Rivers Cuomo seems really serious about his love for rap-rock and nü-metal.

Weezer, especially their guitar solos, have always been rooted in what was fundamentally a larger-than-life rock sound, but, for some, the modern rock love became a bit much when the band tapped Fred Durst protégés Cold to open last year's tour to support the Green Album. (Fans weren't as warm to the idea as Cuomo had hoped, and Cold were prodded into leaving the tour due to poor crowd response [see [article id="1449262"]"Iced Out By Weezer Fans, Cold Go Their Own Way"][/article]). In recent interviews touting the band's latest album, the rock-riff heavy Maladroit, Cuomo continued to profess his love of today's arena rock fare.

If Weezer fans thought Cuomo's tongue was planted firmly in cheek through it all, they now know that it's fully extended and accompanied by the metal sign.

Cuomo recently paid a visit to rap-rockers Crazy Town's studio to contribute a guitar solo on a track for the band's forthcoming album, according to a Crazy Town spokesperson. While the guys in Crazy Town were casually dressed, Cuomo arrived last Wednesday looking sophisticated in a dark suit, green shirt and blue tie, as evidenced by the photo that appears on www.weezer.com, and proceeded to lay down licks on the tentatively titled "Hurt."

The song is expected to appear on Crazy Town's as-yet-untitled follow-up to 1999's The Gift of Game. In October, the band, fronted by dueling vocalists Shifty Shellshock and Brett "Epic" Mazur, had written a slew of new material, which they described as much harder than their last effort, especially its breakthrough single, the lazily melodic "Butterfly" (see [article id="1450442"]"Crazy Town Ready To Record Second LP"[/article]).

All that prevented them from tracking the tunes sooner was the lack of a producer. At the time, they were toggling between Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slayer) and Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, the Apex Theory) but have since decided on Howard Benson (P.O.D., Motörhead). The album is expected to be released in late fall.

Cuomo and his band kicked off their Enlightenment Tour with Dashboard Confessional, Sparta and, on select dates, the Strokes, Saturday in West Valley, Utah.

For a full-length feature on Weezer, check out [article id="1454937"]"Weezer: Foosball Wizards."[/article]