Ween | |
|---|---|
 Ween performing atRyman Auditorium in 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | New Hope, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active |
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| Labels |
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| Members | Gene Ween Dean Ween Dave Dreiwitz Claude Coleman Jr. Glenn McClelland |
| Past members | Andrew Weiss Mean Ween |
| Website | ween |
Ween is an Americanrock band fromNew Hope, Pennsylvania, formed in 1984 by Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their respective stage names,Gene Ween andDean Ween. Generally categorized as analternative rock band, the band are known for their irreverent, highly eclectic catalog of songs inspired byfunk,psychedelia,soul,country,gospel,prog,R&B,heavy metal, andpunk rock.
Ween self-released severalcassette albums from their formation until 1989. Afterward, they put out three officially-releasedlo-fi albums:GodWeenSatan: The Oneness (1990);The Pod (1991); andPure Guava (1992). ForPure Guava, the band signed with major labelElektra Records. The album spawned the single "Push th' Little Daisies", which was a chart hit in Australia and the United States. Under Elektra, the band released four professionally-recorded albums:Chocolate and Cheese (1994);12 Golden Country Greats (1996);The Mollusk (1997); andWhite Pepper (2000). They later returned to independent labels for their albumsQuebec (2003) andLa Cucaracha (2007). After a 28-year run, Freeman quit the band in 2012, citing the need to focus on his alcohol and drug addiction issues. Ween reformed in late 2015 and toured extensively without plans to record new material,[1][2] but later entered an indefinite hiatus in 2024 citing Melchiondo'smental health as a reason.[3]
For their first ten years of existence, Ween performed live as a duo backed by aDigital Audio Tape, sometimes playing with on and off bassist Chris Williams, better known by his stage name Mean Ween. With the release ofChocolate and Cheese, they stopped playing with Williams, and expanded to a four-piece act for every show, later adding a fifth member as well. Their live members includeClaude Coleman Jr.,Dave Dreiwitz, andGlenn McClelland. Ween also collaborated extensively withAndrew Weiss, who joined the band as a bassist in 1989 and also produced five of their nine studio albums. Despite never receiving much mainstream recognition, Ween developed a large, devotedcult following and garnered critical acclaim.[4]
Aaron Freeman andMickey Melchiondo met in a junior high school typing class in 1984.[5] Freeman recalled, "We didn't like each other. He was a jock, and I was more of a trench-coat guy. But we sat next to each other in typing class and both realized we were into music."[6] The name Ween was a word made up by the duo, a combination of the wordswuss andpenis.[7] Their earliest home recordings were drug-fueled and free-spirited; Melchiondo would later say about this era, "the music was designed to be obnoxious".[7]
From 1984 until 1994, Ween's live lineup consisted of Freeman on lead vocals and occasional rhythm guitar, Melchiondo on lead guitar and backing vocals, and aDigital Audio Tape (DAT) machine providing the pre-recorded backing tracks. They self-releasedseveral cassettes in the late eighties includingMrs. Slack (1984),Erica Peterson's Flaming Crib Death (1986),The Crucial Squeegie Lip (1987),Axis: Bold as Boognish (1988), andPrime 5 (1988). In 1987, Freeman also released his own tape,Synthetic Socks, which featured Melchiondo on a few tracks. Ween's public debut was at theNew Hope-Solebury High School talent show in 1986, where they performed a cover ofJimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" with Chris Williams (a.k.a. Mean Ween) on bass and Karl Weimer on drums. Although this era was mostly just Freeman, Melchiondo and the DAT machine, they did play a few shows in the '80s as "The Ween" backed by theRollins Band rhythm section,Andrew Weiss andSim Cain.[8]
