Show Notes
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.
More from Ween Cast
If you are a fan of the scene you are most likely going to come across this gentleman pretty soon upon hanging out for a bit, but unless you dive deep you won't know Chris. Talk about prolific, Chris Harford has been making amazing music since his high school days with no signs of stopping soon. Not only does he write, record and produce his own music, he also runs his own record label supporting other awesome independent artists and collaborators. You could keep digging into this guy's career all day and still not get to everything! For the sake of sanity, we stuck to a few points for this interview, and it will take us awhile to unpack all of these! We spoke with Chris about his early bands, including the cult favorite Three Colors, which he started in college with some fellow art students. The seminal album "Be Headed" that just happens to be the major label debut of some of our other musical friends being released in 1992. The independent record label "Soul Selects" that Chris and his friends started in the 80's and still run to this day. Living with Andrew Weiss and Sim Cain while the early Ween albums were being made, and Chris explains to everyone once and for all what the hell the "Zion House of Flesh" actually is!! Chris explains what it was like to be produced by Mickey and working on the Chocodog Records release of his record "Looking out for Number 6"; a true anomaly among the Chocodog and Schnitzel projects. We also talk about some of the really cool current projects that Chris has worked on within the last few years; like the Birdfeeder collaboration with Mark Mulcahy of Polaris and Miracle Legion. The very groovy instrumental record he made with the Philly based Jazz band Channel Collective, and his travels with Paul Muldoon and the rock-poetry group Rogue Oliphant. Please go to Soul Selects.com to see all of the available releases by the record label, and Chris Harford.com to download all of the catalog releases by Chris and his constantly evolving Band of Changes. Join us on Patreon.com for some more fun and exclusive material including the entire Chris interview where we discuss Chris' Dub project Blanc du Blanc, his thoughts on vinyl vs and download, and some other fun surprises! Also live is a new episode of Shane's Ween Vinyl featuring the Chris Album "Looking out for Number 6", its a cool mini-sode talking about the albums vinyl and some fun facts about the CD compared to the record. Thank You and Please enjoy!!!
Ep. 62: 4/28/2004, The Fraternal Order of Eagles Hall, Levittown, PA
Well, so far this has turned out to be a rough year for Ween fans. But what do we do when times are bad? We do what we always do, we come together as a family.
Well, its been over 20 years since the monumental 2nd to last Ween studio album launched into the heads of the unexpecting public. Songs from this record seem to keep popping up over the years since in some of the most unexpected places. Why? What is it about Quebec that keeps all of us heads coming back and screaming for after all these years? We dive into the time period, the songs, the credits, the live performances and stats, and of course, The Caesar Demos! This may be the only set of songs to accompany a studio release to come straight from the band. These included almost all of the songs from Quebec, plus a number of other amazing songs that made it into the Ween live show, and a few others that have latched onto the flam and have not let go. Please enjoy our full review and discussion of the Ween jewels that are Quebec, and the Caesar Demos.
Wow, New York City, just like I pictured it.... skyscrapers, and ...everything. Thats right, the big apple, the city so nice... all that jazz. Ween brings the funk and the punk for what we are deeming "The Live In Chicago Tour" of Fall 2003.