Inside the Voodoo, where the stage has been totally revamped since the last
time I saw a show there, which was admittedly over a year ago, a frisky quartet
called the Weegs had commandeered the room, unleashing an overpowering nebula
of new wave-y rock with off-kilter disco beats. (Beth Lisick).
http://www.sfgate.com/
May 28, 2003
Tip sheet: Shows to watch out for in July
The Weegs - Hot to record after catching many an ear at the Mission Creek Music
Festival, Bay Area band the Weegs make buoyant, abrasive rock with weirdly bouncy
keyboards, plenty of distorted guitar, and antsy vocals. What's not to love?
(Kimberly Chun).
SF Bay Guardian – http://www.sfbg.com/noise/2003-07/x_tipsheet.html
July 2, 2003
Local Live : Lovemakers and the Weegs, Hemlock Tavern, July 12
THE '80S ARE upon us. If it weren't for that era, countless practice spaces
across the bay would be filled with kids standing around in turtlenecks scratching
their heads. Not to say I'm not thankful. If given the chance to choose which
decade would serve as fodder for all of those bands, I'd pick the '80s, the
most varied and playful period I can think of.
The Weegs are obviously on the same page. Dave, Leva, Greg, and Mia share "Weeg"
as their surname and play like a 1981 New York no wave band that could have
been a legend in their own time. In the sweaty, curtained confines of the Hemlock
Tavern, they channeled the Addams family by way of Captain Beefheart, creating
an organ-heavy clamor. Next to their jerkily sexy rendition of Prince's "Controversy,"
the high point of the evening occurred when Dave Weeg assaulted his guitar with
that venerable hipster's club card, the studded belt, summoning that "wall
of noise" everyone likes to talk about. Whether he meant to make a statement
or not, it was crafty. (Anup Pradhan).
SF Bay Guardian - http://www.sfbg.com/37/45/x_local_live.html
August 6, 2003
A newer Bay Area outfit that sounds like they’ve learned the lessons taken
from various obscure 80s post-punk/no-wave outfits quite well without sounding
like they’re trying to jump on a particular train. “Wouldn’t
Last a Weeg” is a particular favorite around this household. Be interesting
to see what they can do on a full-lengther. (David)
Shredding Paper #16
When people think of Oakland, California, several things come to mind. Crime,
drugs, poverty and an omnipresent police force are usually at the top of the
list. Rarely do we reflect on this city as a primordial breeding ground for
some of the most talented artists and creative musicians the San Francisco Bay
Area has to offer. Sure, there’s San Francisco, but the thriving East
Bay music scene has passed it, with Oakland as the quintessential hub. Surprised?
You shouldn’t be. How else could you explain the emergence of Oakland’s
latest no-wave sensation, The Weegs?
OK, so maybe their name isn’t on the tip of everyone’s tongue yet,
but that doesn’t imply they should be overlooked. Numerous bands are severely
underrated when they begin playing to audiences, and sometimes it takes awhile
for a band to gain the recognition it deserves. But Meat the Weegs undoubtedly
has The Weegs enterprising the right course.
Veiled beneath their catchy synth-punk slivers lies an illuminating tapestry
of fiendish fun. Nothing is more bizarre than interweaving fraught yelping with
a low-fidelity sound screen, while setting it to an abruptly deranged dance
beat. This record provokes images of being wide-eyed and hopped up on crank,
desperately clutching at your face, and furiously teetering on a highwire in
stilettos, as you maniacally laugh through gritted teeth.
Keep your balance and don’t look down! The Weegs’ disorienting sound
will give you a jittering case of vertigo that would make John “Scottie”
Ferguson’s acrophobia appear symptomatic of sniveling hypochondria. So
tighten your grip, lest you plummet prematurely. You think you can handle it,
do you? Well, in this precarious environment, my friend, you “Wouldn’t
Last a Weeg.”
This isn’t party music by any stretch of the imagination, but it is damn
good fun! Tracks such as “C-Section,” “MIA,” “Loaves”
and “Ballad of Shitty McCoolie” are highly recommended listening.
(Eli Ellsworth).
