It started as a way for the band to give their fans a sneak peak at their new material but ended with their label pulling the plug. 

The band recently took it upon themselves to send out 8 song sample CD�s to radio stations and journalists across the U.S. along with a handsigned note from the band. The songs in question are tracks from the group�s new CD "Maladroit," which is due to be released by Geffen Records on April 30th. 

Many of the nation�s top Modern Rock Radio stations began adding tracks to their play lists almost immediately. The most spun track �Dope Nose� received enough airplay to land on Billboard�s Modern Rock Tracks Audience Chart this week at No. 25. 

Not so fast, said Interscope records (which Geffen is a part of). The label asked the band to send out a letter to radio stations asking them NOT to play the tracks until the label officially releases them. 

Here is part of a post from the official Weezer website: � ...Bad news for Maladroit: Yesterday, at Interscope's insistance[sic], Rivers had to write a letter to all the radio stations that he had previously sent the Maladroit promo CD to, asking them to hold off promoting the tracks on the CD until the record company was ready to service the "Dope Nose" single. With so many radio stations having shown immediate support of the songs, the band is now crossing their fingers that the fantastic wave of support at radio is not cast into confusion...�

Rant: it is a crazy notion when you really think about it. As hard as it is for any artist to get airplay in this day and age, Interscope would actually pull the plug on �free� airplay for what looks to be a successful single. There is no indication as to why Interscope made this decision. Perhaps it is because the album isn�t set for release for seven more weeks and the single isn�t available yet for fans to purchase but on the other hand a hit single could put some real momentum behind the new album for it�s release. Go figure! Meanwhile, Billboard is reporting � Weezer's notoriously rabid fans have since launched a Web site devoted entirely to spreading the tracks from the  �Maladroit� sessions, in the fear that Interscope may alter the finished tracklist or scrap the album entirely.� 

The Billboard report also said, �demo versions of the 13 new songs Posted on Weezer.com in January also garnered some inadvertent radio airplay. Fully mixed versions of some of the tunes also began to appear last month, but shortly thereafter, the "audio-video" section of the site was "shut down," with neither the band or the label offering an explanation.�
 

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