By 1988, Ween had become regulars at John and Peter's in New Hope andCity Gardens inTrenton, New Jersey. At City Gardens, they opened for acts such asThey Might Be Giants,GWAR,Butthole Surfers, andHenry Rollins. Following a February 1990 City Gardens performance where Ween's reception was lukewarm, Rollins got on stage and warned the crowd to "start liking them now", for one day, "you will get down on your filthy knees and crawl to the altar that is Ween".[9]
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Dave Ayers, working inA&R forMinneapolis-based record labelTwin/Tone, went to see a live performance by alt-rock bandSkunk in the late '80s inMaplewood, New Jersey in anticipation of signing them to a record deal. Ween, friends of Skunk, were the opening act that night. Ayers signed Ween to Twin/Tone that night, and would soon become the band's manager. Skunk would break up in 1991 and their drummer,Claude Coleman, Jr., would play a few shows with Ween in 1992 before joining the band full-time in 1994.[10]
Ween's debut album for Twin/Tone,GodWeenSatan: The Oneness, was released on November 16, 1990. It consisted of 26 tracks that were written during their first six years, and can be thought of as a "best of" this era. Some of the songs, such as "You Fucked Up" and "Bumblebee", had already appeared on various Ween cassettes from the late '80s. "You Fucked Up", "Fat Lenny", "Nan", and the retitledPrince cover "L.M.L.Y.P." would become staples of the band's live show for years to come. Ween played their first overseas shows in support of the album, with a series of dates in the Netherlands in December/January 1990–91.[11]
The band released their second full-length album,The Pod, in 1991 on theShimmy-Disc label. It was recorded on a four-track cassette recorder from January to October 1990. The album borrows its title from theSolebury Township, Pennsylvania apartment in which it was recorded. The duo's use ofdrum machines, pitch-shifted guitars/vocals and drug-laced humor became a trademark part of their sound. The cover ofThe Pod was a parody of the cover of the 1975Leonard Cohen album,The Best of Leonard Cohen, but with the head of Chris "Mean Ween" Williams (who played bass on thePod track "Alone") in place of Cohen's. Although the liner notes claim the album was recorded under the influence ofscotchgard, Freeman would later say that this was tongue-in-cheek.[12] Following the release ofThe Pod, Ween embarked on their first extensive U.S. tour, as well as a week-long U.K. tour that included a recording withJohn Peel in theBBC studio. The February 1992 U.K. tour would be Ween's first performances with Claude Coleman Jr., and also featured Shimmy-Disc founderKramer on bass.
Ween signed withElektra Records and released their major label debutPure Guava on November 10, 1992. Pure Guava featured their highest charting single, "Push th' Little Daisies" which gained them media andMTV attention, as the video was a highlighted target onMTV'sBeavis and Butt-Head. The song was also a hit in Australia, reaching number 18 on the singles chart.[13] The track "Flies on My Dick" featured lead vocals byGuy Heller, singer of Melchiondo's other band,Moistboyz. Heller would occasionally perform the song live with Ween.[14] Ween toured the U.S. in support of the album, and the show of December 9 in Chapel Hill, NC would later be released as the CD/DVD packageAt the Cat's Cradle, 1992 in 2008. Also in support ofPure Guava, Ween performed atMTV Spring Break in Daytona Beach, FL as well as onTheJane Pratt Show.
