Weezer says Eddie Van Halen's influence is all over next LP 'Van Weezer'

Less than a week after the highly-anticipated release of Weezer's 14th studio album OK Human, the band is already looking ahead to its next LP, slated to arrive this May.

Weezer announced both OK Human and its follow-up, Van Weezer, in early-2019. Frontman Rivers Cuomo explained at the time (during the band's iHeartRadio album release party for its Black Album) that after several years without a release, Weezer was flooded with new ideas.

With a major arena/stadium tour plotted for 2020, Weezer wanted to have a new album full of fresh riffs ready to take on the road. That tour is the 'Hella Mega' tour with Green Day and Fall Out Boy. That album is Van Weezer.

Cuomo said at the time that the album was inspired by Kiss, Black Sabbath, Metallica and of course Van Halen. He lamented in a recent conversation with The Strombo Show that the tribute is sincere and it's a shame Eddie Van Halen didn't live to hear it.

"I guess for us, just from a self-centered perspective ... we're disappointed," Cuomo said. "It would have been cool if he could have heard the record. And I don't know if it would have meant anything to him. But he could have seen his influence bearing fruit decades later and in this modern record of 2021.

"I don't know if it would have meant anything to him, but it would have been cool for us."

After learning of Eddie's death this past October, Weezer announced that Van Weezer would be dedicated to the late-music icon "as a thank you for all the incredible music that soundtracked our youth and inspired the record. RIP EVH."

Given the band's imperative to showcase Van Weezer live on the 'Hella Mega' tour, Weezer opted to delay the release of both albums until a time when touring appeared more likely.

Cuomo told NME in another recent interview that he's been told repeatedly by management that the tour will happen. The first North American dates are scheduled for this July.

You can watch the band's crowd-sourced music video for Van Weezer's "Hero" via the player below.

This article was first published on iheart.com and is republished here with permission