Agouti Music - http://www1.agouti.com/bands/weegs/meattheweegs/weegs.asp
2003
It's sad for me to admit but for a long time i haven't had doubt that Europe
is losing against the States, in terms of good "stuff" going on here
and there. Weegs is, in its turn, an excellent example. The band can compare
with formulas like that of Subtronix, the erstwhile (*i think) Vanishing, Condor,
Sixteens, because on the album dominates crude, dominating heavy rumbles, with
the purpose of pushing guitar and bass into the shadows. On the other hand,
Weegs reminds of the Phantom Limbs because it displays a similar fascination
with lunatic melodic motives, and the vocalist bellows with similar style to
Hopeless . Well maybe in sum they're less wild. Weegs compositions are often
narcotic, engaging, "trance-like," sometimes in fact parts manifest
themselves in sonic dissonant "falling-apart" (*i think) with broken
construction of the components. Even then in fact Weegs doesn't scrape on your
nerves, and with interest one listens to their music. So there in their turn
the Americans from whose more distant "careers" I won't take my eyes
off for a moment, and if someday they wanted to play on Old Skull, the road
stands open. (Translated).
http://serpent.pl/cold/listopad2004.html
2004
Weegs are the world At a dance party held by the Weegs, the movements are jerky,
spastic, and wild. The Bay Area four-piece's minimalist no-wave dissonance is
topped off by rhythmic but off-kilter synth and eerie and anxious vocals that
apparently can incite a man dressed in a gorilla suit to attack audience and
band members (as witnessed at the Weegs' Oakland French Fry Factory show). There's
something definitely uncomfortable about this band, but in a way that makes
you want to stick around and find out more. And hopefully the Weegs' ultrahot
hula-hoop dancer will make an appearance. (Sarah Han).
SF Bay Guardian - http://www.sfbg.com/38/40/x_8days.html
6/2004
File under what the fuck... THE WEEGS send me "Meat The Weegs". Experimental
garage rockers who appear to be very well medicated. Pills, thrills and effect
pedals - noisy bits for you to chew on, served raw!
http://nywaste.com/nyw_main/music/StarrTucker/starr_jan05.html
January 2005
This band really plays some crazy punk music. Although The Weegs might be put
in the same corner as bands like Sixteens, Vanishing and The Phantom Limbs,
their music is really different.
On Meat The Weegs you will hear some dark (post-)punk music fused with electronics.
Raw guitar sounds and screamed vocals are combined with electronic rhythms and
melodies.
The songs are mostly rather fast, even neurotic and nervous at times (‘Loaves’
and ‘M.I.A.’). When the band takes a little step back they come
up with crazy disco punk music. Especially ‘Pink Elephant Walk’
is a great track. Somewhat like The Phantom Limbs and The Au Pairs mixed and
some added electronics on top of that.
More and more new bands in the post-punk genre seem to come from the US. The
Weegs is one of them and you can expect to hear from them soon. (MvG).
http://www.funprox.com/reviews/review.asp?show=1273
24-1-2005
This is what it would sound like if your band instruments got possessed &
began to play on their own! Very rigid, disjointed rhythms, post punk vocals,
post-mortem vibe. Check out this new one from the land of the fog. (LD)
AMP - http://65.108.164.40/soundscape_feb_05.html
Something tells me that I've seen a few variations of this cover and album name
before. But there is no denying that the music contained within is really good.
From the first attacking notes of "Intro For Real" you know the rest
is going to be good. Sometimes you "know" that and are disappointed,
but this album stays great all throughout. The vocals that come in with the
the second track "Loaves" only sweeten the deal falling somewhere
between THE MAKE-UP and MUDHONEY but not really sounding inspired by either.
THIS is the kind of band I love to promote the most in No-Fi "Magazine"
or play on No-Fi "Radio". The kind of band that really needs to be
heard despite what the record industry allows you to hear. I guess a simple
way of putting it is to say that this band is punk rock new wave. You want to
scream along with the singer and jump around to the music, perhaps waving your
arms around recklessly knocking off all the drinks from the bar. The oddest
track is the hidden track at the end featuring a computer voice explaining how
Paul McCartney ripped off THE WEEGS shortly before this album was censored and
the band died in a mysterious car accident. There is no background music...and
the computer voice drones on for about 7 minutes. I love it! (Chris Beyond).
