboration with other like-minded alternative music fans at the label,” Rivers Cuomo recently shared with Los Angeles Times.

“I’ve been a fan of Weezer from the beginning, and I’ve loved all their records,” says Epitaph president and founder Gurewitz.  “So it’s amazing to find myself working with them on the new one!”

“Weezer is a great band,” adds labelmate and Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong.  “I’m stoked they’re going to be part of the Epitaph family.”

Produced by Cuomo and Shawn Everett (Raditude, Phantom Planet, Ozomatli), Hurley is a high-energy rock album that wastes no time with the first single “Memories,” an impassioned look at nostalgia with fast tempo, buzzing guitar riffs and killer hooky chorus. Subsequent songs include soon to be fan favorites “Ruling Me,” “Trainwrecks,” “Hang On” and “Brave New World.” Rivers picks up the acoustic guitar on the reinvented power ballad “Unspoken” and the raw Sixties influenced, Mac Davis co-written “Time Flies.” The classic Weezer sound is reignited with songs like “Smart Girls,” “Run Away” and the quirky “Where’s My Sex?”  Fueled by a newfound sense of independence, Hurley finds the band making some of the most powerful and adventuresome music of their storied career.

“We all felt that the really intense, raw emotional side of Weezer is what’s going to make everyone the happiest at this moment,” Cuomo told Los Angeles Times.

“Weezer’s become a totally kick ass live band, and when we were making Hurley you could just hear the sound of people going into the studio, pressing ‘Record’ and rocking,” Cuomo says. “There’s just an insane amount of energy on songs like ‘Where’s My Sex’ or ‘Memories.’” (SPIN.com)

Known for their quirky album artwork, Weezer have done it yet again.  The cover features a simple, yet astonishing close-up of actor Jorge Garcia, which fans of the “Lost” series will no-doubt find as perplexing as fascinating.

“We struggled super hard trying to come up with an album title, trying to find some kind of phrase that summed up the whole aesthetic behind the album: ‘Heavy Mental,’ ‘Smaller Than Life,’” Cuomo recently told Spinner.com.  “I was coming up with all kinds of stuff, but ultimately, we just went with some random word that doesn’t really have anything to do with anything.  I just loved this photo of Jorge Garcia — it just had this amazing vibe.  We didn’t want to do a fourth self-titled record and we knew people would refer to it as ‘the Hurley record’ even if left it without that title, so we just called it ‘Hurley.’  No words are on the cover because all we wanted was his amazing face.”

This fall marks a new album and new beginnings for one of the most accomplished and genre defining modern rock bands.  Stay tuned to www.weezer.com and www.epitaph.com for up-to-date news and information about Hurley and the band’s soon to be announced fall tour.

Hurley Track Listing (Standard Edition):
1. Memories – 3:16
2. Ruling Me – 3:30
3. Trainwrecks – 3:21
4. Unspoken – 3:01
5. Where’s My Sex? – 3:28
6. Run Away – 2:55
7. Hang On – 3:33
8. Smart Girls – 3:11
9. Brave New World – 3:57
10. Time Flies – 4:04

Hurley Track Listing (Deluxe Edition):
1. Memories – 3:16
2. Ruling Me – 3:30
3. Trainwrecks – 3:21
4. Unspoken – 3:01
5. Where’s My Sex? – 3:28
6. Run Away – 2:55
7. Hang On – 3:33
8. Smart Girls – 3:11
9. Brave New World – 3:57
10. Time Flies – 4:04
11. All My Friends Are Insects – 1:53
12. Viva La Vida – 4:06
13. I Want To Be Something – 2:56
14. Represent – 4:13

Weezer Tour Dates:
8/14 – Council Bluffs, IA – Westfair Amphitheater
8/15 – Commerce City, CO – Mile High Music Festival
8/21 – Del Mar, CA – Del Mar Raceway
9/1 – Allentown, PA – The Great Allentown Fair
9/2 – Essex Junction, VT – Champlain Valley Exposition
9/4 – Edmonton, AB – Sonic Boom Festival
9/5 – Seattle, WA – Bumbershoot Festival

The New Orleans-based Voodoo Experience has announced it’s lineup for 2010. Muse and Ozzy Osbourne will headline the festivities which are set to run from October 29th to October 31st at New Orlean’s City Park. Other noteworthy acts include Weezer, MGMT, Drake, Interpol, Hot Chip, Metric, Deadmau5, Florence and the Machine, Janelle Monáe, Jónsi, Street Sweeper Social Club, Jakob Dylan and Three Legs, Eagles of Death Metal, Minus the Bear, and Galactic.

Also scheduled to perform are Buckwheat Zydeco, Eli “Paperboy” Reed, The Airborne Toxic Event, Raphael Saadiq, Afrojack, Die Antwoord, Crookers, Innerpartysystem, Trombone Shory & Orleans Avenue, Toubab Krewe, George Porter, Jr. and his Runnin’ Pardners, Rebirth Brass Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights, and Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars.

