"POP HOOKS, LINE, AND SINKER"

The oddball duo ponders bass, catfish, and the lure of rock stardom.

SOMEWHERE ON the Delaware River, Gene Ween gets an idea for a video: Haiti! "There's like Haitians everywhere, and it's real, like, cinematic," he rhapsodizes, laying out the visuals for Ween's future single, the funkadelic, "Voodoo Lady." "That's a pretty serious concept," Dean Ween says solemnly.

It's nearing noon on a late-summer Wednesday, and the mop-topped "brothers" Gene and Dean - known outside the monde du rock as, respectively, Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, both 24 - are celebrating the release of their fourth platter, Chocolate and Cheese, in vintage Ween fashion: with a handful of rods and a cup of worms.

"Peace of mind," says Dean. "Gene and I are completely at one with our mu-sic after a day of fishing."

Rightly so. With the arrival of the radio-smooth Chocolate, the Dada duo shows every sign of becoming the Everly Brothers for the age of irony. But high-concept videos and potential stardom aside, not much has changed since Dean "was pumping gas for the tourists" and his partner was slinging fried meat at a local taco stand. The Weenies continue to live where they grew up in the leafy, boutique-rich towns of New Hope, Pa., and Lambertville, N.J. And they continue to churn out homemade tapes, to visit their parents regularly, to fish.

Ween has always been something of a red herring in the rock business. At an age when most aspiring rockers crash city clubs, Ween launched its world domination in suburbia, armed with a four-track recorder and a saucy cioppino of white-boy funk, glam, bubblegum, punk, country, and woozy drum-machine weirdness. After stirring up a cult following with two indie discs (1990's God Ween Satan - The Oneness and 1991's The Pod), the lackadaisical lads were signed by Elektra and put out 1992's Pure Guava, which stunned everyone (except the Weens) by selling in the six figures.

"We want to succeed," says Dean, bucking the usual cool-loser mantra of his alterna-rock brethren. "We want to have a number-one hit."

Their pick, as a matter of fact, is "Voodoo Lady." But as they pull anchor and head for home, Dean and Gene still haven't resolved the video enigma.

"Whaddya think?" probes Gene.

"I'm not sure I totally understand," Dean answers.

"What don't you understand?"

"So, we're in Haiti, but then what?"

"I'm sort of unclear about the plot once we get to Haiti," says Gene, "but we do something."