No-Fi Magazine - http://www.nofimagazine.com/48musrev.htm
February 2005
This is a beautifully strange album from this Bay Area band, and it fits right
in with the rest of the Hungry Eye repertoire of early ’80s punk, damaged
new wave and death-rock. The Weegs produce a spastic sound that hits all the
right post-punk angles. This is a jarring debut, and though the jerky rhythms
might take some getting used to, by the middle of the album it becomes evident
that something good is going on here. And don’t be fooled by the bad play
on words with the title Meat the Weegs, the photo of a big slab of meat on the
album cover, or the silly song names like “The Ballad Of Shitty McCoolie.”
For all the questionable humour that is thrown in here, this band edges on a
darker side with a style that clashes and cringes, incorporating hints of the
bizarre into their work. This release sets a new standard for the Bay Area scene.
Hopefully the dissonance will continue. (Liz Worth).
Exclaim
http://www.exclaim.ca/index.asp?offset=80&layid=220&navid=1&csid=778&csid1=0&csid2=0&fid1=W&fid2=&fid3=&hiss=
February 07, 2005
Seit den Sixteens weiß ich nun auch was ich bei einem Label wie Hungry
Eye zu erwarten habe. Und ich liege richtig. Auch The Weegs machen so genannten
New Wave - nur hier eben mit echtem Schlagzeug, Gitarren und Bass. Und um es
gleich vorab zu sagen, ich finde dies Scheibe noch eine Tick schrecklicher als
die von den Sixteens. Was mir diese Entscheidung so leicht macht, ist die Tatsache,
dass einer der beiden Sänger wie der Idiot bei den Sugarcubes klingt und
das einfach tierisch nervt. Musikalisch zwar vielseitiger und mit mehr Rummelplatz-Stimmung,
doch deswegen noch lange nicht hörbar. Kommen auch aus dem San Francisco
Dunstkreis von The Vanishing und Konsorten, haben aber wirklich gar nichts wofür
ich mich begeistern kann (außer dem schönen Booklet). Mein Beileid.
(Alvaro Meo).
http://www.brokenviolins.de/reviews/detail342005.asp
4/2005
The Weegs finally grace us with a full-length release. Yeah you can definitely
place them in darkwavepunk scene, though this release reminds one more of a
funhouse at an abandoned carnival, where folks like the Screamers had set up
the décor and all the faces in the mirrors are distorted (amusing, until
you release the figure in front of you is moving its arm while your own arm
is staying still…). Very tasty indeed. (David).
Shredding Paper. 6/05
It seems like more and more people are trying to bring a sense of angularity
to their music these days. Of course, only when that quality comes naturally
and from a deep sense of roots does it equate to any real payoff. The Weegs
are without question one of the bands on the better end of that draw. Their
album Meat The Weegs offers a sonic palate so subtle in its diversity, if you
take your eye off the prize for a second, you may miss some of its treasures.
Blending wave, both no- and new-, with the performance art aesthetic of prime
Residents, the Weegs do a fantastic job integrating all their influences into
a unique sonic identity. Meat The Weegs even has a synthpunk slant at times,
though keys are almost always utilized here as an auxiliary voice. Translation:
if you examine these grooves close enough, there's plenty here for everybody,
and that depth of texture makes this music worthy of many repeat listens. It
all adds up to being a sound very decidedly the Weegs.
Meat The Weegs sports solid songwriting throughout its duration. That said,
those aforementioned moments of synthpunk-esque synergy make for the album's
key standouts. On "Pink Elephant Walk" the band manage to approximate
something in the same ballpark as labelmates Sixteens, keys being a more dominant
voice here than anywhere else on the disc. "M.I.A." sees the Weegs
coming off as an organic version of the Phantom Limbs, any ivory tickling being
mixed so low into the background as to almost not register. Otherwise, this
album showcases the Weegs ability to tapdance a quirky jerky boogaloo all over
your senses, leaning heavily on their Residents-like tendencies. The best of
this material includes the methodical "Petticoat" and the album closer
"Bullets," with its fantastically immediate bassline.
