AJR and Weezer's new albums have a lot in common. Aside from the titles (OK Orchestra and OK Human, respectively), the records encompass similar sounds and themes. But was that intentional? During a recent interview with Alternative Press, Ryan Met — the trio's keyboardist, drummer, and producer — divulged if OK Orchestra was influenced by OK Human.
"Weezer have been one of our favorite bands for our entire career," he revealed. "We’re friends with Rivers [Cuomo]. He appeared on our song 'Sober Up.' It’s so funny: Neither of us knew we were putting out albums with those titles, and he texted us, like, 'Hey, big coincidence!' If you’re going to be compared to one band, Weezer are a pretty cool band to be compared to."
Met went on to explain the ways he thinks AJR compares to Weezer. "Rivers came out in the ’90s in a very similar circumstance in that there was an obvious definition of the male rock star. Rivers was like, 'A nerd could be a frontman, and if you have enough to say, you can find an audience,'" he said. "We’ve taken that as our mantra. We know AJR is never going to be the coolest kind of music. We’re not the Weeknd, and we’re proud of that. We don’t need to appeal to the same people that the Weeknd does. There are 8 billion people on Earth. We can find our audience of nerdy, insecure people that are willing to celebrate us."
The brothers are definitely doing something right — AJR's single "Bang!" was one of iHeartRadio's Top 10 streamed alternative songs of 2020. See what else made the cut here.
Photo: Courtesy of AJR