Interview by So Called Seth
On May 4th Ween, Jawbreaker, and Foofighters came to UCIs own Crawford Hall for the last show of their national tour. When music director Steve Center couldn't do a Ween interview, I gladly took his place. A few hours before show time I met up with the two guys on stage for an interview. Dean did most of the talking, and Gene supplied most of the music as he strummed his guitar.
SCS: Hey everyone, my name is So Called Seth, and I am with the two guys who make up Ween, and I thought we would ask them a couple of questions before their May 4rth concert here at UCI's Crawford Hall. So, my first question is going to be: How did you get on the Foofighters tour?
Dean: They called us and asked us.
SCS: Really? Its that simple. Have you ever worked with the Foofighters before or how do they know about you? Are they just fans?
Dean: Yeah, I guess.
SCS: How has the tour been so far?
Dean: fine, its been fun.
SCS: How much longer?
Dean: This is the last show, going home tomorrow.
SCS: oh really? Back to New Jersey?
Dean: Pennsylvania, yeah.
SCS: Has it been mostly new audiences on this tour or does it feel like pretty much the same audiences you have had?
Dean: Its a much younger audience we are playing in front of. Very MTV.
SCS: Well, Foofighters.
Dean: Yeah, yeah. Its cool though. We get a lot of our fans out too, so we play in front of a lot of people every night.
SCS: Good deal. Are you guys planning on headlining your own tour in the future?
Dean: Yeah we are probably going to tour in September or something.
SCS: How did you guys get on the Beautiful Girl Soundtrack?
Dean: They asked us. (laughter) Thats how it all works. You dont get on it they just ask you.
SCS: Did you pick the cover or did they ask you to play that one.
Dean: No, actually we did a Rolling Stones song first called, something fooled?
Gene: "Fool to Cry"
Dean: "Fool to Cry", yeah. The Rolling Stones publicist or something wouldnt let us do it. That was the originally song for that, and after they rejected that one we put "I'll Miss You on it."
SCS: And you liked that just the same?
Dean: At least it is one of ours.
Gene: Yeah.
SCS: You guys are also on the School House Rock? How did that happen?
Gene: They asked us (laughter).
SCS: Did you get to pick the song?
Gene: Yeah we did.
SCS: Was that a song you remember, one of your favorite songs?
Gene: mm-hmm, totally.
SCS: That whole compilation is pretty funny.
Gene: Yeah it is. Some of them are pretty bad but this one has some good stuff on it.
SCS: So you have a couple tracks out but when is Ween album gonna come out?
Gene: July 19th
SCS: Its already recorded?
Gene: Yeah, its going to be a country record.
SCS: Really?
Gene: Yup, all solid country.
SCS: Is this a direction you are taking or is it just for this CD?
Gene: Just for this CD. Then we are going to come out with another record maybe Christmas and that will be more like a normal Ween record.
SCS: I have seen the videos for Spirit of 76 and I cant put my finger on it and they are really cool, can we expect more videos from you guys?
Gene: Yeah, probably for this country record we will do a video. You got to always do a video.
SCS: Is that like contract?
Gene: No, its not contract, but if you want to get it played on MTV you have to do a video, so, and we dont mind.
SCS: Well it looks like you are having fun. Where did you film the I Cant put my finger on it video?
Gene: Its this restaurant called Mohammed's Falafel Star and that was Mohammed, he is the older guy. Mohammed's cousin or something is the guy standing next to me.
SCS: It looked like they were having fun with it too.
Gene: Yeah, we all had a good time.
SCS: Anything else you guys want to say?
Gene: Stop the weakness.
Dean: Dont be weak. (laughter)