Following the release ofPure Guava, Ween began to expand their live and studio lineup, providing both a crisper production sound in the studio and an easier live setup. Claude Coleman Jr. officially joined the band as drummer in March 1994, while Ween's long-time producerAndrew Weiss picked up the bass duties. The Weiss-producedChocolate and Cheese was released in 1994, featuring tracks influenced by '70s pop/rock and soul, such as "Freedom of '76" and "Voodoo Lady", the latter of which appeared on theRoad Trip andDude, Where's My Car? soundtracks. The "Freedom of '76" music video was directed bySpike Jonze and the video for "I Can't Put My Finger On It" was filmed at a Middle Eastern restaurant and featured actual employees of the restaurant. Both videos would be shown on season 5 ofBeavis and Butt-Head in 1995. Ween performed "I Can't Put My Finger On It" onLate Night with Conan O'Brien in January 1995. TheChocolate and Cheese track "Roses Are Free" began being covered byPhish regularly in concert in 1997. Freeman would later comment: "I likeTrey Anastasio as a person, but as far as the music goes, all that jam band shit makes me want to puke".[15] In 2011,Chocolate and Cheese would have a book written about it by Hank Shteamer, as a part of the33⅓ book series about music albums. Of recording the album, Dean Ween said, "I saw someone wrote a book about Chocolate and Cheese, and my son put it in the bathroom. I was reading through it. What people were saying about me and Aaron [Freeman, aka Gene Ween] was that there was all this thought that went into this shit. It's total bullshit. We wrote a lot of material—it was good, we knew it was good—we picked our favorite songs and we put them out on the record. That was it. [Laughter.] And that's been true of every record I've made, from the first Ween record to the second Dean Ween record."[16]
One month prior to the release ofChocolate and Cheese, Ween appeared in theSaturday Night Live filmIt's Pat, starringJulia Sweeney. The band (which in the film consisted of Freeman, Melchiondo, Weiss, and Weiss' brother John Weiss as the drummer) was featured in a supporting role and performed thePod track "Pork Roll, Egg & Cheese" and thePure Guava track "Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)". The film was both a critical and box office failure, and was subsequently pulled from theaters one week after its opening weekend.[17]
Also in 1994, Freeman, Melchiondo and Coleman collaborated with Japanesenoise rock bandBoredoms on a project released two years later asZ-Rock Hawaii. Melchiondo became a big fan of Boredoms upon seeing them live inPhiladelphia in 1993, calling them "the heaviest band [he] had ever seen since theButthole Surfers".[18] Boredoms frontmanYamantaka Eye had previously released an album that heavily sampled Ween'sPod album. These recording sessions took place in aPennington, New Jersey studio during the recording ofChocolate and Cheese.
Ween turned toNashvillestudio musicians and producerBen Vaughn for the November 1995 recording of12 Golden Country Greats (1996) which contained only ten tracks. There are two theories regarding the title of the album.[citation needed] The first claim is that it refers to the dozen veteran musicians, known as The Shit Creek Boys, who played on the album. The second claim refers to the fact that the band did indeed record twelve songs during the demo sessions for the album. When it came time to record the actual album, the band chose not to use the songs "I Got No Darkside" and "So Long, Jerry" but kept the album title. "So Long, Jerry", a tribute to the then recently deceasedJerry Garcia, was featured as a B-Side on the "Piss Up a Rope" single. Sticking to Nashville tradition, Freeman and Melchiondo provided only vocals, allowing The Shit Creek Boys to play all the instruments.Elvis Presley's former backing vocal quartetThe Jordanaires appeared on the tracks "I'm Holding You" and "Powder Blue".[19]
After a brief return to the original lineup of Freeman, Melchiondo and the DAT machine for a series of dates opening for theFoo Fighters, Ween toured with the Shit Creek Boys in October 1996. This lineup performed not only12 Golden Country Greats material, but also played Ween songs from previous eras with added country instrumentation, including thePure Guava tracks "Pumpin' 4 the Man" and "Push th' Little Daisies" and theChocolate and Cheese tracks "What Deaner Was Talkin' About" and "Buenas Tardes Amigo". Parts of the show of October 23 atToronto'sPhoenix Concert Theatre would later be released as the album,Live in Toronto Canada (2001).
The nautically themed albumThe Mollusk followed in 1997. The album was another eclectic set showing Ween's penchant for satire, deconstruction, andpastiche, including 1960s Brit-pop,sea shanties,Broadwayshow tunes, and especiallyprogressive rock. Months prior to its release, Freeman would describe the album as "our dark, acid rock record".[20] In 2007, Melchiondo himself namedThe Mollusk his favorite among Ween's oeuvre.[21]The Mollusk was the album to finally feature studio recordings of "Buckingham Green" and "The Blarney Stone", both of which had been performed regularly in concert for years. Although they did not play on the album, bassistDave Dreiwitz and keyboardistGlenn McClelland joined the band in April 1997; their debut was a performance of theMollusk track "The Golden Eel" on an episode of theComedy Central showViva Variety. The lineup of Freeman-Melchiondo-McClelland-Dreiwitz-Coleman would remain the same until Ween's hiatus in 2012.