Three-day General Admission passes, priced at $150, and 3-Day LOA Lounge VIP, priced at $500, will go on sale starting at 7 AM EST. In all, over 100 acts will perform during the festival’s three days. Visit www.thevoodooexperience.com for a complete listing of the current lineup.

The Voodoo Experience was launched in 1999 by Stephen Rehage and is still produced by his company, Rehage Entertainment. Rehage Entertainment also produces the Essence Music Festival in the Superdome over the July 4th weekend.

Linkin Park is releasing a special video for “Not Alone,” the song they wrote and recorded specifically for Download To Donate To Haiti, a star-studded recovery effort launched to aid the nation of Haiti following the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince on January 12th. The stunning video features studio performance footage interspersed with stark images of the Haitian devastation. The clip is being premiered exclusively at www.myspacemusic.com beginning today.

Launched by Music For Relief, a non-profit founded by Linkin Park, Download To Donate To Haitiprovides fans with the opportunity to download a collection of exclusive songs by their favorite artists and then donate funds on a purely voluntary basis. Each download is a donation. Fans can download the unreleased songs at www.musicforrelief.org and via the websites of each participating artist.

Jack Johnson, Weezer, The Crystal Method and Metric are among the latest artists to donate never-before-released songs to the cause.

“The people of Haiti are going to need our help for many years to come,” says Johnson. “I hope that through the music and message of Download to Donate for Haiti we can continue to strengthen the recovery effort.”

“Like so many other artists, The Crystal Method was deeply saddened by the earthquake and loss in Haiti ,” says Crystal Method’s Ken Jordan. “Everyone is looking for something to do to help. We’re proud to give this track to Music for Relief in hopes that this project will help to raise much needed funds for the relief and rebuilding efforts in Haiti .”

“We’re happy to help in our small way the tough situation in Haiti ,” says Weezer drummer Pat Wilson.

Within days of the disaster, Music For Relief quickly organized the Download To Donate To Haitiinitiative and received exclusive tracks from Alanis Morissette, The All-American Rejects, Dave Matthews Band, Enrique Iglesias, Hoobastank, Kenna (track co-produced by Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda and The Neptunes’ Chad Hugo), Linkin Park, Lupe Fiasco/Kenna (collaboration produced by Mike Shinoda) and Slash to help raise funds and promote awareness of the recovery efforts. Shepard Fairey’s Studio Number One created and donated artwork for the project.

One of the most unique aspects of Download To Donate To Haiti is its community element. On musicforrelief.org, songs are downloaded via an embeddable widget; fans are encouraged to embed the widget on their own social network pages to help spread the word.

“We ask that everyone donate, but if all you can afford is to spread the word, embed the widget, share it on Facebook, Twitter, whatever, then that’ll be good enough,” says Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda. “It all helps.”

LINKIN PARK – “Not Alone”

Linkin Park | MySpace Music Videos

The current track listing for Download To Donate To Haiti is as follows:

1. Not Alone – Linkin Park

2. Mother Maria (featuring Beth Hart) – Slash

3. Never Let Me Down (produced by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes) – Kenna

4. Butterfly – Weezer featuring Allison Allport on Harp

5. Still (Acoustic, Vancouver Sessions) – Alanis Morissette

6. Resurrection – Lupe Fiasco and Kenna

7. We Are One – Hoobastank

8. The Wind Blows (Skillrex Remix) – The All-American Rejects

9. It Must Be Love – Enrique Iglesias

10. Typical Situation (live) – Dave Matthews Band

11. Slipstream (Slimmed Down Mix) -The Crystal Method featuring Jason Lytle

12. Gold Guns Girls (Mike Shinoda Remix) – Metric

13. Times Like These (Live From Red Rocks) – Jack Johnson

100% of funds received will go directly to the Haiti efforts. In partnership with the UN Foundation’s Help the UN Help Haiti fund, Habitat for Humanity, and Dave Matthews BAMA Works Haitian relief efforts, Music for Relief is working to support immediate relief with food, water and emergency medical supplies as well as long-term sustainable housing solutions for the people affected by this catastrophic natural disaster.

About Music for Relief: Founded by two-time Grammy winning/multiplatinum rock band Linkin Park, Music for Relief is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing aid to victims of natural disasters and the prevention of such disasters. Since its inception in 2005, Music for Relief has raised over $3 million for victims of multiple disasters across four continents including the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, hurricanes Katrina and Rita, wildfires in Southern California & Victoria Australia, China’s Wenchuan earthquake, and a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe. Music for Relief also supports environmental programs to help in prevention and mitigation of future natural disasters such as the Send Dirt campaign for wetlands protection and restoration and the Million Tree Project in China ‘s Inner Mongolia Desert . MFR has organized a benefit concert featuring multiplatinum artists, sent musicians and volunteers to Southeast Asia and the U.S. Gulf Coast to help rebuild and donate supplies to people in need, and planted over 810,000 trees to help reduce global warming. For more information visit www.musicforrelief.org.