The first DVD release in the twelve year history of one of the most influential rock bands of our time, Weezer chronicling the band from its pre-=w= status in the autumn of 1991 right onto preparations for their fifth album in 2002

The entire disc is the brainchild of Weezer's website webmaster, photographer, archivist and right hand man Karl Koch. Who directed, compiled, co-produced and edited the entirety of the disc, as well as shooting almost all the raw video footage that appears on the disc.

The contents of the disc with brief summaries and highlights are as follows:

VIDEOS

*Undone - The Sweater Song
*Buddy Holly
*Say It Ain't So
*El Scorcho Director's Cut (aka, the version in which Rivers has more screen time. The "Band's Version" can still be downloaded on weezer.com)
*The Good Life
*Pink Triangle (A DVD exclusive video. Edited from footage shot in '96 and '97 by Karl and Jennifer Wilson, the spouse of =w= drummer Patrick Wilson)
*Hash Pipe
*Island in the Sun (Marcos Siega version)
*Island in the Sun (Spike Jonze version)
*Photograph
*Dope Nose
*Keep Fishin'
*Slob (A DVD exclusive video. Shot and edited by Karl)

DOCUMENTARY, B-ROLL AND LIVE STUFF

*Undone - The Sweater Song - Alternate take (They took over 25 takes of the video running on a “one take” concept. This is one of the earlier takes of those twenty five some odd takes.)

*Weezer Goes To New York: The Making of the Blue Album (Rehearsal and recording of their debut album The Blue Album. Funny footage of the guys trying to light firecrackers in various beverage containers and Pat Wilson riding what appears to be a mattress on wheels. Featured in this clip are producer and former frontman of The Cars, Ric Ocasek as well as founding rhythm guitarist Jason Cropper. His replacement, Brian Bell is not featured, and his actual performance on the album has been questioned by some.)

*In The Garage live (8/4/94)

*Jamie live (Combined footage from shows in October '94 and February '95)

*Buddy Holly News (An MTV interview featuring Spike Jonze, the director of the "Buddy Holly" video and now an Academy Award nominated director)

*Saction (Footage of the band on the road. A great clip showing Rivers goofing around instrumentally, an onstage guitar duel between Pat and Matt Sharp, a brief clip of the band switching instruments for the end of "Undone," live footage of No One Else and the band performing a beautiful, in-studio acoustic version of "Say It Ain't So," with Pat on guitar)

*Say It Ain't So - B-roll (Sparse footage of the '95 shoot for the video, spliced with some live footage)

*Say It Ain't So - Live on Late Night With David Letterman (8/4/95, Rivers in a leg brace and thus immobile, Matt wearing odd glasses and a Spider Man shirt, Pat with green hair and a "HI JEN" message on his bass drum for his wife)

*Weezer Goes to Van Nuys: The Making of Pinkerton (In-studio footage of the making of their sophomore disc Pinkerton. Glimpses of the unreleased and heavily demanded track "Superfriend" and a clip of "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" before the band recruited Rachel Haden on vocals. Usual goofiness from Matt, acoustic goofiness from Pat and rather rare goofiness from Brian Bell. Also clips of Pat & Matt working on the rhythm tracks for "Tired of Sex," which features one of the band's best bass & drum tracks IMO)

*El Scorcho - Live (9/29/96, spliced with some studio footage. First time the song was ever played live)

*The Good Life - B-roll (Sparse footage of the band shooting their work for the video spliced with life footage)

*Pink Triangle - live and acoustic at Shorecrest High School (11/12/96. Featured on The Good Life OZ e.p. The crowd at the school cheers whenever the band says "lesbian" and on the line "might've smoked a few in my time." Unusually energetic performance from Brian Bell, which says a lot since he is always incredibly energetic)

*Mykel and Carli - Live at The Palace, L.A (8/15/97. Footage from the memorial performance held after the passing of Mykel, Carli and Trysta Allen. Mykel & Carli were presidents of the Weezer fan club and very close friends of all the members. Their entire story is featured in detail on weezer.com. The Allen parents speak then Rivers comes on with just a guitar and a harmonica to do a performance of a song he wrote for them years prior. Very moving footage)

*My Brain - Live in Santa Barbara, CA (6/16/2000. The band's first official performance in over three years. Was the first unveiling of what would go on to be the Weezer's Summer Songs of 2000. Credited to "the fans," but Karl tracked down who recorded the footage. The actual cameraman, Mike Takahashi, a Southern California fan of the band, was given a meet and greet with the band plus a bunch of =w= goodies as a compensation for not being credited)

*Outlog (The band attempting to record promos for their Yahoo! Outloud Tour. None of this was used, although Mikey Welsh gets in some great one-liners. There's a brief clip of the band drinking at the end of the clip)

*Stoopid Fresh (The Green Album preparations. Footage of them goofing around in Simi Valley, singing in the style of a barbershop quartet, Brian lost in L.A, studio work on "O Girlfriend" and "Don't Let Go" as well as the band jamming out an unreleased track "No Way" as well as a brief clip of another unreleased track "No More Confusin'" spliced before a clip of a demo of “Island in the Sun”)

*How Not To Do an Interview (A July 2001 interview with MTV Europe that didn't quite go as planned...)