Following the release ofThe Mollusk, Ween contributed two songs to two differentTrey Parker/Matt Stone projects. The song "Love" appeared in the filmOrgazmo in September 1997. The song "The Rainbow", as well as Freeman and Melchiondo themselves, appeared in a season 2 episode ofSouth Park, titled "Chef Aid" in October 1998. It was later released on the compilationChef Aid: The South Park Album.[22] Parker & Stone later directed the music video for theWhite Pepper track "Even If You Don't". The band's desire to pursue alternate forms of media led to theMP3-only releaseCraters of the Sac (1999), presented by Melchiondo for online download and free trade.Elektra Records released a live compilation titledPaintin' the Town Brown: Ween Live 1990-1998 in 1999.
Ween's sixth studio album,White Pepper, was the band's final studio release for Elektra and was released May 2, 2000. Thepop-themed,Lennon-McCartney–inspired album produced two singles: "Even If You Don't", which was made into a music video directed byTrey Parker andMatt Stone, and "Stay Forever". Shortly before the release ofWhite Pepper, Ween started the Internet radio station WeenRadio, which was awarded third best Internet music site byRolling Stone.[23] In July 2000, Ween performed theWhite Pepper track "Exactly Where I'm At" on theLate Show with David Letterman.
In November 2000, Ween contributed the song "Loop de Loop" for theSpongeBob SquarePants episode "Your Shoe's Untied".[24] SpongeBob creatorStephen Hillenburg had contacted Ween and told them thatThe Mollusk was one of the show's biggest inspirations. Many future episodes of SpongeBob would also contain subtle references to Ween.[25] Additionally, theMollusk track "Ocean Man" was featured in the closing credits ofThe SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2004.[26] Ween also teamed up withBen Vaughn to compose and perform the theme song and the interstitial music for thesitcomGrounded for Life which aired from 2001 to 2005.[27]
Ween formed their own label in 2001, Chocodog Records, which oversaw the release of several self-produced live sets.Paintin' the Town Brown, which was compiled and mastered by the band, was meant to be the first Chocodog release. According to Melchiondo, once the album was completed, Elektra realized the sales potential of the CD and denied Ween the right to release it through Chocodog. Later, Ween released the first official Chocodog album,Live in Toronto. The limited-pressing CD, available exclusively through the band website, became an instant collector's item. Subsequent Chocodog releases were produced in higher volumes to meet demand. To celebrate the re-release of the band's debut albumGodWeenSatan: The Oneness, Ween returned to the original lineup of Freeman, Melchiondo, and the DAT to perform the album in its entirety on September 14, 2001, at John and Peter's in New Hope. Taping was not permitted at this show; not for long was it "the ultimate unreleased bootleg" as Melchiondo called it; it was released in 2016 asGodWeenSatan Live.[28][non-primary source needed]
On August 7, 2002, Claude Coleman Jr. was seriously injured in a car accident onRoute 78 nearNewark, New Jersey, suffering a broken back and pelvis. Ween quickly organized a couple of benefit shows atNew York City'sBowery Ballroom in October to help cover his medical bills.[29] Ween recruitedVandals drummerJosh Freese to perform at these gigs as well as on the band's next album,Quebec. Coleman would make his comeback in December, backing up Freeman at an acoustic show inBrooklyn. Also in December, Ween would release the three-discLive at Stubb's, which contained parts of two performances inAustin, Texas from July 2000 during theWhite Pepper tour.
