Various Artists
“Weezer Tribute”
(Dead Droid Records)
A tribute to a band who not only ISN’T dead, but had recently released an album is both absurd and insulting. That said, these are some fine, fine Weezer covers, which tells me one of two things: either these bands are extremely talented, or Weezer is an easy band to mimic. It’s actually hard to say, because a good chunk of these bands are established, proven acts with good fucking songs. I’ll go over the album in one long, but informative sentence: Affinity add’s a hardcore pinch to “My Name is Jonas”, Piebald offers a bland imitation of “No One Else”, Glasseater gets emopop on “Holiday”, Grade pretty much does their style of music, with shouted raspy vocals and “Hum meets hardcore” on “Surf Wax America”, Further Seems Forever adds some piano and removes the feedback on a otherwise good cover of “Say It Ain’t So”, Aarron Todhovich and Christopher John turn “The World has Turned and Left Me Here” into a shitty Coldplay-sounding melody, Midtown takes on “Suzanne” with a similar take and succeeds, “Jamie” gets a very acoustic touch by Dashboard Confessional which, although I hate to admit, is pretty good, The Stereo completely fucks up “El Scorcho,” a wishy-washy attempt at “Tired of Sex” is performed by Mycomplex, Impossibles try to be creative by adding a cool electronic sounding drum and a few cool vocal additions to “The Good Life” but it just doesnt fit, some indie rock flava starts out “Only in Dreams” on a cool tip but Mack Orange’s chopped and misplaced vocals ruin it, and the Ataris finish off the album with a slow but sweet “Butterfly.” Very mixed attempts on this album, so in the end, purchasing this album comes down to a matter of devotion. Is this something your into? Most likely, Weezer fans will scamper in the other direction while fans of bands on this compIlation but unfamiliar with Weezer’s songs may enjoy hearing their favorite group stray from their usual sound. I am a Weezer fan.
