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  • WEDNESDAY JUNE 27 2007 10:00 PM

It's Reunion Week, Pt 2: The Return of the Rentals

Submitted by Aaron_Lariviere

Edited by erin_broadley

Tags: reunion, reunite, Rentals, Weezer, sweater rock, nerds



If you’ve followed my previous articles you'd know a lot of British bands are doing the reunion thing: Led Zeppelin is supposedly playing playing a memorial concert, the Spice Girls are expected to burn our collective ears with state-of-the-art fake singing on an upcoming world tour, and Brit-poppers the Verve have cleaned out their veins and started work on a new album.

The reunion fever has even spread to the states, as geeky sweater-pop also-rans the Rentals have decided to fulfill the prophecy of their first album, The Return of the Rentals, by... returning. It’s debatable if the band ever truly broke up, but they effectively dropped off the planet into geek-pop obscurity after releasing their last EP back in ’99. I had almost forgotten they ever existed, though memory repression may have played its part.

For those unfamiliar with the band’s oeuvre, the Rentals are best remembered as the one-hit-wonder responsible for the mildly annoying, Moog heavy, pseudo-hit “Friends of P.” Dig deep into the annals of your '90s memory, and you might also recall the band is fronted by original Weezer bassist Matt Sharp. His departure from the once-great gods of KISS worship might explain that band's ugly transformation into a diarrhea sandwich, but you can decide for yourself.

As Pitchfork informed us Monday, the Rentals are back in action with an obscenely large tour and an EP titled Last Little Life scheduled to drop on August 14. Los Angeles residents can look forward to an upcoming residency at Spaceland next month.

06-26 Bakersfield, CA - The Dome *
06-27 San Luis Obispo, CA - Downtown Brew *
06-28 Fresno, CA - The Belmont *
06-29 Reno, NV - Club Underground *
06-30 Las Vegas, NV - Beauty Bar *
07-07 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland *
07-14 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland *
07-21 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland *
07-28 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland *
08-01 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall *#
08-03 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre *#
08-04 Seattle, WA - Neumos *#
08-05 Spokane, WA - The Big Easy *#
08-07 Boise, ID - The Big Easy *#
08-08 Salt Lake City, UT - Club Sound *#
08-09 Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre *#
08-10 Omaha, NE - Slowdown *#
08-11 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *#
08-12 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater *#
08-14 Chicago, IL - Metro *#
08-15 Sauget, IL - Pop's *#
08-16 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues *#
08-17 Covington, KY - Madison Theatre *#
08-18 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre *#
08-19 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall *#
08-21 Millvale, PA - Mr. Small's Theatre *#
08-22 Baltimore, MD - Sonar *#
08-23 New York, NY - Nokia Theatre *#
08-24 Cambridge, MA - Middle East *#
08-25 Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore at TLA *#
08-26 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *#
08-28 Winston-Salem, NC - Ziggy's *#
08-29 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel *#
08-30 Charlotte, NC - Amos' Southend *#
08-31 Nashville, TN - City Hall *#
09-01 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade *#
09-02 Jacksonville, FL - Free Bird Live *#
09-04 Lake Buena Vista, FL - House of Blues *#
09-05 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Revolution *#
09-06 St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Landing *#
09-07 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar *#
09-08 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues *#
09-09 Houston, TX - Warehouse *#
09-10 Dallas, TX - House of Blues *#
09-12 Austin, TX - Emo's *#
09-14 San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit *#
09-15 El Paso, TX - Club 101 *#
09-16 Flagstaff, AZ - The Orpheum *#
09-18 Anaheim, CA - House of Blues *#
09-19 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues *#
09-20 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *#

* with Goldenboy
# with Copeland


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Comments
NotJason

NotJason

Orono, ME
October 2004

JUN 27, 2007 11:18 PM

While the tour and the EP are news, the reunion is not. They actually reunited in 2005 and did a national headlining tour last summer.

wienus

wienus

San Antonio, TX
March 2005

JUN 27, 2007 11:26 PM

yup. i remember that....c'mon Aaron. get your facts straight.

biggrin

NotJason

NotJason

Orono, ME
October 2004

JUN 28, 2007 12:33 AM

By the way, even if you insist on writing off 90s power pop (which seems foolish to me) I can't recommend enough that you should go see them on tour. They put on an excellent show.