Ween signed toSanctuary Records and releasedQuebec, their first studio release in three years, on August 5, 2003.Quebec was noticeably darker in tone than much of Ween's work; according to Freeman, many of the songs were written as he was going through a divorce: "I wrote most of these songs right before the end [of the relationship]. A lot of these songs are about that. Even if it's not direct, you can feel the beginning of the end of the breakup in these songs."[30] Melchiondo would add, "I like it as a record, but it's very negative. It's one of our darker records, I think. I don't listen to any of our records, but I havenever listened to that one."[31] On September 3, Ween performed theQuebec track "Happy Colored Marbles" onLast Call with Carson Daly.[32]
Later that year, the band held a poll on their official message boards to select songs for the band to play on their forthcoming live-in-studio albumAll Request Live. Released on November 22, the album would feature a performance of all five parts of "The Stallion" (Parts 1 & 2 fromThe Pod, Part 3 fromPure Guava, the unreleased Part 4 from the demos forChocolate and Cheese, and Part 5 fromCraters of the Sac). On November 3, 2017, they would perform "The Stallion Suite" live at Stubb's BBQ in Austin, TX. All Request Live also included rarely played early Ween tracks such as "Pollo Asado", "Mononucleosis", and "Cover it with Gas and Set it on Fire", and Ween's rejectedPizza Hut jingle, "Where'd the Cheese Go?".
In 2004, Ween releasedLive in Chicago, a DVD and CD set that compiled tracks from two live performances from theQuebec tour atChicago'sVic Theatre in November 2003. After playing the festival circuit in the summer, Ween hit the road for a West Coast tour in October. Following the show of October 17 inSan Diego, Ween's manager Greg Frey announced that the upcoming Midwest tour would be canceled so Freeman could enter alcohol rehab. In the statement, Frey wrote: "There is a problem within the band, that requires immediate intervention, for the health, welfare, and safety of one of its members. For this member, years of touring have taken their toll."[33] Ween would take a year-long hiatus from touring before hitting the road again in October 2005.
In 2005, Ween hit the studio to record better quality versions of previously unreleased songs for the compilationShinola, Vol. 1. The twelve tracks were all, according to Melchiondo, "songs we regretted not putting on other records". The tracks spanned the band's career, from "Tastes Good on th' Bun", aPod outtake, to "Someday", aQuebec outtake. Different versions of three of the songs, "Big Fat Fuck", "How High Can You Fly?" and "Monique the Freak" had previously appeared onCraters of the Sac. Melchiondo would later comment, "We called it Volume 1, but I don't know if I want to go through that again anytime soon".[31]
In February 2006, Ween rented an old farmhouse and converted it into a working studio. After writing over 50 songs and recording rough versions through 2006, they picked through them and, with Andrew Weiss as a producer, re-recorded album versions for what would becomeThe Friends EP and the full-lengthLa Cucaracha which was released October 23, 2007, onRounder Records.La Cucaracha, which would prove to be Ween's final album, would later be called a "big piece of shit" by Freeman, adding, "I think the songs on it were good, or a bunch of songs, but overall that was a big clue Mickey and I were finito".[34]
On September 21, 2008, Melchiondo announced on the official Ween website that they planned to release a CD-DVD combo before Christmas of that year. He stated, "This time we're going to be going all the way back to the days when we were still a duo with a cassette deck in the early 90s. It's probably the brownest CD on the Chocodog label yet." That CD was titledAt the Cat's Cradle and was recorded live at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina on December 9, 1992. The package also included a DVD featuring some video of performances from the same era.[35]
Although Freeman had occasionally played solo acoustic shows before 2008, he turned his focus towards these shows—billed as "Gene Ween"—following theLa Cucaracha tour. In December 2008, he began performing with "The Gene Ween Band", which featured Dreiwitz on bass along withJoe Russo on drums and Scott Metzger on guitar. The set-lists of these shows featured more obscure Ween songs rarely played at Ween shows, a few covers, as well as numerous Freeman-penned songs being performed for the first time. Freeman would perform dozens of shows both solo and with the Gene Ween Band from 2008 to 2011. His first solo record,Marvelous Clouds, an album ofRod McKuen covers, would be released three weeks before Ween's breakup.[36]
While Freeman was working on non-Ween musical projects, Melchiondo turned his focus tofishing. Melchiondo, who spent a lot of time in his youth at his parents' beach house inBeach Haven, New Jersey, became a licensed fishing boat captain and hosted a web series, "Brownie Troop Fishing Show", from 2008 to 2011. As of 2015, he still offers trips on his website, "Mickey's Guide Service", running them out of New Hope as well asBelmar, NJ. In 2013, it was announced that Trey Parker and Matt Stone would be producing a pilot for a reality television show about fishing, starring Melchiondo andLes Claypool.[37]
On February 3, 2010, Ween released a new song, "DC Won't Do You No Good", that became available through a Target Cancer website. On July 28, 2010, theNational Post featured an article,[38] with an interview with Melchiondo, in which it was stated that the band was due in the studio the following winter to start work on their tenth album. However, that album never came out.
