Toto have announced that they plan to cover Weezer’s 2001 single ‘Hash Pipe’ as an answer to the group’s cover of their own track, ‘Africa’, back in May.
We recently noted how back in December, a 14-year-old Twitter user named Mary began a viral campaign with the intention of getting Weezer to cover Toto’s ‘Africa’.
“It was just a goofy joke,” explained Mary in an interview with Vice. “It was from Weezer was talking about they were inspired for their new album [Pacific] Daydream, what inspired them. So I jokingly said, “Oh I bet they were inspired by ‘Africa’ by Toto for their new album.”
“It was just an absurd joke. And then I was like, ‘I wonder if I can get them to cover the song.’”
However, after fans began to pile onto the #WeezerCoverAfrica campaign, the group finally responded by releasing their cover of Toto’s… ‘Rosanna’.
“#WeezerCoverAfrica turned into #WeezerCoveringRosanna ???” Tweeted Mary after the band dropped the cover, indicating that she, like many other of the campaigns supporters, had been well and truly played.
However, Weezer soon gave into all this viral pressure, releasing a cover of ‘Africa’ after all, complete with Mary’s original Tweet as the artwork for their track. Needless to say, the Internet went wild at the sheer thought of the band covering the track, and Weezer soon became the musical flavour of the month.
Now, it seems like Toto are set to return the favour, announcing plans to cover one of the group’s early ’00s hits.
Just last month, Toto guitarist Steve Lukather spoke to Variety where he revealed that there were plans to release a Weezer cover in the future. “Wait until they hear our Weezer cover we just started recording, and will be out in the next couple of months.”
“I dig them,” he continued. “I was never really aware of them outside their hits, but my kids hipped me to them. They are really good, inventive and quirky, hooks for days. Thanks to Weezer for doing this. We’re thankful for the gift.”
Now, Steve Lukather and Toto keyboardist Steve Porcaro have explained that the group have decided to tackle Weezer’s Green Album cut ‘Hash Pipe’.
“We listened to ‘Beverly Hills.’ I wanted to maybe even do a real ‘Africa’-type version of that, I was thinking about for a minute,” Steve Porcaro explained in an interview with Los Angeles radio station KROQ.
“But you know what? We wanted to make it different, but we wanted to do something rock ‘n’ roll. I wanted to show everyone what a good rock ‘n’ roll band we can be. I love the band, I love their music. [Singer] Joseph [Williams] and I were listening to different ones trying to figure out which ones he’d like to sing and we settled on ‘Hash Pipe.’”
“I thought ‘Hash Pipe’ had a better melody,” Lukather added. “I love the message, you know what I mean?”
“And we wanted to do it justice. We wanted to do our thing to it, but still pay respect to it. And we added a couple of our kitschy little things to it, which I hope that they laugh [at]. We wish we could be in the room when they hear it.”
At this stage, there’s no set date as to when to expect Toto’s cover of ‘Hash Pipe’, but it sounds like it should be released within the next few weeks.
In other Weezer news though, the group are apparently working on their new album, The Black Album. Speaking to Double J’s Zan Rowe back in February, frontman Rivers Cuomo revealed that the album was set to be released on May 25th.
“I had two folders on my Dropbox: one was the ‘Black Album,’ and it didn’t get filled as quickly as this other folder, which I temporarily titled ‘New Folder’,” Cuomo explained. “That one filled up with ten songs that were definitely different, but not quite as different as the ‘Black Album’. So we put a name on it — Pacific Daydream — and put that out first.”
Despite the strangely specific nature of this announcement, fans are still waiting for the new album to drop. No news has surfaced as to whether or not the group have instead decided to record a full cover album of Toto’s Toto IV, but whatever the case, we certainly won’t complain about a brand new Weezer album.
Check out Weezer’s ‘Hash Pipe’:
