Ween Cast

Welcome to another waltz down memory lane where yet again we return to the auspicious year 2003. 2003 was perhaps Ween’s most awesomely prolific year and the show we’re covering for this episode certainly did nothing but add to the legend. You see, we’re going back to August 8th and the Quebec tour finale at Festival Pier in Philadelphia. What a time to be alive!

Let me set the scene. Quebec had just been released three days ago. Ween was in full tour mode, and were coming to Philadelphia for the first time in over three years. The theme of the evening was spontaneity, rarities and period pieces, and a little nuevo Ween mixed with some raw-dog Pure Guava action!

At the last minute, Ween decided to open with an acoustic mini-set. It was amazing! They opened with a beautiful Birthday Boy, and also wooded out some really fresh and rare Chocolate Town and Tried and True. The wooden set wrapped up with one of the absolute highlights of the evening, a Joppa Road rendition with super clear guitar licks and a Deaner in fine form.

Switching to full electric, the band then rocked through a batch of standards, leading into a fast and furious Voodoo Lady. In the midst of the revelry, Deaner busted a string, and then the monitors went out. But Ween would not be dismayed. Stepping aside from the planned setlist, they then broke into an impromptu cover of the great Doors tune Riders on the Storm, the 12th and last time they would ever play the tune. And oh boy, how about Glen? Maybe I’m amazed at the way I love you all the time!

The evening had plenty of rock anthems, but didn’t shy away from the jams, with such tracks as Springtheme, Zoloft, one of the best versions of ReggaeJunkieJew ever, and a main set ending with Buenos Tardes Amigo. The show then wrapped up with another all-time highlight, If You Could Save Yourself (You’d Save Us All), which is a song they brought out in the early days of Quebec, but which has only been played twice since 2003.

We say a whole ton more than that, so you really should just check out the podcast already! Thanks for listening!

Merry Christmas everyone! Not only are we dropping a regular episode, but also check us out over on Patreon for some exclusive shit that is also dropping extra-hot for the holidays!

Time marches on, and we continue working our way through the banner year of 2003. We’d just left off with Ween’s Quebec tour opener in Pittsburgh, PA, at Club Laga, and now just a week later, we head west to Columbus, Ohio, for a romping show at the Promowest Pavilion. 

It was a hot first day of August, and Ween was dealt a raw hand: the AC had busted on their tour bus. In a stroke of fate, the bandmates apparently chose to deal with this turn of events by getting wasted on the way to Columbus, a long-ass drive in heat with no AC! By show time, it was no bueno. Ween is a mercurial band, and some evenings live on more in infamy. Join us as we recount this moment in Ween history, have a happy holiday and happy new year!

Do you love cats and music? So do we! Join Sean Faust and Eddie Kamenitzer this Sunday, December 10th 2023 at John and Peters in New Hope, PA for the first ever "Catty Christmas"! Sean and the crew at J&P's are asking for cat food, litter, or toys to benefit the MeWow Cat Cafe in Doylestown, PA. ( https://mewow.cafe/ ) This is one of the coolest spots in the area for cats and they need your help! The cats prefer the taste of Purina Pro Plan cat food, a non-clumping litter, and of course any cat toys! The music will start at 3pm with full sets by Eddie and then Sean. Listen to hear how this cool event was planned and please show up for the cats this Christmas! Happy Holidays everyone!

Oh baby did we get some stories for this years contest!! From old school Ween shows to just a few weeks ago, we tasked the fans to tell us about their favorite show attended and why. We can't thank everyone who submitted their entries enough, as this has our best contest yet! Alas, only one can be crowned the winner and someone has my friends, someone has. The best story will receive an amazing handcrafted wooden cutting board emblazed with the mighty Boognish by West Brandywine Woodworks! Check them out on Etsy, Facebook and Instagram.

Welcome back listeners! Have we got an episode for you! It was the year 2003. Claude was back, Quebec was looming larger on the horizon, but still a few months away, and Ween was ready to rock! We’re taking you back in time, but also back to the Land of the Arch, and we’re not talking about McDonald’s! St. Louis, chicos! Twas the seventh of May, at The Pageant, and what a night it was! 

So join us as we head back in time and reminisce about an amazing show and cool moment in Ween history. Claude’s devastating accident, just months earlier in 2002, meant that nothing was certain, and nothing could be taken for granted. Ween embarked on this little spring tour with something to prove; that rock and roll would never die! It was a night where Aaron really came to rock on the guitar, and by the encore, with perhaps the most legendary Buenos Tardes Amigo ever, they proved that not only would rock never die, but that if it did, it would rise back from the grave and kill whoever killed it, with poison interlaced with the meat! 

Enjoy the episode, and don’t forget to submit an entry for our Stunningly Staggering and Stupendous Summer Contest! It’s easy. Just tell us about the best Ween live show you’ve ever attended. Email us, or drop us a line on the socials. Deadline is Labor Day! Results by the end of September!

