On Friday, June 16, Weezer crashes back into Cuyahoga County for its Indie Rock Road Trip tour, a veritable showcase of alternative greatness featuring Modest Mouse and Momma.
Fans of the band know bassist Scott Shriner as an Ohio native who moved to Los Angeles years ago, but close friends and family know Shriner loves returning home, especially for the pizza he grew up with around Toledo.
“I first took my wife there before we were married,” he recalls. “I think I made her go to like five different pizza places.”
Ahead of Weezer’s show on Sunday we caught up with Shriner for a quick chat about coming back to Ohio, a stacked late-spring tour and, of course, food.
Cleveland Magazine: Weezer comes through Cleveland fairly often, performing at Blossom with the Pixies right before the pandemic. What is it like coming back to Ohio for you? Plenty of locals love to bring it up.
Scott Shriner: I love talking about it! It feels like a kind of homecoming for me. Just the landscape and the trees. That amphitheater we're playing in is one of my favorite ones in the country. I see my family. I wish we were doing a few more stops. Sometimes we do Columbus, and we've done Cincinnati. I love me some Ohio.
CM: What’s the move when you’re back in town?
SS: I grew up in Toledo. There's like 10 restaurants that I still hold with very high regard. I don't know how many of them are still around or not, but [my fun] mostly revolves around food.
When I first took my wife there, before we were married, I think I made her go to like five different pizza places. And they're all really different from each other, too. So that's why I had to go to five different ones because there’s night and day difference between the different spots. Ohioans wind up being good at Pizza — how did that happen?
CM: How often were you making the trip to Cleveland back in the day?
SS: We would go to Cedar Point a lot, that's kind of on the way to Cleveland. It was my favorite place in the world — before I got to Disneyland, I mean — both for rides and stuff. Cedar Point is what I would look forward to all year round. There was a ride that terrified me, man, that drag strip racer ride. I wouldn't even go on that. I think they tore it down.
CM: You’re coming back through Ohio on a pretty stacked tour alongside bands you’ve known for a while. What brought this all together?
SS: I don't think we've done a headline tour in quite a while. We did that co-headlining thing with the Pixies. But, man, to be headlining and not playing a bunch of cover songs like we do at some of these festivals — to play a good, strong 90-minute Weezer set — we just haven't done it in a long time. And we're going to be playing some songs that we haven't ever done on tour and just barely started trying to do live. And it's going to be like nothing we've done before, so I think I may be more excited about this tour than any tour I've done besides, obviously, my first couple when I was walking around with my jaw hanging open all time.
CM: Can fans expect a few new jams, possibly from the recent string of seasonal EPs?
SS: There is a song out there that we haven't done. And it's a fast one. And kind of a good getting towards the end [of the show]. It's musically challenging, a bit physically challenging. It's going to be exciting, man. And I really like being challenged and pushed.
CM: With such a large discography built over the decades, how does Weezer balance a setlist on a tour like this?
SS: We did a couple of small club shows out here in the Los Angeles area. … We were kind of looking toward the audience to see what was working and what wasn't working. So, we'd learned another 15 or 20 songs that we could play at any given time that we don't normally play. And I think Rivers might actually ask people on his discord what they'd be most excited about hearing, you know. So, yeah, it is a little bit of a journey to try to figure out what's going to work the best.
CM: Did any fan suggestions surprise you at all?
SS: I'd say older obscure stuff, but not overly complicated. We've been doing “Blast Off!” It's really fun, really kind of simple. We all get to sing a couple of lines in it. Just so cool.
CM: Awesome, thank you for taking the time to chat with us.
SS: Nice talking to you, man, I’ll see you soon.
Listen for that “Blast Off!” and maybe a few more obscure hits when Weezer rocks into Blossom Music Center this Friday. Tickets are still on sale through Live Nation and you’ll want to get there early for Modest Mouse and Momma.
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