Pigeonholing the Weegs seems like a futile endeavour, which is almost certainly
part of their design. Still, it's safe to say if you're into any of the previously
mentioned bands or styles, Meat The Weegs will prove worthy of your attention.
An awesomely interesting listen and hopefully the first of more to come from
these folks. Recommended.
http://www.geocities.com/houseofsmut/meat_the_weegs.html
7/2005
Reminds one of the no wave, avant punk bands from Subterranean records like
Factrix, Minimal Man, Nervous Gender. I love the minimal drumming, quirky keyboard
rhythms, bursts of noisy guitar, cool song construction, rhythmic punchy vocals.
1st song "Pink Elephant Walk" is best one. Really catchy. "Wouldn't
Last a Weeg" is a pretty tune with a moody Missing Persons/Berlin type
melody… I am somewhat reminded of VSS as well. "Petticoat" is
real manic lines with crazy Pere Ubu-ish whelping... "Fashion Note"
is another good punchy and quirky tune. This band is r.e.commended.
http://reversibleeye.com/zine/reviews/musicrev.html
From the same record company that gave us great releases of Sixteens, The Vanishing
and The Phantom Limbs comes this CD of the Bay Area´s THE WEEGS. THE WEEGS
are friends with the named bands and so it is not too surprising, that they
come from the same musical vault. It is not easy to describe all the influences,
but think about New Wave, think about Rock´n´Roll, think about Punk,
think about Death-Rock and just take the best elements out of it all and you
get an idea about THE WEEGS. The instrumental “Intro For Real”’s
a strange combination of White Stripes-Rock´n´Roll and Germany´s
legendary Kolossale Jugend. The short “Loaves” sounds a bit like
the Phantom Limbs with not so over the top vocals and “Pink Elephant Walk”
is a simple song with lovely distorted guitars. “The Ballad Of Shitty
McCoolie” is a very loud song with desperate Death-Rock singing and Organ
sounds, “Slivery” is darker with Rock influences and “M.I.A.”
is the WEEGS version of a Metal track, with heavy-doomy drums and vocals. “Petticoat”
is another song close to Phantom Limbs, while “Wouldn´t Last A Weeg”
the band´s idea of a Popsong is. “C-Section” and “Suicide”
are more punky and finally we get the rocky “Bullets”. And well,
there is also a Spoken Word piece as hidden track.
THE WEEGS are a crazy mixture of White Stripes, Phantom Limbs, Strokes, Raveonettes,
Jesus And Mary Chain, Foetus and Novotny TV with a lot of power.
I didn´t want to mention “Synth-Punk“”in this review,
but the release info itself talks about Nervous Gender and Factrix, so I can
do it, too.
THE WEEGS are the right band for a small, hot Club on an evening with a LOT
of beer. Brilliant! (Alexander Pohle).
“Meet the Weegs” CD
http://www.backagain.de/wavegoth/weegs.htm
The debut album from San Francisco dissonance pilots the WEEGS. Blending electro
timbres and rock'n'roll riffs with relentless and jerking rhythms, the band
delivers songs with noir-ishly vaudevillian humor and no-wave angst.
http://www.midheaven.com/artists/weegs.html
Though spawned from the same foggy plot of land that begat their friends The
Phantom Limbs, Sixteens, The Vanishing, and Spector Protector, the Weegs' sound
comes from a place more reminiscent of their birthing place. The Bay Area fog
casts its shadow over the mood of their music, yet their darkness is not the
somber earnestness that might color the music of their contemporaries. Instead,
the Weegs inhabit that eerie space at the carnival between the freakshow and
the midway. Their darkness is the gray that falls in the recesses between the
tents at twilight. You can almost hear the laughter of the carnies as they wander
off to get drunk after the whining children and horny teenagers go home in between
the bursts of feedback on the Weeg's debut album "Meat the Weegs,"
out now on Hungry Eye Records.
