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Weezer's Rivers Cuomo: "How can I marry rock with hip-hop?"

The inside story on Weezer's new album Raditude

Joe Bosso, Mon 19 Oct 2009, 4:00 pm UTC

Weezer's Rivers Cuomo: 'How can I marry my rock with hip-hop?'

Rivers Cuomo is mighty stoked about Raditude (© Reuters/CORBIS)

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"We don't know. It's hard to say anything is permanent in Weezer world. Right now, our drummer, Pat Wilson, is excited to play guitar, so we're excited to have Josh. It's hard to say where things will go."

What was the evolution of Pat moving away from the drums, and is that something you encouraged?

"Yeah, we don't like to rest on our laurels in Weezer. We kind of look inward and say, 'OK, what do we want to do now? What would make the band better?' Pat's been playing the guitar a lot backstage over the years and he's gotten really great at it.

"He's a musical guy and he has so many ideas. We talked about it, and as it turns out, I've been wanting to put the guitar down a little more and run around the stage like David Lee Roth [laughs], so it's worked out well."

Aside from being an all-around amazing drummer, what specifically does Josh Freese bring to Weezer?

"He's just so solid and dependable. The guy hits hard but he has excellent taste. Plus, he's a fun guy. He smiles a lot - I like that. He's just a fantastic guy to have around."

"The combination of me, Jermaine Dupri and Lil Wayne worked beautifully. We came up with something none of us would have come up on our own" Cuomo on the hip-hop track, Can't Stop Partying

You mentioned your Les Paul Jr and how much you love it. What amps did you use on the record?

"Modified Marshalls. Sometimes I use Diezels. That's pretty much it."

On the song Can't Stop Partying, you work with the rapper Lil Wayne. How did that come about?

"That was a real interesting challenge. I wrote it with Jermaine Dupri. The whole idea was, 'How can I take my rock guitar approach and marry it with hip-hop?' The combination of me, Jermaine Dupri and Lil Wayne worked beautifully. We came up with something none of us would have come up on our own. It's probably my favorite song on the album."

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