Be brown my friends!

Head north young men!! Well, not quite that far north... but yes, again!! Ween joins the lineup for the 11th annual Peach Music Festival at Montage Mountain in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and yes, we had to be there. But wait a minute, a Jam band festival? Really?  Does this mean the band has finally taken on the moniker of "Jam Band"?

The anticipation was absolutely ridiculous leading up to this show.  What would the band play?  Would they finally just unleash the full power of Reggae Junkie Jew or LMYLP and slay all of the straights who may not be aware of the true power of the brown?  Or perhaps the opposite?   Not knowing who would be receptive to the music of a demon god, would the band play it safe and stick to a Tried and True path (pun intended)?

In any case, being the headliner of Friday night of the Peach Festival is an honor.  Ween wielded the reigns of the weekend along with the likes of Goose, Ziggy Marley, My Morning Jacket, Mike Gordon of Phish, and brother to the band, Les Claypool.  Yeah, things were looking good for hippies of all walks of life.

Go north with Weencast, leave your notions of what is and what is not a "jam band" at the door, and find out how Ween handled being in the driver's seat for Friday night.  See if the Boognish could literally start a fire on this mountain.

Don't forget to join in our summer contest!! Send us an audio recording telling us about attending your favorite Ween show and why. Was it the music?  The friends?  You tell us!  [email protected]. The winner will receive a one of a kind hand crafted Ween themed wood carving from West Brandywine Woodworks https://www.facebook.com/westbrandywinewoodworks/

Happy 4th of July Weencast listeners, and welcome to another episode. To celebrate Independence Day, we go back to 2002 one more time. We revisit 2002 one more time because that year wrapped up with a series of events that would end up playing a significant role with the band as well as the surrounding music scene for years to come. 

August 7th, 2002. A date that will live forevermore in infamy: the day of Claude’s devastating car accident. We recount that horrible day, as well as his path to recovery, and go into all the deets about the resulting cascade of events, a laundry list of the legendary, revolving around what we’ve come to call the Josh Freese Era. 

Consider such seminal events as Claude Aid at the Whiskey Bar in Hoboken, New Jersey, which was the last time Aaron and Mickey played as a duo with the DAT. And the short-lived residency of future Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese, who replaced Claude for six shows, and who will forever be a part of Ween lore due to the celebrated job he did as stand-in drummer. He learned more than 50 Ween songs in a matter of days, and rocked them out like he knew them his entire life. 

The conversation goes on to the legendary two night stand at the Bowery Ballroom. These were the so called “Concerts for Claude,” where the dream of witnessing a “Ween” festival was finally realized with two nights that included not only Ween, but also acts from the family tree such as Chris Harford, Sound of Urchin, Chocolate Genius, Instant Death, and Sharief in Burgundy. Never before, and never since, have all the guys gotten together like this.

To round it out, we also discuss the impact Claude’s accident would end up having on the Ween community writ large: how it led to a resurgence in such acts as the Moist Boyz, Sound of Urchin, Instant Death, and others. These were difficult but heady times indeed!

So come check out the episode while you enjoy a beer at your 4th of July cookout or pool party. And when you’re done, come on over to Patreon for some amazing dessert because we got some great bonus material including interviews with fans who were there, as well as Tomato of Sound of Urchin, who played at Claude aid and the Concerts for Claude, and had quite the tales to tell.

Happy Summer everyone!! We are kicking off the all new Stunningly Staggering and Stupendous 2023 Weencast Summer Contest! You have until Labor Day to tell us the story of the best live Ween show you have been to and why!! We're sure you can narrow it down to just one story right? You can record yourself on our Spotify for Podcasters page, or simply record a message and send it to us at [email protected]. Not only will you beat the heat by sending in your entry, you will have a chance to win an a beautiful woodcraft prize from West Brandywine Woodworks. They have made the prizes for our previous contests, and the work is second to none. All entries should be 5 minutes or less, and we will accept entries until Labor Day. We look forward to hearing your entry and enjoy!!

Welcome back listeners! Join us as we go back to the year 2002 to chat about a truly seminal moment of Ween history, the twin shows at John and Peter’s on October 6th, 2002, that served as a warm-up for the Concerts for Claude that ran the following two nights.

Due to Claude’s terrible car accident on August 7th, just two months earlier, Ween decided to raise some money for his recovery. So they turned a two night stand at the Bowery Ballroom, that they already had booked, into the Concerts for Claude benefit shows. Needing a drummer, they brought in Josh Freese and taught him 50 songs in a matter of days. What can you say about Josh Freese? He’s a pretty legendary “drummer for hire” and has played with all kinds of acts, from Guns N’ Roses to Devo, just to name two. It turned out he was definitely up for the task, and Ween rocked out a couple of great shows!

Well, I don’t want to say too much more, because you really should just just tune into our latest episode to hear all about it!