Ween are no more according to news reports…
[i]It may be no surprise, as Aaron Freeman (Gene Ween) has branched into solo territory, but Ween, one of rockfs most unusual success stories and most colorful live acts (with a cult fanbase indicative of those labels) is breaking up, according to Freeman himself. Freeman lays it out:
gItfs time to move on,h Freeman told Rolling Stone from his home in New Jersey. gIfm retiring Gene Ween.h
So does that mean the end for Ween, the band that Freeman formed with high school friend Mickey Melchiondo (a.k.a. Dean Ween) in New Hope, Pennsylvania, in the mid-Eighties?
gPretty much, yeah,h says Freeman. gItfs been a long time, 25 years. It was a good run.h
He continued:
gFor me itfs a closed book. In life sometimes, in the universe, you have to close some doors to have others open,h says Freeman. gTherefs no, eGoddamn that such and such!f For me, Ifd like to think itfs a door I can close finally.h
(via Rolling Stone)
Freeman has been milling the decision over for the past eight years, which makes sense; they havenft put out a long player since 2007Œs La Cucaracha, and in recent years have boiled down their typically exhaustive tour schedule (part of the reason was Freemanfs January 2011 meltdown in Vancouver which landed him in a rehab facility). Freeman will soldier on with his solo career and harbors no hard feelings toward his other bandmates.
Ween was formed as a duo in New Hope, PA in 1984, consisting of 14-year-olds Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo who took up the aliases Gene and Dean Ween, respectively, and went on to release indie classics like 1994Œs Chocolate & Cheese, the result of a well-documented creative period that honed the bandfs odd, always-sneering sensibilities.[/i]
This is sad, sad news. Another genius talent goes the way of the dodo.
Ween were great stuff.