Sideshow metaphors aside, the Weegs' have often been slapped with the "no-wave"
label. Their jarring dissonance aside, the Weegs don't need an arty, New York
point of reference in order to justify their relentless and jerky rhythms. The
juxtaposition of electro timbres and rock n roll riffs finds a nice Californian
precedent in bands like Minimal Man, Factrix, or Nervous Gender. The noir-ishly
vaudevillian humor is a contribution of their own and plants their carnival
firmly in the present.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/theweegs
Surrounded by the aura of a carnival freak show from hell, electronic timbres
and rock and roll riffs join forces to produce The Weegs' eerie sound. Earnest
burst of screams driven by relentless rhythms put on the finishing touches to
this creepy and rousing record.
DeadAlive Records
http://www.buycrime.com/item_detail_page.php?item_id=3849&item_detail=true
The Bay Area has done it again. These guys are really out there!!! Don't believe
it? OK then, before continuing to read the review go to their website and look
at some of their photos. Done? Good. OK then: if music can be also madness at
it's purest state, welcome, because this does not have a single tone! (I don't
think i understand that sentence-maybe it has slang in it). Coming from the
same family that has spawned in the world the germs of the Vanishing, Phantom
Limbs, Sixteens and company, these Weegs, like their brothers, are great! About
the very complicated cover, as simple as it is illegible (there are the titles
of the
pieces, you must alone figure out the order), ours distinguishes itself by a
style truly without barriers of any kind, from brilliant walls of sound separated
by (or maybe punctuated by) little idiotic keyboards over danceable rhythms
and grating voices that come from out of nowhere.
Take the Phantom Limbs and mix them with the Sixteens, and that will give you
an idea of what this is like. Really, repeated and prolongued listening to this
CD could seriously damage your mental integrity, (or maybe they mean "sanity").
Because if the No-Wave was one of the best things of the early 1980's in America,
here the same comes deconstructed and put in proper pieces like the meat represented
in the photos on the back of the CD. In the press release it is mentioned in
the "Factrix" how possibile combination and assures you that, for
one time, the performance (or presentation) is not "exagerrated,"
therefore...One can not remain indifferent in the face of the pure hypnotic
gems like "The Ballad of Shitty McCoolie" or to the bouyant "Pink
Elephant Walk" or...in short you can't get out alive! (Translated by Liza
Cardinale).
http://www.erbadellastrega.it/letture/dischi04.html
What is this? Unmerciful screaming sounds, uneven rhythms, with electro
sounds mixed with rock'n roll. The debut of The Weegs from San Francisco is
pushing the No-Wave scene a big step further. From rolling rock'n roll to kinda
like doom-area Killing Joke with a "sick, yelling" singer. I read
that they have pretty crazy parties, especially if the singer is wearing a gorilla
costume. Their live act is described as a "carnival freak show from hell".
I played their debut CD "Meat the Weegs" in a pretty empty pub, yesterday
and the last people left tried to kill me. But the scene will celebrate them
since label mates and friends The
Vanishing established this style already in Berlin. We're happy to welcome them
in our family.... (Oliver Shuntrock/translated by Arne Maibohm).
http://www.dorfdisco.de/cds/2005/cd205.phtml
A relativly new New Yorker label, a still young band from San Francisco: "Meat
the Weegs" is the debut of a group with eleven members. Only four of them
play on stage while the others, using in good tradition, the last name "Weeg"
support with website, make-up, equipment and graphics. Together with bands like
The Vanishing, Phantom Limbs or Sixteens, the Weegs are a part of the self willed
bay area music scene, that doesn't give a shit about Dance-Punk/Wave or classic
Punk Rock.
They put together a very odd, hectic music based on a uneven beat changing into
a slow and punishing melody. It's more sounding like they would rape the keyboard
but make a nice melody. The whole thing sounds like a trashy version of The
Vaint or Rapture without loosing a serious touch. Also very self willing singing:
snarling and also reminds at noise rock or the attempt to sing while sitting
in a cart driving on cobblestone pavement. Definitly very interesting and entertaining.
If you like LOST SOUNDS you'd better be fast to get the Weegs for a
concert. (Joachim Hiller/ translated by Arne Maibohm).
