'The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth' (Part 5)
⚡️💥 VIDEO PREMIERE: "Touch My Fuzz (2024)" by Chopper One
“A cute song about Kurt Cobain’s sweater.”
That’s how Jason Cropper describes Chopper One’s “Touch My Fuzz (2024).” The song was originally written and recorded in the mid-‘90s when Chopper One was signed to Restless Records, the label that released the band’s only album, Now Playing, in 1997.
The lyrics were penned by Amy Cropper, Chopper One’s bassist and Jason’s ex-wife, but the version featured on the Generation Blue compilation and in today’s video premiere is an updated take on this classic Hollywood Geek Rock anthem.
“Re-recording ‘Touch My Fuzz’ was fun! I asked the folks at Restless Records if they would let us use the original master, but I hit a dead end there. So, re-recording was the only option,” Cropper said in a text exchange this month.
“It’s such a straightforward little arrangement. I just whipped it up and tried to make it sound exactly like the original in every way possible. The original was done at Sound City (in Van Nuys) and that was a fun experience. This one I did in my recording studio, Studio C, in Oakland. While solo, it was just as fun.”
Jason has been in Studio C since 2017. These days he works with a variety of artists including jam bands, rock musicians, and Hip Hop projects. “It’s my little recording oasis. We have a PA and backline along with a recording system and a bunch of cameras and a switcher so you can get your project captured that way as well.”
Chopper One was first formed in 1994 when Jason and Amy started writing and playing music together.
Jason was the original guitarist in Weezer, but was fired due to internal conflicts in the band during the recording of the Blue Album. Cropper retained a songwriting credit on the album opener “My Name Is Jonas,” but leaving the band right before their meteoric success was a heartbreaking experience.
“In early ’94, right around the time my daughter Kiefer was born, I started managing low-income apartment buildings when I started writing songs,” Cropper told me for Generation Blue: An Oral History of the Hollywood Geek Rock Scene in the 1990s & 2000s. “I would just lock myself in the closet, play my guitar and write the saddest fucking songs ever.”
Cropper and Rivers Cuomo stayed in touch during that era, but leaving Weezer was a bitter pill to swallow. “(Rivers) would call and check in on me every once in a while, which I really appreciated. But it wasn’t something I could offer him gratitude for when I was so bereft and kind of resentful. Kind of playing the victim, I guess.”
Luckily, Chopper One turned out to be the musical outlet Jason needed to reignite his creative fires.
By 1995, Jason and Amy Cropper—along with a revolving line up of band members—were making waves on the Hollywood music scene. They released the “Free Lunch/Mr. Waldon” 7-inch with Side 1/Dummy Records in 1995.
“I loved all of our music and would write songs late at night on my Fender Stratocaster and record on Kiefer’s Playskool Recorder. Then Jason and I would finish the songs together the next day. Jason would teach me how to play every song. He was amazing; he can play every instrument. We were playing live music and recording in our apartment,” Amy told me for Generation Blue.
In 1996, Cropper reconnected with Joe Regis at Restless Records who was among the record labels that originally wanted to sign Weezer in 1993.
“(I) said, ‘Do you still want to make that Weezer record? I can give you sort of a second shot at it.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah. Let's do it.’ So, we made the Chopper One record with Don Fleming,” Jason said.
“I remember I was so excited, like a kid in a candy store, but Fleming really tried to have me simplify the recording. He said, ‘Listen, you’re a three-piece band. The record is going to sound like a three-piece. You’re going to use one guitar.’ I was like, ‘Jesus, I can’t do that. I wasn’t even the lead guy in my last band.’ He said, ‘You’re that guy now,’” Jason said.
The resulting album is a pinnacle for Hollywood Geek Rock. Now Playing was released in 1997 and promoted with two singles, “Hescher with a Gym Bag” and “Touch My Fuzz.” The album was re-released in 1998 under the title Chopper One.
“One of my fondest memories was playing in New York City at St. Mark’s. Joey Ramone and Sebastian Bach were in the backstage area with us hanging out. We also got to open for Sean Mullins (he had a hit, ‘Rockabye,’ in 1999) in Paris, France. We stayed at a small hotel in the Red Light District. Oddly enough, Radiohead was staying there as well. So, we got to meet Radiohead and talk to some of the band members. We played two weeks in Paris and those were the last shows I played with the band. I was pregnant with our son Jake at the time.” Amy said.
The single and video for “A Punk Named Josh” were released in 1998, but family was becoming a bigger priority for the Croppers. Chopper One officially broke up in 1999.
These days, Jason Cropper looks back on that whole musical era with fondness.
“Weezer was a really, really special experience. The Blue Album is so fun, it's just such a beautiful thing. And I would be saying that whether I had anything to do with it or not,” he told me for Generation Blue.
woah, I did NOT know about Chopper One at all. I'm going to queue it up today while I work!