The respective children of Dean Ween (aka Mickey Melchiondo) and Gene Ween (aka Aaron Freeman) are set to perform together this weekend, but make no mistake, the duo are adamant they “are not Ween.”
The performance was announced on social media on Tuesday (March 26) by Michael Melchiondo, who also performs as Bugger. The event takes place on Saturday (March 29) at the Soupcon Gallery in Lambertville, NJ, and features Hover and Rubix Pube on a lineup that also names Ashton Freeman.
“My good friend Ashton Freeman has asked me to join them in playing a show this Saturday in Lambertville,” Melchiondo. “We’ve come up with a very unique collaborative set. So come and witness the genetic duo merge our sounds… We are Not Ween.”
The pair have previously made music separately, with Melchiondo sharing a photo of his father on social media last week, pairing it with the caption, “in the studio with dad, feeling great and making music.” His current project includes Bugger, while previous music was also released under the name Veal Marsala. Freeman, meanwhile, has released a small handful of releases under their own name between 2016 and 2020.
Ween were first formed by the elder Melchiondo and Freeman in 1984 as teenagers, with a large array of independent releases preceding the arrival of debut album GodWeenSatan: The Oneness in 1990. The group would largely escape widespread commercial success over the next 22 years, with final album – 2007’s La Cucaracha – giving them their career peak of No. 69 on the Billboard 200.
The group would announce their disbandment in 2012, though reformed again in 2015. In late 2023, it was announced that Ween would undertake a 40th anniversary tour the following year that would also double as a 30th birthday celebration for their fourth album, Chocolate and Cheese.
A number of those tour dates were cancelled in March 2024, with Dean Ween citing a need to preserve his “mental and spiritual wellbeing.” The band would later return to the road, though they announced in August that “Ween must make the decision to step away from the stage for the foreseeable future,” adding that “it’s become clear that touring and performing is too taxing on Deaner’s mental health to continue.”
Currently, no further news in regard to Ween’s return to the live stage has been announced.
