Ep. 46: 04/27/2002, The Shryock Auditorium, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Ill.
Ween CastShow Notes
Join us as we go back to 2002 once again, this time dropping in on the bucolic scene of Southern Illinois University for an evening at the Shryock Auditorium. Carbondale, Illinois, bitches! Ween had played eight shows in nine days across the South and Midwest, and this was the finale, yet another tour de force from this era!
Sometimes the trip can loom almost as large as the show itself. This was one of those times. The drive out was 13.5 hours for me, and more than 15.5 for Shane; a true overnighter complete with a sleep rotation. To this day, it remains our longest Ween road trip. Infamously, on the drive home, at our hotel, we got caught up in a massive tornado outbreak. We were fine, but nothing like the power going out mid-tornado warning, and not knowing what county you’re in. It really hit home the next day, when we found out that actual tornadoes had, in fact, torn through the area just miles from our hotel. But I digress: we’re here to talk about a show, aren’t we?
And Ween came to rock. Despite a Chocolate and Cheese heavy evening with commons aplenty, the band’s musicianship was impeccable, and they dug into the vault just enough to content any true-hearted fan. Some highlights include a talk box infused jam in Voodoo Lady followed up immediately with Spring Theme, and Deez Nutz, which was the absolute highlight of the evening. For the uninitiated, Deez Nutz is a parody of the Guess Who’s hit These Eyes, where every mention of “eyes” is replaced with “nutz.” It features Claude’s falsetto on vocals, and has only been played live fifteen times, just once since 2003. They then brought the first set to a close with the super rare If You Could Save Yourself (You’d Save Us All). The night closed with an epic encore that featured six songs, among them a cover of CSNY's Ohio, and a Tender Situation with Papa Gener taking a turn at guitar hero. The night had plenty of brown for sure!
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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.