Weezer frontman River Cuomo lamented the fact that their upcoming album Van Weezer was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, meaning that Eddie Van Halen didn’t get to hear it.

The record was originally set for release in May 2020, five months before Van Halen’s death in October. Weezer later announced a new arrival date of May 7, 2021, noting that the record would be dedicated to the late guitarist.

“I guess for us, just from a self centered perspective … we’re disappointed,” Cuomo said in a new episode of The Strombo Show. “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.”

Cuomo repeated: “I don’t know if it would have meant anything to him,” then added, “but it would have been cool for us.”

Cuomo previously said Van Weezer was made to celebrate the giants of stadium rock, name-checking Kiss, Black Sabbath and Metallica alongside Van Halen.

On the subject of the album's delay, he told NME: “So, we were like, Well, now we’ve just made the worst possible album for a time when you can’t actually tour or perform or rock out. When nobody is going to concerts, how can you possibly promote a stadium rock album?”

You can hear one of Van Weezer's songs, "Hero," below.

Meanwhile, Wolfgang Van Halen released a teaser clip of his upcoming song “You’re To Blame.” It appears on his debut Mammoth WVH album, which is scheduled to arrive in the near future.

He previously revealed the track on an episode of Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show.

 

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