"Hey man, like, do ya got any Ween? Here it is."

Ah, Ween. Envelope-pushers of the first rank that delight (or annoy) anybody in earshot with their offbeat, mercurial and often chemically-induced music. Since 1990, they've freaking out their audiences with songs like "She Fucks Me" and "Reggaejunkiejew." The new album, "Chocolate and Cheese," is the most recent and subtle album in their subversive repertoire. Not that Dean and Gene Ween have curbed their psychotic songwriting tendencies; "Candi," "I Can't Put My Finger On It." and "Don't Shit Where You Eat" are just as perverse as anything they have recorded.

But the usually unusual ideas the Ween brothers are famous for have been transformed into uncannily catchy pop songs, which is something that Dean Ween is really proud of: "I like a lot of the songs on this one. I can sit down with a guitar and play along with it. We don't have to answer the question 'How do you intend to pull this off live? We can just play it, and people don't get all freaked out that the vocals are all pitched up or slowed down."

Still, Ween's idea of a "song" is miles away from what most people expect from pop music. Last year's "Pure Guava" featured the single "Push Th' Little Daisies," which for all its helium-squeaky vocals, has strong lyrics and competent playing. Songs like "Freedom of '76," "Voodoo Lady," and "Baby Bitch" are even more accessible, barring the occasional "fuck," which earned the group a "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" warning-surely the first step in any group's plan for world domination.

Their ideas are strange and plentiful "Chocolate and Cheese" has a whopping 16 tracks so where do they come from? "You can be inspired by anything. I'm inspired mostly by things I hear, like cool words. For instance, we were driving down I-95 and we saw 'Joppa Road' as one of the exits, and that's how the song came about, because the words looked so funny. We were on mushrooms and I kept saying, 'Mr., won't you please help my pony?" to Gene, who was passed out on the couch. A lot comes out of your brain when you're fucked up," Dean laughed.

That certainly rings true for Ween. The bizarre sound effects on the hand's music is one of the few constants in their work. This album is no different. To get a particular effect for the song "Candi," off the new record, "I drove Gener around in the trunk of my car, and we recorded it on a portable phone," Dean remembered. "He's going 'Buhdadaddadadadah!" he couldn't hear anything, and it's really obvious it's on a phone. That was just 'cause we were drunk. It didn't really work like we thought it would, and it was too horrible in the trunk. It was in a snow-storm; that's probably the most fucked up thing we've done, and it's on that track. You can hear it."

He continued, "there's a number of ways to write songs. you could be listening to a lot of something and it really inspires you to play in a certain way, you can come up with chords and write words to them," explained Dean. "We write together and separately. Gene might write a song at home and the two of us will record it, and vice versa. I might have some lyrics and he might have some music. We both play guitar and we both write lyrics."

But what really inspires Ween to be creative is the good time they have making music. "We're trying to amuse ourselves, if you wanna know the truth. We're trying to have a good time. And we do, and that's why we keep going." However, not everybody shares Dean and Gene's sense of humor. About those who just don't get it, Dean says, "Oh, I don't know. They just have a problem, I think. People think we intentionally try to piss off politically correct people, but we don't, not on purpose. I guess we do anyway. I'm not hung-up about certain things in my life; I'll do anything to have a good time. In rock 'n' roll especially, if you're gonna be all PC and conscious and stuff, you better subtract all the greatest rock 'n' roll from your system immediately.

"And it's just getting worse and worse; it wasn't always this way, you know? Classically, rock in the '70s was very dick-oriented thing; not that I believe in that, but people never gave Ted Nugent shit about being a bow-hunting, beer-drinking, out-looking-for-pussy kinda guy. It was acceptable; there wasn't a question of 'How can you say these horrible things?' And you don't take it too seriously. I don't like music that's all politically correct and conscious. It sucks! I'm more into the Lynyrd Skynyrd ethic," he explained.

While some people see Ween as offensive, still others see them as a novelty act, which also bothers Dean. "A lot of people have said really terrible things about us, but there's other people who know exactly what we're doing. I don't think we're a novelty band anyway, because we write good

songs. We would never try and take the piss out of anybody. A lot of people try and parody shit, but we would never try and do that. 'Oh, that's the Prince song, that's the Mexican song, that's what people say to us, but that's not what we're trying to do at all. It all sounds like Ween to me.

"We're not parodying Mexicans; we're trying to make good songs and have fun with it. That's the problem, I think, when you're funny and having fun-our stuff can be funny-you're not allowed to do that and be serious at the same time. Fuck it, we never think about stuff like that. We can't."

Fortunately, having fun hasn't impeded the Ween brothers' career; "Chocolate and Cheese" is the band's second album for Elektra, and Dean is happy at his new home: "Yeah, I like it very much. We've never tried to do anything for ourselves but make the music. I think good things have come our way because of it. We got our first record deal with Twin Tone by accident, and Kramer called us and said he wanted to make a record with us, and Elektra contacted us. We've never tried to get gigs or record deals. We put all of our energy into the music, and I think our energy it's paid off."

But don't think that Ween don't care about success: "I would like to be mega-successful, as big as Sinatra," We've said that since we were 15 or 16, and I think we can get there doing exactly what we're doing now, because we can write good pop songs and I think the day will come when we have a number one record." Perhaps they will, one day. But this Saturday you can see the "massive retardation," as Dean calls it, of Ween live. It's sure to be an, ahem, stimulating experience.

WEEN are playing Saturday night at St. Andrews Hall. Doors open at 9 p.m. for those 18 and over. It's $10. Motocaster opens. Call 961-MELT.