Ween embarked on a brief West Coast tour at the beginning of 2011. The first show of the tour, January 24 at theQueen Elizabeth Theatre inVancouver, British Columbia, was a turning point in Ween's history.[who?] It was noticeable from the start that something was off with Freeman, who played the tambourine off-beat on the first song, "Fiesta". His vocals were off-key throughout the night, and he appeared to be heavily intoxicated. Eventually, Freeman lay down on stage while the rest of the band played an instrumental, jam version of theCarpenters song "Superstar". As Freeman began tuning his guitar in preparation for "Birthday Boy", Melchiondo and Dreiwitz walked off the stage, while Coleman and McClelland switched instruments. After "Birthday Boy" was finished, Coleman and McClelland left Freeman to play the final four songs by himself and horribly off-key.[39] Despite this disaster, the band performed inSeattle, Washington,[40] the following night with no issues. Freeman later wrote a song about the Vancouver incident, "Covert Discretion", which appeared as the opening track to theself-titled debut album by his new band, called Freeman, in 2014. That same year, he commented, "You don't blow it on stage, lying on your back, screaming nonsense in front of 5,000 people and not try to change something. Chances are when you're doing something like that, you've got to do something differently."[41]
On August 11, 2011, Melchiondo quietly released an MP3-only collection of songs calledThe Caesar Demos, named after the band's original working title forQuebec, to friends on hisFacebook page. In his comment, he stated the songs were all recorded between 2001 and 2003 while Claude Coleman was recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident, and that many of the tracks featured only himself and Freeman. In addition to a handful of tracks that eventually madeQuebec,Caesar Demos would also feature several previously unreleased tracks.[42][43]
Freeman announced toRolling Stone on May 29, 2012, that he was "retiring Gene Ween",[44] and a few days later, Ween's manager, Greg Frey, told fans on Facebook that Freeman had decided to "end his musical relationship with Ween", in order to "more fully explore and pursue his solo career".[45] Melchiondo appeared to be unaware of this, stating, "This is news to me, all I can say for now I guess".[46] On July 20, Melchiondo addressed the supposed "breakup" and stated "I can only speak for myself, but as far as I'm concerned, as long as Aaron and I are both alive on this planet, Ween is still together. We've never broken up. The idea of quitting is just laughable. This isn't something you can quit. This is a life sentence."[47]
Although no one knew it at the time, Ween's final performances for more than four years were a three-night run atDenver's Fillmore Auditorium December 29–31, 2011, with "The Blarney Stone" being the final song performed by the band until their 2016 reunion.[48] Melchiondo quickly re-formed Moistboyz, which had been on a six-year hiatus, and also started a new band, The Dean Ween Group. Freeman played solo shows until 2014, when he began touring and recording with his new band, "Freeman". In 2015, Freeman began using the Gene Ween moniker again for live performances.
