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Weezer have used their last-minute appearance at Coachella to reveal to fans that the band are currently working on a movie.
The Los Angeles rockers were added to the Saturday (April 12) lineup of the festival’s first weekend, joining the bill following cancellations from FKA Twigs and Anitta due to “ongoing visa issues” and “unexpected personal reasons,” respectively. Ed Sheeran was also added to the festival, though he will appear on the second weekend, performing on Saturday afternoon (April 19).
Appearing just days after the wife of bassist Scott Shriner sustained non-life-threatening injuries during a bizarre run-in with Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers that ended in a dramatic shootout, the group’s 12-song set featured no material released past 2008. However, just before performing 1994’s “Undone – The Sweater Song,” frontman Rivers Cuomo revealed the band have been active in the world of film lately.
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“We’ve been busy making the Weezer movie back in LA the last couple weeks,” Cuomo told the crowd. “But when Coachella called us up, said, ‘Hey Weezer, could you guys make it out for a surprise appearance?,’ we’re like, ‘Heck yeah!’ It feels so good to be here with you guys and let out these emotions.”
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According to further information shared by fans online, members of the Weezer fan club had received correspondence alerting them that the band would be “doing a private filmed merchandise signing for a select few fans, for a TBA video.” Additionally, it was noted that “selected participants will need to sign a release and NDA prior to arriving,” with a shoot date of April 21 being mentioned.
Elsewhere, fans on X (formerly Twitter) had also shared a photo of a “Notice of Filming” that had appeared in Los Angeles for a scripted feature film. The film, which listed a title of Weezer: Security Threat, also named Watch Me Unravel LLC as the production company (which adopted its moniker from a lyric in “Undone – The Sweater Song”), and alerted those in attendance that that the three day shoot from April 7-9 would feature “simulated bullet effects,” “atmospheric smoke,” and more.
While few details have been officially released by Weezer, it makes them the third Californian band to be the focus of an off-kilter film project in recent years. While Stockton’s Pavement are set to be the focus of the genre-defying Pavements from director Alex Ross Perry, Rodeo trio Green Day are in the process of filming New Years Rev, which is inspired by the group and their years of living in a tour van.
In an age where cult indie band Pavement could become one of the biggest hits of TikTok, it only makes sense that their life and history receive the big screen treatment. Now, we can see the trailer for this ambitious undertaking.
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Pavement played what is ostensibly their final performance back in October, as part of the New York premiere of Alex Ross Perry‘s experimental biopic/documentary, Pavements. The film has been in the works for some time now, with its roots tracing back to Perry’s 2022 production, Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical.
However, those hoping for a biopic in the style of the recent A Complete Unknown will be disappointed, with the film taking on an approach as avant-garde as Pavement’s music often was. Perry referred to the film in 2022 as a “semiotic experiment,” and reviews of its 2024 premiere have since seen it referred to as equal parts, documentary, mockumentary, biopic, musical, and a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette.
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In keeping with the unique focus of the wider film, a trailer has now been shared for the film-within-a-film biopic, Range Life: A Pavement Story. Presented by the fictitious Paragon Vantage, and soundtracked by Pavements’ own songs “Here” and “Shady Lane,” the trailer stars Stranger Things’ Joe Keery as frontman Stephen Malkmus as it focuses on the band as they grapple with success, record label intrusion, and their infamous 1995 mud-laden appearance at Lollapalooza.
“Progress is predictable and predictability involves science. I want nothing to do with science,” notes Keery as he lifts directly from Malkmus’ own words. “This is music — if it’s fun, it’s fun, if it’s work, it’s work, and that’s not fun.”
The trailer also features Nat Wolff as Scott ‘Spiral Stairs’ Kannberg, Fred Hechinger as Bob Nastanovich, Logan Miller as Mark Ibold, Griffin Newman as Steve West, and Jason Schwartzman as Matador Records’ Chris Lombardi.
Pavements is scheduled for release later in 2025, though a specific date has not yet been announced.
In real life, the California band were initially active from 1989 until 1999, releasing a total of five albums, including 1992’s Slanted and Enchanted, 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and 1997’s Brighten the Corners, which gave the group their highest-charting U.S. release when it hit No. 70 on the Billboard 200.
The group initially split in November 1999, with the previous month’s Major Leagues EP serving as their final piece of original material. Since then, the band’s members have been intensely active on other projects, including a run of reissues that complemented their original albums with a myriad unreleased and rare tracks.
In December, Kannberg revealed in an interview with the Kreative Kontrol podcast that the Pavements soundtrack will also feature the first new song from the band in more than 25 years.
“There will be a new Pavement song on the soundtrack, that’s all I’m going to give you,” he explained. “I just heard a mix of it today, and it’s pretty good. It’s not a big deal, it’s just cool because it’s something different and it’s a song that we all kind of loved playing.”
Fans of indie rock icons Pavement are readying themselves for the first piece of new music from the band in a quarter of a century.
The California band were initially active from 1989 until 1999, releasing a total of five albums, including 1992’s Slanted and Enchanted, 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and 1997’s Brighten the Corners, which gave the group their highest-charting U.S. release when it hit No. 70 on the Billboard 200.
The group initially split in November 1999, with the previous month’s Major Leagues EP serving as their final piece of original material. Since then, the band’s members have been intensely active on other projects, including a run of reissues that complemented their original albums with a myriad unreleased and rare tracks.
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While Pavement reconvened for a reunion tour in 2010, another hiatus occurred before announcing their second reunion in 2019. These dates were delayed until 2022, with the band’s most recent (and ostensibly final) performance taking place in October of this year as part of the New York premiere of Alex Ross Perry‘s experimental biopic/documentary, Pavements.
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Initially premiering at the Venice International Film Festival in September, Pavements is readying itself for a wider release with a movie soundtrack also set to accompany its arrival.
In an interview with the Kreative Kontrol podcast, Pavement’s Scott ‘Spiral Stairs’ Kannberg spoke to host Vish Khanna alongside Perry and producer/editor Robert Greene about the film before turning his attention to the upcoming soundtrack. When asked about current Pavement activity and the band’s future, Kannberg explained that a new track from the band will also be featured.
“There will be a new Pavement song on the soundtrack, that’s all I’m going to give you,” he explained. “I just heard a mix of it today, and it’s pretty good. It’s not a big deal, it’s just cool because it’s something different and it’s a song that we all kind of loved playing.”
According to Kannberg, the as-yet-unnamed track began life during reharsals of the band’s recent reunion, though previous setlists indicate it didn’t receive a performance during any of those shows.
Currently, the official status of Pavement is unclear, with their recent New York performance seeing percussionist/vocalist Bob Nastanovich telling the crowd it would be their “last show for a long time”. That same month, vocalist and guitarist Stephen Malkmus began live performances as one quarter of the indie supergroup The Hard Quartet alongside members of Chavez and the Dirty Three.
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