AWOLNATION frontman Aaron Bruno is a big Weezer fan, and he's following in the footsteps of Rivers Cuomo and company with his new covers album, My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me.
Weezer, of course, released a covers compilation, the Teal Album, in 2019, which followed the viral success of their spin on the Toto song "Africa." Speaking with ABC Audio, Bruno shares that Weezer's "Africa," which became the band's biggest hit in over a decade, was "definitely encouraging" in the process of making his own covers record.
"I'm a big Rivers fan," Bruno says. "To hear his voice on some of those songs that I was a big fan of...I love Toto, I think ['Africa' is] one of the greater songs ever written."
Aside from the spirit of Rivers Cuomo guiding him, Bruno just wasn't in the mood to work on new AWOLNATION music, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic canceled all his plans related to his last original record, Angel Miners & the Lightning Riders, which had dropped in April 2020.
"I also felt like a little tired of my own songs," Bruno explains. "I had just released an original album, and everything got paused, let's just say. The tour got canceled and everything, and I really didn't feel like making new, original songs."
He adds, "So I wanted to just get into this side project and have a lot of fun with it."
My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me will be released May 6. It includes a version of the Scorpions hit "Wind of Change" featuring Incubus' Brandon Boyd and Portugal. the Man, and a rendition of Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning" alongside Rise Against's Tim McIlrath.