On November 16, 2015, Ween announced that they would reunite for two concerts at the1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado on February 12 and 13, 2016.[49] During ticket presale, a third show was added on February 14, 2016 due to demand. Throughout 2016, Ween played sporadic reunion shows in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, and San Francisco. The band also made festival appearances in Toronto, Chicago, Portland,Arrington, Virginia,Okeechobee, Florida, andManchester, Tennessee, for Bonnaroo, which was streamed online viaRed Bull TV. The band was also due to appear in April at Levitation Festival in Austin, which was canceled the day before the weekend began.
A sequel to the first outtakes collection,Shinola vol. 1, was confirmed to be in the works by Dean Ween on Facebook in January 2016.[50] However, as of 2025 there have been no updates on this. On October 19, 2016 the band announced the release of the live albumGodWeenSatan Live, which was recorded on September 14, 2001, and features the band performing its debut album in its entirety. It was released on November 16, 2016.[51] On June 1, 2018, Warner Brothers released a compilation album titledBananas and Blow; according to Melchiondo, the band had no knowledge of the compilation until it was released. Melchiondo noted that the song choice for the compilation felt "random".[52]
While no new recordings have been made by Ween since their reunion, several of its members have done side projects or collaborated with other artists since 2015. Claude Coleman's side project Amandla released their third albumLaughing Heart in 2017 and toured behind the record through that year and into 2018.[53][54] In 2018, Dean Ween released the second studio album by The Dean Ween Group, "rock2", and toured solo behind it.[55] In 2019, both Dean and Glenn McClelland assisted with the making of funk band Solid Bronze's debut albumThe Fruit Basket. Dean co-produced the album along withChris Harford, the album was recorded in his personal studio, and both Dean and McClelland appeared on several tracks as performers.[56][57]
Like most concert tours by music artists in 2020, Ween's touring wasdisrupted by COVID-19; dates for June and July were postponed into 2021.
On August 9 and 10, 2022, Ween played theSouth Park 25th Anniversary Concert alongsidePrimus andSouth Park creatorsMatt Stone andTrey Parker. It was broadcast onComedy Central on August 13 and onParamount+ on August 14.[58]
2024 marked 40 years since the band as a whole formed, and 30 years since their fourth albumChocolate and Cheese was released. The band was initially planning to celebrate these milestones in two major forms: a reissue ofChocolate and Cheese, featuring the original tracks remastered byBernie Grundman and 15 outtakes and demos,[59] and a tour that would cap off with a concert at Philadelphia's Mann Center where they would playChocolate and Cheese in full.[60] The reissue ofChocolate and Cheese ended up being fairly successful, with the vinyl selling more than 5000 units in its first week, enough for it to hit number 15 on Billboard'sTop Album Sales chart and number 3 on the magazine's Vinyl Albums chart.[61] The tour, however, would not go as well. In March, the first few dates of the tour, which would've seen the band play across the Southeastern United States, ended up being canceled, with the band saying this was to preserve Dean Ween's "mental and spiritual wellbeing".[62] The band proceeded on in August, playing a couple shows in Missoula and Spokane. However, on August 6th, just hours before they were supposed to take the stage in Seattle, they canceled the remaining dates in the northwest, leaving only the Mann Center show on their schedule.[63] 3 weeks later, on August 29, 2024, that show was canceled as well, with the band announcing via their social media that they would be ceasing live performances "for the foreseeable future," citing Melchiondo's ongoing mental health issues related to the stress of touring.[3]
As of 2025, there have been no updates on Ween returning to touring or recording, but on July 30th of that year, drummer Claude Coleman stated in an interview that they would "come back around at some point".[64]
