Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh has checked into a psychiatric hospital for treatment of an undisclosed ailment, leaving his bandmates to shoot a video without him, according to band assistant Karl Koch.
Although they hope that Welsh will recover in time to join them on their upcoming tour, Weezer are holding auditions for a temporary replacement, Koch wrote on the band’s official Web site (www.weezer.com).
“We unfortunately still don’t know what’s wrong with [Mikey], and continue to find it very difficult to find out any more from those who might know,” Koch said. “We wish him the very best and we hope he comes back soon.”
An Interscope Records spokesperson said Thursday (August 16) that Koch is a reliable source of information on Weezer, but declined further comment.
The other three members of Weezer spent Wednesday shooting a new video for “Island in the Sun” with director Spike Jonze (“Being John Malkovich,” Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice”).
According to Weezer’s Web site, the video will include shots of the band with a menagerie of animals: giraffes, bears, panthers, squirrels, dogs and cats.
Hard-rockers Cold issued a press release Wednesday touting tour dates with Weezer, beginning September 11 in San Jose, California. However, an Interscope spokesperson said Wednesday evening that those dates are in the process of being changed.
Weezer have rehearsed as many as 23 new, unreleased songs for the upcoming tour, Koch said.