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Discussing the sound of Van Weezer, frontman Rivers Cuomo explained in a press release last year, “The inspiration came from our live shows, where, in the middle of Beverly Hills, unlike on the album, everything stops and I just break out with this crazy guitar solo. We noticed that, recently, the crowd just goes crazy when I do that. So it feels like maybe the audience is ready for some shredding again.”
“I just like one idea to the next and I forget what I was into last year,” the frontman elaborated to Zane Lowe on his Beats 1 show of how Van Weezer differs so drastically from last year's Teal and Black albums. “And then I guess it maybe it’s from one extreme to the other… so last album we didn’t have any guitars, this one is just all guitars. A hundred guitars. This is all from playing shows, and we just noticed over the last few years there’d be these moments during the show where I’d accidentally bust out a few harmonics or a whammy bar dive or a little tapping just because I can’t control myself.
“It’s been a while since I busted the [harmonics] out. Like since the ’80s, probably. I think you could walk into any Guitar Center around the country and hear a ton of those harmonics.”
Watch the video for Hero below: