Break From Weezer Pays the Rentals

Matt Sharp has only one question on his mind as he sits bleary-eyed and unshaven over his half-eaten breakfast: Just who are the Rentals?

“Sometimes I think this thing was so much more a pain . . . than it was worth,” says Sharp, maybe only half-seriously, and still a bit frazzled from jet-lag in his West Hollywood hotel room.

Just the previous night, Sharp was on a plane from Madrid, where the Rentals finished a brief tour of Europe, performing their hit “Friends of P.” and other breezy pop tunes heavy on vintage Moog synthesizer. This morning he’s faced with deciding which band members will be invited to the day’s video shoot: Those who recorded the album, or those now on the road with him?

“I don’t know,” says Sharp, the band’s leader and primary songwriter. “It’s driving me to the grave, all the decisions. For me the Rentals is just about the songs.”

It was so much easier last year, when Sharp was just one member of Weezer, another Los Angeles-based rock act, whose guitar-pop hits “Buddy Holly” and “Undone--The Sweater Song” rode high onto the pop charts and MTV. Now that Weezer is largely on hiatus, Sharp’s side-project has him facing yet another wave of unexpected popularity.

The Rentals (who perform Tuesday with Blur at the Wiltern Theater, and will give a free half-hour set at Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard at 11 p.m. that same night) play heavy pop not unlike Weezer’s, with the same lyrical focus on small, human events, set to melodies crafted in the Brian Wilson mode.

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But the band’s debut album, “Return of the Rentals,” buries the guitars under layers of violin and old synthesizers, creating a sound more reminiscent of such ‘70s pop icons as Gary Numan and Electric Light Orchestra.

“Once we started working on it, it was like a domino effect, with more keyboards and more violins,” says Sharp, who recorded the album sporadically over an 18-month period, during breaks from Weezer. “It was really exciting to record that way. There is a real sense of freedom on the record because of that.”

Joining him in the studio were a crowd of friends that included producer Tom Grimley, singer-keyboardist Cherilynn Westrich, guitarist Rod Cervera, Weezer drummer Pat Wilson and singer-violinist Petra Haden of the L.A. band, that dog. While other projects have kept Wilson and Haden out of the touring version of the Rentals, Sharp says those early sessions continue to influence the band’s live shows and that Haden has already recorded more songs with the Rentals and will likely be featured on the next album.

Before another Rentals album, though, will come more recording and touring with Weezer, which has already done some work on a second album. Sharp insists the Rentals were not created out of any frustration with Weezer or with the creative dominance in that band of singer-guitarist Rivers Cuomo.

“I really enjoy what I do with Weezer, so I’m not frustrated,” says Sharp, who financed the low-budget recording himself before the Rentals were signed to Madonna’s Maverick Records label. “Rivers is my biggest influence. He would tell me to stop whining and just do it--just write and not slave over one song for too long. Move on and try to accomplish things.”

Sharp says that after “Return of the Rentals” was released, Cuomo called with compliments and to suggest they collaborate on some new songs. A couple of Sharp’s Rentals songs, including “Please Let That Be You” and “Naive,” were actually first recorded by Weezer, though never released.

Yet, when the Rentals album was first released, he was determined that it be taken seriously, declaring in a press release: “This is not ‘my little side project.’ ” He now says that defensiveness was a reaction to the skepticism he heard from early interviewers.

“Everybody kind of approached it like, ‘This is a cute little thing. When are you getting back again with Weezer?’ ” says Sharp. “I spent time on this, and I’m still losing sleep over it now. I spent a lot of energy just trying to make it sound right.”

Sharp’s Rentals efforts are far from over. After traveling with Blur for a week, the Rentals will join the Red Hot Chili Peppers for another week, then spend a month on the road with Garbage. He had just spent most of last year touring with Weezer, and will be back with them again, just as soon as the Rentals tour ends.

That lifestyle means Sharp hasn’t had his own apartment for almost three years.

“It’s been so long now [on the road] that the burn-out thing is starting to settle in. It goes beyond that, where you’re pretty sure you’ve completely lost your mind.”

* The Rentals open for Blur on Tuesday at the Wiltern Theatre, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., 8 p.m. $20. (213) 380-5005.