The Kitchen Tape is a demo tape by the American rock band Weezer. It was recorded on August 1, 1992, prior to the band's signing with Geffen Records. Frontman Rivers Cuomo personally made 15 to 20 copies of the demo under the title Opposite Sides of the Same Good Ol' Fence for engineer Paul DuGres with a slightly different track listing.
Overview
Recording
The demo was recorded using frontman Rivers Cuomo's 8-track tape recorder in a rented garage next to the "Amherst House", where Weezer often rehearsed.[2] The name of the tape comes from the fact that the drums were recorded in a kitchen, where the band members felt that they sounded the best.[3]
Band historian Karl Koch has recalled that the demo was recorded "to get shows and also try to make an impression", and that "[there] were no aspirations yet to try to generate real label interest, but the concept of 'creating a buzz' was being thrown around."[2]
Release
The Kitchen Tape has not received an official release beyond the original small run of privately distributed demo cassettes. However, the demo's audio has been bootlegged and spread online.[1] Additionally, the recordings of "Undone - The Sweater Song", "Paperface", and "Only in Dreams" from the demo appear on the 2004 deluxe release of Weezer (The Blue Album). The full demo tape was released as a part of the Blue Album 30th anniversary box set in 2024.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Rivers Cuomo, except where noted.
