Dean and Gene Ween (a.k.a. Mickey Melchiondo and Aaron Freeman) were as shocked as anyone when Elektra Records decided to release a two-disc, eight-year retrospective of Ween's soundboard recordings. Still, "Paintin' the Town Brown: Ween Live '90-'98" is here, and not only do the liner notes outline drugs imbibed for each song's formative stage, but plans for onstage fecal cannons have been revealed. If the 26-minute bowel-shaking opus "Poopship Destroyer" is any indication, then biological weapons suits are advised at the upcoming show. We talked recently with Deaner.
Orlando Weekly: How does it feel to be stoner icons?
Dean: The whole stoner angle of it --it's not something we set out to do. It just happened that way because of our big mouths. After the first few tours, I found myself exhausted, trying to get high with each and every kid. Now we kind of keep to ourselves.
What kind of freaks tend to want to hang out with you at shows?
A million times we've gone home with fans. They'd come up after a show and say, 'I'm a lifeguard at the public swimming pool, and I've got the keys -- let's go have a party.' We did that on the last tour, in Lawrence, Kan. We took a hundred people from the gig with us ... . It was one of the best nights of our lives. But for every one of those, I can think of five instances where ... you end up driving around in some fucking kid's car, or going back to his filthy-ass apartment, and there's two people there playing Sega Genesis.
Are there any more girls at Ween shows these days?
It used to be primarily dudes ... now I notice there's more ladies coming out, which is good. I'd much rather look at a bunch of girls than a bunch of 18-year-old kids wearing pants that are too big.
Do fans still bring you food?
It's starting to taper off, because we haven't been sticking it on our albums anymore. The first few records, we genuinely could have used the help ... . Most people bring us joke food -- like canned sausages. Like, ha ha ha, that's really funny.
What you prefer your fans to bring you, these days?
Cash. Their sisters.
