Listen: Weezer rocks out ‘like it’s ‘94’ in ‘Back to the Shack’

Fairweather fans of Weezer have been clamoring for years for the band to return to the crunching guitar pop of its first few albums. Now Rivers Cuomo appears to be obliging them.

“Take me back, back to the shack / Back to the Strat with the lightning strap,” the frontman sings in a brand-new single, “Kick in the door, more hardcore / Rocking out like it’s ’94.”

Posted Monday on YouTube, “Back to the Shack” is the initial sampling from “Everything Will Be Alright in the End,” due out Sept. 30. It’s Weezer’s first studio disc since “Hurley” in 2010 and reunites the veteran L.A. band with Ric Ocasek of the Cars, who produced the group’s hit 1994 debut.

The album also marks Weezer’s return to a major label, in this case Republic Records, which may or may not have something to do with its planned appearance at next month’s high-profile Made in America festival at Grand Park in downtown L.A.

In a statement, the band’s representative said “Everything Will Be Alright in the End” contains tunes that Cuomo wrote at a pace slower than usual, “giving the songs ... time to gradually grow into their final forms.” The statement notes, too, that Cuomo began writing the new material on piano as opposed to guitar.

But you can’t necessarily tell any of that from “Back to the Shack,” a power-chord rave-up that sounds as if its were born in a sweaty rehearsal space.

Twitter: @mikaelwood