Weezer bassist says band pleased fans still passionate

When a band releases a new album, the promotional interviews are typically engineered for the artist (or artists) to get folks excited enough to purchase or stream it. That does not hold true when talking to a member of Weezer.

On March 1, Weezer released the "Black Album," its 13th LP. "Black Album" is unlike any other work in the group's oeuvre, marked by more overtly poppy hooks, synth textures and preprogrammed beats. It's largely devoid of the big, crunchy guitars that first brought them to prominence 25 years ago. And much like everything Weezer has done this millennium, it's prompted a polarizing response from a fan base that's hypercritical of everything the band has done since ditching the angsty introspection of its first two albums in the mid-'90s.

Bassist Scott Shriner, who joined the band in 2001 and has played on the vast majority of their releases, is acutely aware of the fact that Weezer's creative detours have often been met with fan disapproval and has learned to tune out the criticisms. The trick to accomplishing that? Making the recording process about following their impulses and not the whims of their existing and potential audience.

"I guess at this point, we're pretty much thinking about ourselves when we record," Shriner said. "We've gone through so many phases of how we do things and had different results, there's been some heartaches in the past, some disappointments.

"I think we've disappointed enough people for so long, we don't worry about whether someone likes it," he continued. "It could be a defense mechanism, but once an album comes out we're on to the next thing, we're already excited about the next project."

If anyone knows a bit about learning to shrug off fan reaction, it's Shriner. His replacement of Weezer co-founder Matt Sharp, who left in 1998, is still a point of contention...