*Dope Nose - b-roll (Shots behind the making of the music video. Features some more motorcycle footage as well as a rare glimpse at Pat's wife, Jennifer Wilson)

*Eurotrash (Footage of touring in Europe to promote Maladroit. Crazy and hilarious footage with Pat, sound checks for "American Gigolo" and "Mad Kow," and a clip of "Hash Pipe" live with a new solo, as many of the solo's from The Green Album evolved as the band continued to play the songs live)

*Take Control - live (Summer 2002. Recorded by Karl using multi-lenses. Makes for a cool effect)

*Fall Together - Pre-Show Warmup (Spring 2002, recorded on the European tour. Rivers and bassist Scott Shriner doing an acoustic jam to the Maladroit tune)

*Prodigy Lover (Recorded in July 2002 by Rod Cervera on 16mm film. Studio recording of the band, plus keyboardist Ryan Maynes doing one of the fan favorites of the band's abandoned album V demos that were scrapped for new material)

RAW NUGGETS

*The Answer Man (Recorded in Fall of 1991! A track by a pre-Weezer band called 60 Wrong Sausages featuring 3/4ths of the original =w= lineup, Pat, Jason and Rivers, plus Pat Finn, who introduced Rivers to Pat Wilson and Jason Cropper. The band held 15 practices and had one show (rumored to be 11/26/91). Very much harder and more "wailing" than most of The Blue Album tracks that would come in the later months)

*My Name is Jonas - live (8/16/92. The 17th Weezer show that ever occurred was the final gig of their first tour. An outdoor party in Guerneville, California. Check out River's long hair and Pat's very "busy" drum fills throughout the song. Spliced in with footage from the previous day's show at The Power Station in a Cali. town called Eureka)

*Lullaby for Wayne aka Lullaby for Pat Finn - (4/29/93. Live at Club Dump, Hollywood (A once unreleased track that was recorded in The Blue Album sessions yet scrapped because the band felt it sounded too much like Surf Wax America. The song surfaced on the band's re-release of The Blue Album and this is a live version of it at the club now known as The Viper Room. Jason Cropper can be seen playing an acoustic guitar as frequently used to during their live shows. The song is dedicated to Pat Finn, who was moving from L.A the next day. They say "Pat" instead of "Wayne" during the song)

*Undone - Y-100 Sonic Sessions (6/20/97. A live, acoustic performance of their hit featuring a poetry performance by Tim Levitch. Brilliant and bizarre.)

*Mad Kow - Acoustic Warm Up (Spring 2002. Rivers and Scott jamming to an unreleased track that was written in 2000 and since has been scrapped in sessions for The Green Album, Maladroit and Album V. The track remains a fan favorite though.)

TV ADVERTISEMENTS *The Blue Album TV Spots

*Pinkerton TV Spots (I love the "falling snow" ad)

*Green Album TV Spots (Featuring Brian Bell's "impossible bend" from the "Hash Pipe" video)

*Maladroit TV Spots

CREDITS

The credits role over footage shot by Rod Cervera circa 2002. The music playing is from the Skunk Ape Records release "Only in Dreams," which is an orchestra tribute to Weezer. The "Photograph" track is playing.

The disc also contains commentaries featuring Brian Bell, Scott Shriner, Patrick Wilson and Karl Koch which are quite revealing and very amusing.

As for easter eggs, the disc only contains one major one. A clip called "Wig Fishin," in which the band is in London on 8/12/02 recording a lip-synched performance of their hit "Keep Fishin" for the show Popworld in the U.K, Rivers is seen wearing a blonde wig.

The DVD isn't without glitches. The El Scorcho commentary has a two second delay on what actually happens on screen, the "El Scorcho - live" track has a commentary although it isn't listed on the disc, and the "Mad Kow - acoustic warmup" is labeled as having one, when it doesn't. Apparently other glitches existed on international releases of the disc.

Since the DVDs release on March 23rd, 2004 is has been a success, recently being certified a Gold Selling DVD by the RIAA. Karl also released five "DVD leftovers" on the weezer.com audio-visual page. These "leftovers" can all be downloaded at http://www.weezer.com/audiovideo/index.html and include:

*Fall Together - live (A Summer 2002 performance of "Fall Together" using the similar multi-lens technique as used in the "Take Control" clip that made the disc)

*Getchoo - live (The Pinkerton track live in Glastonbury in 1995. Nice intro by a Washington Redskins-jersey-wearing Matt Sharp.)

*Only in Dreams - rehearsal (8/10/93. Neat footage of The Blue Album track being rehearsed. Odd road footage spliced in. Nice hoodie Rivers!)

*The World Has Turned and Left Me Here - live (2/26/95 at the Camden Underworld. Shot from backstage)

*No One Else - live (7/26/95 in Knoxville, TN. Rivers in the brace again, great performance)

"Video Capture Device" is a music documentary DVD like few before it. It deviates from the course that most bands DVDs have taken, releasing discs featuring their music videos, slick, MTV-quality live footage and professional interviews with the band. Instead, "Video Capture Device" is almost entirely made up of raw, handheld footage of the band shot and edited by a very close friend. While some complain the disc felt "disjointed" and "impersonal," I think the disc succeeds in that it doesn't spoon feed you any information at all. It just lets the footage speak for itself.

A rockin' DVD from a rockin' band.

=w=