"WEEN"

They're Wes from Limp Bizkit's favourite band, and love nothing better than putting on three hour shows and subjecting their audience to straight-up rock, country, funk, pop and anything else that takes their fancy. Meet Ween.

No sleep for two days. The solution? Copious pints of lager with Jameson chasers and lots of high-tar cigarettes.

Ween's Aaron Freeman (guitarist: stagename Gene) and Mickey Melchiondo (aka Dean) can be forgiven for their behaviour, as having just flown in from the US they need to keep awake somehow. And their spirits are high anyway, despite their lack of bedrest. Maybe because they've just created what's probably their finest album to date - a little less crazy than previous releases, but still endearingly eclectic. From the pure pop of recent single Stay Forever through to brattier tracks such as Stroker Ace, Ween have blended their influences (primarily The Beatles, Devo and the Dead Kennedys) to create something rather special.

White Pepper has, as Mickey intimates, already been referred to as Ween's grown up, mature record and definitely their most commercial release thus far. The singer finds this funny as, "On this record more than any other, we're in the major stages of addiction of all kinds," he grins wickedly, taking another slug of his drink. And they in no way set out to make a commercially viable release, either. "We just wrote a bunch of songs like we usually do, only this time they ended up being more melodic than usual. I wouldn't say it's that poppy," argues the singer.

They can, however, put on a great show. Playing together for over 10 years, Ween certainly give value for money by playing for three hours at every gig. Aaron: "Every show is different, every night the song list changes. So many bands have the same setlist every night. And we have the advantage that, if you play for such a long time, there's bound to be something good in there," he adds. In the time the band has been together, there's been several changes to the live show. "We were a just a duo for a long time, now there's five of us."

A confirmed Strat player, with Ween's madness comes Aaron's guitar solos. He admits he held back on the soloing for a while, but now they're firmly back in the Ween set. Indeed, he tells us it 'sucks' that they've died out, that there should be more of them. "They've become a token part of our set now," he smiles. On the other hand, it could just be the beer talking. (HD)

Ween's album, White Pepper is out now on Mushroom Records

SOUTH PARK DIRECT!

For new single Even If You Don't, Ween roped in their good mates and South Park creators Matt and Trey for directing duties. Ween recorded voice-overs for the Chef Aid episode where they appear, wearing 'I'm in Ween' t-shirts.

There's no South Park-style animation in the video, but it's still a whole lotta fun. The guys perform a gig for their girlfriends only to watch them cavorting with a succession of different blokes.

Aaron continues flashing his guitar around regardless.

But despite such confident posturing he maintains, "We don't have a lot of experience at making videos, but it's cool when it's all done and you've got this tape you can show to your Mom, but that's it. I definitely didn't think about how the guitar was coming off or anything."