Matt Sharp
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Matt Sharp (born September 22, 1969 in Bangkok, Thailand) is the former bassist for the band Weezer. He has his own band, The Rentals. He has two solo releases.
- Puckett's versus The Country Boy released: 2003
- Matt Sharp released: 2004.
He was a founding member of Weezer in 1992. After the success of Weezer's first album The Blue Album, he founded The Rentals in the spring of 1994, who released their debut Return Of (The Rentals) the following year, which featured the radio hit "Friends Of P." He left Weezer in February 1998 after the release of the band's second album, Pinkerton.
The Rentals released their second album, Seven More Minutes, in 1999. Although critically praised, the album was not as successful as their first album. The Rentals stopped touring in 1999.
After a four year hiatus from the public eye, Sharp returned to the music scene with an acoustic tour in the fall of 2002, touring with former Cake guitarist Greg Brown.
Sharp filed a five-count federal lawsuit against Weezer on April 19, 2002. He alleged he was owed money for co-writing Weezer's first hit song, "Undone (The Sweater Song)," and that he owned a 25% interest in the first nine tracks of Pinkerton (which had been credited solely to Rivers Cuomo). Sharp also claimed he had handled most of Weezer's business affairs during their early success, such as hiring accountants and attorneys, and also had helped the band land their record deal. The lawsuit also stated that Weezer front man Rivers Cuomo was going to ask him to appear in the music video for the song "Island in the Sun." Finally, Sharp charged his former bandmates with breach of fiduciary duty, legal malpractice, dissolution of partnership, and declatory relief. The lawsuit was later settled out of court.
On February 12, 2004, just two days before Weezer's twelfth anniversary, Rivers Cuomo and Matt Sharp ended their public separation when they reunited onstage. Rivers sat in during a Sharp solo show at Cal State Fullerton. Sharp and Cuomo played four songs together: the Sharp/Cuomo collaborations "Mrs. Young" and "Time Song," and the Weezer tunes "Say It Ain't So" and "Undone." At the show, Sharp announed that he and Cuomo would be working on a collaborative record together. Yet later that year, he announced on his website that although they had come up with "15 or 16 new song ideas, some good, some not so good" for their new album their "special brand of disfunctionality" kept them from ever finishing the project. [1]
Sharp released a solo EP in 2003, a solo full length in 2004 and continued to tour in 2004-2005 with the band Goldenboy.
After a slow period in 2005, Sharp contemplated what to do next. Considering either a new solo album, starting a new collaborative partnership (although he didn't state with who) or possibly retiring and opening up a small tobacco store in a remote Spanish village. The possiblity of him rejoining Weezer was also an option:
SHARP: I was even entertaining the idea of rejoining weezer as a fifth member for a little while. They approached me about the idea sometime around the last Super Bowl. The idea started out with a bang. Bang!, bang!!, bang!!! Each one of us filled up the balloon with our own individual pre-conceived notions of all the endless possibilities ...then, pop!, pop!, fizz!, fizz! ...oh, what a relief it is!!! ...the idea quickly came, went and collectively fizzled. link
Thus he decided to re-form The Rentals after a six year absence. Work has begun on a third album although the band's lineup has not been confirmed.