Ween. Are they great or what?

-- J
Mark feels the same way. This does not compute.

"Bananas and Blow" so real

"fluffy, my furry buddy, chewed his leg on the porch"

I saw them on the tour for that country album, and ... okay, you know a regular Ween crowd? Which is already like a Noah's Ark of different varieties of drug-addled weirdos? Add to that country weirdos. Seriously the strangest crowd I have ever stood in.

they're my favorite band. but la cucaracha was a huge letdown.

no way. "woman and man" is their epic -- it's worth it just for that

La Cucaracha was a huge comeback.

broke up.

found out via el-p's twitter

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/aaron-freeman-closes-the-book-on-ween-20120529

no one cares

*drops bong*

I care, this is a huge bummer.

As a sidenote, has anyone heard that Aaron Freeman record of Rod McKuen covers? Wondered if that was worth checking out.

I mean, it's sad in the same way hearing that a couple you were friends with but haven't talked to in over a decade broke up is sad. Honestly, though, if this is what Aaron Freeman needs to stay clean and sober, I couldn't be happier.

DWH otm. Sounds like he just needs to make the split to keep himself in a place where he can stay clean.

xp otm

I'd love for them to make more albums as strong as latter-day shit like La Cucaracha & Quebec, but they had a great run & I'm perfectly comfortable with the (frankly incredible) range of material they've released over the past 20+ years. Their live shows were legendary & I will definitely miss those, but I have to imagine that this is the kind of 'breakup' which can easily be dusted off when for the occasional one-off or small tour whenever they get the urge.

I don't know about this. It just seemed like an off-the-cuff remark and the journalist totally ran with it.

Naw, there's plenty of "this is the end" type verbiage in the interview.

"or what"

I know, I know. I'm just in denial. (x-post)

Can I just point out how many amazing headlines the author of that piece totally missed out on?

Aaron Freeman Cuts Ween Short
Ween: Aaron Freeman Pulls Out
Happy Trails To Aaron Freeman's Ween

Although the headline isn't bad, as is.

Against Me Isn't The Only Band With A Lead Singer Who's Changing Names And Getting Rid Of Ween

Sounds like Gener might've pulled a Frank Black: Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo Differ On Ween's Continued Performance

huge bummer.

Did Gene have a problem staying clean?

Against Me Isn't The Only Band With A Lead Singer Who's Changing Names And Getting Rid Of Ween

amazing

So nobody here heard Freeman's solo thing?

oh yeah i started listening to it..

it's all covers of the guy who wrote "Seasons in the sun" (forgot his name) so it's not stuff written by Aaron or anything.. it's nothing exciting IMO and doesn't sound like Ween at all

Rod McKuen, whose name I know only from having shopped in small-town used book stores for books of poetry for over a decade, wherein he comprises 95 percent of the stock.

Did Gene have a problem staying clean?

yeah, and touring seemed to often be a bad influence on him - Dean pulled a tour a few days in, five or six years ago, because it became immediately apparent that the road had inspired Gener to go from 0 to 70s rock star in nothing flat. He's talked about how his rehab program includes a sponsor to go on the solo tour and stay with him p much 24/7.

n/a you have no idea

can definitely understand this (if it's true) as Gene really seems to have lost control of himself lately. Regardless of what they said about La Cucaracha the fact pretty much remains that they have been pretty dormant and their recent releases don't have the same soul. I'm glad that Gene is soldiering on, hope Dean finds something to do as well (as he's really an excellent guitar player, I'd hate it if he hung it up) On the other hand I'm pretty sure they'll be back pretty soon

also the McKuen covers album really isn't that bad. Most of the source material is kind of hokey but Gene really does a great job with it. Like everyone else I'm just hoping he puts that kind of touch on his originals since the production is pretty good. More than anything I feel like this kind of thing is probably good for him and a gateway to whatever he chooses to do next. It's not really supposed to be great.

A lot of their early songs were great, but the humor was never funny. I pretty much lost interest around the time of The Mollusk & White Pepper. Still, it's sad to see such a unique band break up.

I cannot even fathom losing interest around two of their greatest albums. That post boggles my mind, but I've learned that different people look for wildly different things from Ween.

Yeah the quadrilogy of Mollusk/White Pepper/quebec/Shinola is probably going to be their legacy. Such great material all around and the replay value on those has been surprisingly high. Even though Shinola isn't even a real album. This is really why La Cucaracha was such a disappointment - it's an okay album, but it just seemed like Ween were only getting better and better

TBH, although there's some good stuff in there, that particular quadrilogy barely registers with me. It's all about GodWeenSatan/The Pod/Pure Guava/Chocolate and Cheese in my world.

ftr rod mckuen >>>>>>> all ween

it's time.... to troll

Just posted on his Facebook:

"In order to more fully explore and pursue my solo career, I've decided to end my musical relationship with Ween. I want to personally thank each and every fan for all their love and support through the years."

beneath all this "exploratory committee" horseshit, you know it's acrimonious

i dunno i can believe that dude just decided on his own and started telling the press without even talking to the other guy and is just trying to be all "i don't want to fight about it, i'm done"

It feels to me like Freeman's thinking is "gotta kill Gene before Gene kills me."

he has to take a sponsor on tour with him jeez.

just think of the master

Ween are squarely in the young neurodivergent/queer music nerd canon that's swept up Cardiacs as a legacy band and which makes up most of my online social circle these days. Even I've had to admit that Quebec is a masterpiece

Surprising as I've always thought there was a very distinct frat boy element to Ween.

there totally is, bro city

It's (by far) their least attractive aspect.

We used to go see them a lot in the late 90s, early 2000s. It was funny to see the crowds shift after phish covered roses for free. Before it was definitely a more punk scene

There is no greater joy than rolling up in the middle school carpool line and seeing your child’s stricken face as she realizes that you are blasting Poopship Destroyer turned up to 11.

Ween crowds always seem to be an interesting assortment of weirdos. there's definitely a fratboy element to it but you can't really generalize with these folks. which makes sense because I do think they have wide appeal. I mean musically they're all over the map but as people I think they're pretty easy to identify with, like you can clearly track the way their lives and attitudes and how the very nature of their friendship changed from one album to the next and there's something very real about that. one of those bands where you kind of feel like you know them.

If anyone was around in ye olde ween.net forum days it was definitely more of an internet druggie and/or edgelord vibe than anything fratboy or jam band related.

I think I saw them at Tramps once in NYC it must’ve been 1996. They played a lot of songs I didn’t know too well. I mostly only fuck with the first three: GWS, The Pod and Pure Guava.

I feel like Chocolate and Cheese was their frat heyday. Stoned dudes in dorms … “he was head honcho with the ladies…”