Gene Ween (Solo) Comes to the Doug Fir This Week!

Yes, the group is a side project for Gene Ween (real name Aaron Freeman), one half of the duo that makes up Ween’s creative heart and soul. So while the voice, guitar playing and even some of the songs might be the same, Dreiwitz insists that the new band is not Ween. "To a degree, I think [the comparisons are] inescapable, but we’re not going to let that bother us or worry about it,” he said during a recent phone interview from a park in New York City. “We are trying to give it its own identity, something of its own.”

With the other principal Ween member, lead guitarist Dean Ween (real name Mickey Melchiondo), having recently announced on Ween’s Web site that the band has begun rehearsing again, the Gene Ween Band may be falling by the wayside for a while. But Dreiwitz doesn’t see the group calling it quits anytime soon. "This is something we plan to keep going as an ongoing project that we can pick up when Ween’s not working,” Dreiwitz said. “We want to play and Aaron wants to play.”

The Gene Ween Band grew out of Freeman’s solo work, which he’s done on and off in between Ween albums and tours throughout the years. His desire to flesh out the songs led him to team up with Dreiwitz, and eventually to pull together an entire band in October of last year. “I’ve done duo stuff with him, but he just wanted to do some playing and flesh it out into a full band, as opposed to just doing the duo thing,” Dreiwitz said. “He called me and asked me to put a little band together.”

Recruits came from one of Dreiwitz’s other projects, an instrumental Led Zeppelin tribute group. The group has a fairly high musical pedigree: guitarist Scott Metzger plays with New York City’s RANA among other projects, and drummer Joe Russo makes up one-half of the instrumental Benevento-Russo Duo. “They’re good buddies of mine, and I know they love Ween, so I just thought they’d be perfect for this thing,” Dreiwitz said. “Aaron hadn’t really met the other guys, but when he met them, they instantly got along on a personal level.”

This will be a SOLO Gene Ween Show. Enjoy!

URL > http://www.geneweenband.com/

PRESS: Glide / MOG / Ween @ Wiki

MP3/Download: Gene Ween Band - Eye In The Sky
MP3/Download: Gene Ween Band - Mr. Sandman (live)

Doug Fir
Thursday June 18
A special evening with Ween vocalist
GENE WEEN (Solo)
and CLAUDE COLEMAN JR., SOLO AMANDLA
Time: 9PM / Tix: $20 advance, $23 day of show