UPDATED (Wednesday, May 30): Ween guitarist Dean Ween seemed surprised by his longtime bandmate’s seemingly sudden public decision to retire the band. On his Facebook page, he stated the brief, “”[It’s] news to me, all I can say for now I guess.”
There hasn’t been any official statement from the the band or band’s management about a split. Are the Weens really that non-cummunitacive at this point? Or is this some sort of elaborate gag?
Original story: Is cult band Ween calling it quits?
According to co-frontman Gene Ween (real name: Aaron Freeman), the sad answer appears to be “yes.”
When we last checked in with Freeman, he was prepping a solo effort, but there wasn’t any indication that his primary band was wrapping up after a quarter century of genre-hopping, lengthy jams, high-pitched vocals and generally weird musical weirdness.
Now, however, Freeman feels it’s time to move on.
“It’s been a long time, 25 years. It was a good run,” he told Rolling Stone.
“For me it’s a closed book. In life sometimes, in the universe, you have to close some doors to have others open,” he added. “There’s no, ‘Goddamn that such and such!’ For me, I’d like to think it’s a door I can close finally.”
Freeman started the band in the mid-’80s with school friend Mickey Melchiondo (who became, naturally, Dean Ween). Ween recorded a number of albums and seemingly toured constantly through the next two decades, even scoring a minor hit with “Push th’ Little Daisies,” in 1992.
Freeman’s solo LP “Marvelous Clouds,” inspired by poet Rod McKuen, is now available.