Aaron_Lariviere

Aaron_Lariviere

Los Angeles, CA
May 2007

JUN 28, 2007 12:42 AM

not_jason said:
While the tour and the EP are news, the reunion is not. They actually reunited in 2005 and did a national headlining tour last summer.



Yeah, you're right. But now they're like, really back fo' real. I'd try to defend my position, but I'm wrong, so I won't bother. Thanks for the correction!

wienus said:
yup. i remember that....c'mon Aaron. get your facts straight.

biggrin



For better or worse, some of my writing seems to exist in a fact-free vacuum. I should probably work on that...

NotJason

NotJason

Orono, ME
October 2004

JUN 28, 2007 12:54 AM

Well, your heart's in the right place.

mk700c

mk700c

Ann Arbor, MI
December 2003

JUN 28, 2007 06:41 AM

I can't speak for the new record, but Return of the Rentals is extremely solid, and not only do I remember it, but it's still in my changer - along with Sloan's Twice Removed, and plenty of others from '94.

And yes, I said "changer."

sheenamay

sheenamay

Newport News, VA
September 2006

JUN 28, 2007 09:07 AM

I saw them last summer....with Ozma

Hardly re-united, heh.

obd

obd

Venice, CA
June 2003

JUN 28, 2007 09:13 AM

I saw these guys last year at the Henry Fonda Theater. It was one of the best shows I've seen since I moved to LA.

RileyStClair

RileyStClair

Los Angeles, CA
September 2006

JUN 28, 2007 09:38 AM

matt sharp owes me ten bucks and a pack of camels, if i recall correctly.
he's a cool guy and all, but i listened to the new song on the rentals myspace and i have no fucking clue what he's trying to do with his voice now but it's terrible.

the new material looks to be just as boring as the matt sharp solo stuff, just with more instruments now.

why can't he face the fact that it's over?

oh well, it's not as ridiculous as
the fact that weezer is making another album. *shudders*

NotJason

NotJason

Orono, ME
October 2004

JUN 28, 2007 11:26 AM

yourfashionwar said:
he's a cool guy and all, but i listened to the new song on the rentals myspace and i have no fucking clue what he's trying to do with his voice now but it's terrible.

the new material looks to be just as boring as the matt sharp solo stuff, just with more instruments now.



God, I know exactly what you mean. I listened to that new track and I was so disappointed. I don't know why I expected it to be any different than his solo record, but I did, and I was wrong. It's that whole "I'm going to do this weird descending pitch thing at the end of nearly every line" thing. I don't know why he thinks that's a good idea and why nobody in his band is correcting him.

However, last year The Rentals were amazing in concert. One of the better shows I've ever been to, easily.

VnlaThndr775

VnlaThndr775

Reno, NV
October 2006

JUN 28, 2007 03:52 PM

obd said:
I saw these guys last year at the Henry Fonda Theater. It was one of the best shows I've seen since I moved to LA.



That was a killer show! We drove all the way from Reno to see it. Luckily they are coming to play here tomorrow, w00t!
biggrin

Tiger_Fodder

Tiger_Fodder

Braintree, MA
June 2007

JUN 28, 2007 06:21 PM

I'd pay to see Led Zeppelin play with the Spice Girls....that would mess my brain!

As far as The Rentals, they should have remained in the 90s dustbin. miao!!

undershaker

undershaker

Milwaukee, WI
November 2004

JUN 28, 2007 08:27 PM

As far as the Rentals, Matt Sharp should have vanished into an absinthist haze in the northeast of Spain, possibly meeting an end the same as Jeff Buckley -- the Mediterrenean substituting for Mississippi -- & becoming a legend that wasn't meant to be.

Fixed.

(& yes, I know it's morbid to suggest that, maybe even morally repugnant, but Seven More Minutes couldn't have been better, nor a better exit. Loved it. & it has the last GREAT song written by Rivers Cuomo ("My Head Is in the Sun").)

jason

jason

USA
August 2002

JUN 28, 2007 10:20 PM

im a big fan of matt sharps earlier work

zoom image

too legit to quit.

(photo courtesy of the deceased)

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