"Gene's Ween"

Ween are the spazz duo that brought enjoyment and many smiles to our lives with their sick 'n' pervy songs of general, all round wackiness. Y'know, 'Push th' little Daisies', 'Skycruiser', 'Voodoo Lady', 'Mr Won't You Please Help My Pony', 'Spinal Meningitis and all that. The duo consists of Gene and Dean otherwise known as Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo.

Gene Ween is in Amsterdam, on tour with his other half. It's 11.30am, and he's been woken up out of "a really, really deep sleep". Oh-oh, I think. People who have been woken up, are not good on the phone. I am not good on the phone. We are not good on the phone.

Gene is scantily clad, that is to say he has no clothes on. I know this because someone knocks on the door and he goes: "Er, hang on, I gotta put some clothes on."

"Do you have visitors," I enquire.

"Ah no, I have coffee," he replies. I suspect he's having funny cigarettes as well, as I hear toking sounds, and he is in Amsterdam after all. And there passed the highlight of our conversation.

We touched briefly on parents - "they didn't like our music at first, but they've grown to know and love our craft" his career "I'd be cooking if I wasn't doing this" - the people in his band "Andrew Weiss plays bass" (Weiss used to play bass for Hank Rollins and also produced Ween's most recent album Chocolate and Cheese) and fishing, which he and Dean do quite often when they're at home. "Yeah I miss [fishing]," he qualifies, and he's "really looking forward to doing it down there. Fishing that is.

Ween bestow their wealth of profanities, jolly japes and music to skip to upon us at the Powerstation in Auckland, on April 23.

SHIRLEY CHARLES