OxFanzine – http://www.triggerfish.de/ox/home.cfm?p=3336&rid=41116
Totally crazy, freaked out mixture of dark death punk, late 70's rock, early
80's post-punk and No Wave. The Weegs from Oakland are kinda Vanishing, Phantom
Limbs or Sixteens, but they're more like the lo-fi or trashy version of it.
A cheap keyboard, weird singing, noisy guitars and a cut of rhythms and melodies.
It would match to every Dario Argento soundtrack. Awesome band but not easy
to listen to. (Translated by Arne Maibohm).
Green Hell -http://www.greenhell.de/cheapos/detail_11764.html?page=1&searchstring=weegs&bezeichnung=band_album&searchmediatype=-1&listcount=15
Omslagsbilden föreställer ett ordentligt stycke utkarvat kött.
Bläddrar man upp utviket får man se de fyra bandmedlemmarna sitta
med köttslamsor och styckade babydockor i knät. Musiken är lika
perverterat arty och svårdefinierbar som konvolutet.
Weegs kommer från thrashhårdrockens Bay Area men musiken har absolut
inget med hårdrock att göra. I mitt tycke påminner de snarare
om No Wave-scenen i New York under slutet av 70- och första hälften
av 80-talet. Samt inte minst om galenskaparna i Ohio-bandet Pere Ubu. Det handlar
således om rätt skum, småkaotisk och allt annat än vacker
musik. Dave och Greg Weeg (samtliga i gruppen kallar sig – föga originellt
längre – för Weeg i efternamn) sjunger för jävla illa,
precis som Pere Ubu´s David Thomas och det är meningen att det ska
vara så. De märkliga, många gånger disharmoniska låtarna
är spretiga, studsiga, emellanåt svårtillgängliga och
periodvis riktigt intressanta, om man är inne på den här genren.
Det bör dock påpekas att väldigt få människor är
det. Weegs lär inte spelas på kommersiell radio, de lär aldrig
toppa någon hitlista och de kommer aldrig att nå en större
publik än den på underground/kult-nivå. Det motsäger dock
inte det faktum att spår som ”Pink elephant walk”, ”Slivery”
och mörka ”Suicide” är riktigt charmiga. En platta för
rockextremister. (Robert Ryttman).
http://www.zeromagazine.nu/rec.asp?id=701
San Francisco/Oakland. Hungry Eye Records. New York. No Wave. Deathrock. Synthpunk.
Factrix. Minimal Man. Nervous Gender. DNA. Mars. Teenage Jesus & the Jerks.
D.A.F. Phantom Limbs. Liars. Oneida. Sixteens. Vulvettes. Beatles. Infamia.
Mi fermo qui.
..che ve ne pare di questa presentazione del disco? eh?! Ci troviamo di fronte
all'ennesimo gruppo-spettacolo proveniente dalla Bay Area! Si chiamano Weegs
e fanno una no-wave (poco NO) sporcata di synthpunk e addolcita da psicopatiche
bamboline deathrock.. Meat the Weegs è il loro album di debutto ed è
una continua sborra!! Si apre come un rituale elettrico, squadrato e distorto..
pian piano diventa incontrollabile, epilettico, sfrenato.. assume poi toni più
oscuri e solenni ma sempre sull'orlo di una crisi convulsiva.. poi esplode irrefrenabile
in un mantra schizofrenico.. sempre più ossessivo.. sempre più
inquietante.. sempre più pazzoide.. sempre più tribale.. fino
al parossismo!
..e quindi avrete capito che siamo davanti a un "discone" (di quelli
che piacciono al piccolo Paride!).. un disco per gente "malata" fatto
da gente "malata" (uno di questi, Greg Weeg, suonava nei Vulvettes
con Veuve dei Sixteens!) ..4 squilibrati che creano l'ennesimo grande spettacolo
surreale con 4 semplicissime cazzate.. 2 chitarrine scordate malsuonate, un
batterista in preda a convulsioni, tre tastierine giocattolo e 2 voci malatissime..
una urla e una si dispera.. una gotica e una robotica.. una inquietante e una
da deficiente!! ..è uno spettacolo!!! Punto!
Stillborn Web Magazine http://digilander.libero.it/StillBorn/uebzin/recensioni2/W__Album__Weegs_MeatTheWeegs.htm
10/3/05