Ween breakup

Unlike the five stages of grief, a band’s breakup is more two steps: 1. What? 2. Wait, what did I do with that CD?

So this week I’ve been listening to Chocolate and Cheese, my personal favourite release from Ween. The duo have apparently called it a day, though, like their hard-to-peg sound, the news is also hard to figure out.

Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman told Rolling Stone magazine that he was done with his alter ego. “This is news to me,” Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo later said on Facebook. But if one half of your duo goes, there goes the band.

Ween formed 25 years ago in New Hope, Pa. Friends since junior high school, Freeman and Melchiondo bonded over music and made it for a lot longer than most. Over 10 albums, the duo created music that was often called “experimental rock.” But that seems rather incomplete.

Both Freeman and Melchiondo are multi-instrumentalists, and each Ween release was a treat in style, humour and sound – in other words, an experience. The band didn’t so much have fans as devotees.

Earlier in May, Freeman released his first solo album, Marvelous Clouds, a tribute to 1960s singer Rod McKuen. Early reviews called it a curveball; but now it just seems prescient.