Ween is known for its far-reaching musical approach, which is influenced by many different genres of music. This style has been termedalternative rock[65][66][67] andexperimental rock[68] by critics and journalists. Melchiondo once stated, "Each of us had different things in our record collections that the other one didn't have. Aaron's dad had a lot of psychedelic records, I was really into punk rock, and we would just turn each other on to music."[69] Freeman remarked in 2011, "I think when Ween formed I was really into the synthesizernew wave thing of the mid-'80s and Mickey was more into the punk rock thing".[70]
Both Freeman and Melchiondo have stated several times that one of the band's biggest influences wasPrince.[71] TheGodWeenSatan track "L.M.L.Y.P." borrows lyrics from two Prince songs, "Alphabet St." and "Shockadelica". Additionally, on rare occasions, Ween has jammed on Prince's "Kiss", placing it in the middle of "Voodoo Lady" during live performances. Other Prince songs covered in concert by Ween include "1999", "Housequake", and "Purple Rain".[72] In 2012, Melchiondo remarked on his website that "by far, hands down the greatest living guitarist in any genre is Prince Rogers Nelson. Prince does so many things well that it's easy to forget that he is also a world class shredder."[73]
Other stated influences includeThe Beatles,[74]Parliament-Funkadelic,[75] theButthole Surfers,[76]Pink Floyd,[77] theDead Kennedys,[74]Laurie Anderson,[74]The Allman Brothers Band,[75]James Brown,[8]Devo,[78]The Residents andEarth, Wind and Fire.[79] In concert, Ween has frequently covered songs byDavid Bowie,Led Zeppelin,Grateful Dead,Neil Young,Motörhead,Van Halen,The Doors,Frank Sinatra, andBilly Joel.[80] Dean has stated that his favorite album of all time isThere's a Riot Goin' On bySly and The Family Stone.[81]
Because of Ween's wide variety of styles and humorous lyrics, they have often been compared toFrank Zappa. Both members have denied Zappa's influence, and in a 2011 interview, Freeman stated that although he was influenced byThe Mothers of Invention, he was never a fan of Zappa's post-Mothers work.[70] Melchiondo says he is not a fan of Zappa because Zappa's take on different genres of music seems sarcastic and insincere.[2] Freeman performed the Mothers-era Zappa song "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?" at the Frank Zappa Day Festival inBaltimore in September 2011.[82]
From Ween's earliest days, they claimed to be "sprouted from the demon-god Boognish". The image of the Boognish is the band's logo. Boognish is also featured in the lyrics of several Ween songs, including "Up on th' Hill", "Young Chou Lin", and "The Stallion, pt. 4". The band coined their own term "brown", which is used to describe performances, songs, etc. that are "fucked up, in a good way".[83] The word "brown" is also featured in the lyrics of the songs "Can't Put My Finger on It", "Mutilated Lips", "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)", and "Chocolate Town", as well as the title of the band's live albumPaintin' the Town Brown. Another commonly used word is "waste" ("Can U Taste the Waste?", "Tender Situation", "Chocolate Town", and "Back to Basom").
The band's lyrics also commonly contain references to the band's members, frequent collaborators, and friends, including Freeman ("I Saw Gener Cryin' In His Sleep", "Up on th' Hill", and "Puffy Cloud"), Melchiondo ("What Deaner Was Talkin' About", "The Goin' Gets Tough From The Getgo", "Puffy Cloud", "The Stallion, pt. 2", and "Leave Deaner Alone"), Williams ("Booze Me Up and Get Me High" and "Sketches of Winkle"), and Weiss ("Young Chou Lin" and "Booze Me Up and Get Me High"). Coleman states that the song "I Don't Wanna Leave You on the Farm" was written about him not wanting to leave his then-girlfriend to go on tour, but denied that "Waving My Dick In the Wind" was about him, calling the idea "complete nonsense".[84]
Ween has also been known for countless references to food, most notably the New Jersey regional favorite "pork roll" (the term generally used in South Jersey) found in the lyrics to fourPod tracks: "Pork Roll, Egg & Cheese", "Frank", "Awesome Sound", and "She Fucks Me". ThePod track "Pollo Asado" features Freeman giving a rendition of a conversation he had with a customer while he worked at New Hope's El Taco Loco. The liner notes ofGodWeenSatan: The Oneness instructed Ween fans to bring food for the band to their concerts, with the request updated in the liner notes ofPure Guava to "bring us hot meals. No more junk food, thanks".[85]
Current members
Former members
Studio albums
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