"No Joke!"

Gene & Dean Ween Get Serious About Guitar

> Ween began as the teenage creation of Mickey Melchiondo (a.k.a. Dean Ween) and his buddy, Aaron Freeman (a.k.a. Gene Ween). Armed with guitars, a 4-track, and a slew of effects, the Ween boys produced everything from bubblegum pop to deconstructionist experiments that are simultaneously mind-bendingly beautiful and hilarious. Their first three records - GodWeenSatan: The Oneness, The Pod, and Pure Guava - are lo-fi masterpieces that eventually garnered the band an insanely dedicated following.

But with their 1994 release, Chocolate & Cheese, Dean and Gene began to move away from their primordial 4-track musings and began making records that occasionally had real drummers and "professional" production values. Amazingly, this did nothing to normalize their wantonly genre-melding and darkly absurdist sound. Instead, Ween still sounded exactly like Ween. More importantly, it was during this time that Dean and Gene eschewed their normal live performance setup of two guitars and a drum machine, opting instead for a full-on group experience.

"The first time people hear us live, they're taken aback by how straight up rock and roll our music is," explains Dean Ween, the band's principal guitarist.

"We're not trying to duplicate any of the sounds on our records," chimes in Gene. "There's nothing I love more than good guitar music, and we appeal to the classic rock aesthetic when we're onstage."

Ween's latest effort, Quebec [Sanctuary] is indisputable evidence that the duo's passion for mutant songcraft remains strong, and that their love of slamming guitars isn't reserved for live shows.

Can you explain who does what in Ween?

Dean: We both play guitar, we both sing, and we both write the songs. The roles in Ween aren't as defined as in most bands, but I'm basically the guitar player and Gene is the singer. The guitar is the primary instrument for both of us when it comes to writing.

Gene: Dean is obviously the guitar guru in Ween, but I'm definitely becoming more involved as I get more comfortable. I'm playing a lot more on Quebec. I broke out my virtuoso solo chops on "I Don't Want It" and "Captain" - which is basically one long solo with a Buffalo Springfield kind of tone. Sometimes, I'll show Dean how to play something I wrote on guitar, and then he'll play it because he's better at being tight. But a lot of the songs on Quebec were actually taken from demos on which I was playing originally, and then we just worked on top of those parts.

Ween is considered to be a musically wacky outfit, but how serious are you when it comes to being musicians?

Dean: Very serious. Some people dismiss our music as a joke, but it's not. We put a lot more time and love into our records than most bands because it's just the two of us. Listen, I'm 33 and I've been in Ween for 20 years. This is my life's work, as stupid as that sounds (laughs).

Do you have to truly love a form of music to properly satirize it?

Gene: We love music. We never make fun of it. That's a big misconception. What we do is not satire - we're simply using different forms of music to get our point across. What we're saying might be funny, but we're not making fun of the music the way Frank Zappa would have done. For example, we're not trying to take the piss out of Caribbean music on "Bananas and Blow." I actually listen to a lot of Caribbean music.

Dean: Everything that we do stylistically is a reflection of what we listen to. We didn't go to Nashville and make country music to make fun of country music. Ween is not parody.

Speaking of that experience, did you learn anything when you worked with a band of A-list Nashville session players to record 12 Golden Country Greats?

Dean: The only tip I learned from Pete Wade - who was the main guitar player on 12 Golden Country Greats - was this: Instead of starting on the one at the top of the verse in the solo section, try to start playing way before, and, sometimes, come in way after. This forces you to write better solos because you don't have that common starting point, which makes you fall into the same tired B.S. that you hear yourself play all the time.

What's the key to Ween's musical growth?

Dean: I can't overemphasize the value of recording yourself a lot. That makes you a better writer, a better singer, and a better player. Now our thing is touring a lot, and going out and doing gigs definitely makes you an even better player.

Gene: Usually it was good - until we opened for Fugazi. We had just started experimenting with drugs, so it was really fun for us because we were on mushrooms, but the 2,000 straight-edged kids wanting to see Fugazi were not into it at all. They started throwing stuff at us, and I was so high that I was laughing at them, which made it even worse [laughs].

You are pretty open about using drugs to enhance your lives and your music, and you use a lot of trippy effects. Are effects basically drugs for musicians?

Gene: In a way they are. They are tools to help you see into a different place.

Dean: I would say that the more drugs I'm on, the more likely I am to step on the flanger and the echo - it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out! Basically, that's a good definition of what Ween is a couple of guys on drugs screwing around with effects. You could probably put that on our tombstones!

Know Your Ween!

Dean

Influences: Kirk Kirkwood, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, East Bay Ray.

Favorite Acoustic Player: Richard Thompson.

Loves: Classic rock guitar heroes.

Hates: Nu-metal posers.

Guilty Pleasure: George Benson.

All-Time Favorite: Jimi Hendrix.

Gene

Influences: Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Dean Ween.

Favorite Acoustic Player: James Taylor.

Loves: Julian Bream.

Hates: Jam band noodlers.

Guilty Pleasure: Pat Metheny.

All-Time Favorite: Jimi Hendrix.

Ween's World

Dean

Guitars: Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster ('62 neck, '62 reissue body, two gold Lace Sensors, and a Seymour Duncan Hotrail in the bridge), Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson ES-335.

Amp: Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb and Boogie 4x12 cab.

FX: Boss Tuner and DD-6 Digital Delay, Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer, Mutron III, Snarling Dogs wah, MXR Phase 90.

Strings & Things: Dean Markley .010 set and Dunlop Tortex Standard .73mm picks.

Gene

Guitars: '50s reissue Gibson Les Paul, Martin D-28, Jerry Jones Electric Sitar.

Amp: Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb.

FX: Boss BF-3 Flanger and AW-2 Auto Wah, MXR Phase 90, Zoom multi-effector.

Strings & Things: Dean Markley.010. set and Dunlop Tortex Standard .60mm picks.