I met my stepdad Ryan when I was 12.
He says we didn't get along very well at first. I don't recall my initial reaction, but I assume it looked like slamming my bedroom door and refusing to come out when he was at our house.
For my whole life up until that point, it had just been my mom and I doing everything together. Suddenly a new character appeared in my life, and it was hard to learn how to share my life (and my mom) with someone who I considered a stranger.
That was until he pulled out a guitar for the first time.
He noodled around and played a few notable licks from classic rock songs like "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair" by Led Zeppelin (and plenty that I didn't recognize, but would soon know). I was completely enamored by his love and knowledge of music, so much so that I soon picked up a guitar, too. Our connection began through music and bands.
Suddenly, this Ryan guy wasn't so bad.
Ryan nurtured my love of music more than anyone in my life, always encouraging me to play and teaching me new things at every opportunity. He let me use the guitar he learned on for several years before gifting me a stunning acoustic Ibanez as a high school graduation present.
Our texts often consist of Spotify links with long, descriptive paragraphs explaining why this specific 14-minute-long jam band song is worth listening to or why Pink Floyd may be overrated and still among the best bands of all time.
But there was one common thread in the texts almost every week: Ween.
The band Ween has always been synonymous with my stepdad. His phone speakers are probably deteriorating from years of blasting Ween's album White Pepper while he works or warms up on the driving range. Songs from Quebec and The Mollusk appear in our messages nearly every day and usually come with no lengthy message because, to my stepdad, Ween needs no explanation. It's just Ween.
When it was announced that Ween would be playing the Spokane Pavilion on Aug. 4, Ryan snatched up tickets for us immediately. And so began my intense crash course on the band my stepdad has loved for half his life.
And now, I pass these teachings on to you, dear readers.
ACCEPT THE WEIRD
Formed in 1984 by high school friends Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their stage names, Gene and Dean Ween, Ween isn't your average band. They're weird. Like weird weird."I first heard of them when I saw the video for "Push th' Little Daises" on Beavis and Butt-head on MTV," my stepdad Ryan says. "I wasn't even really into music at the time, but that song stuck out because it was so strange, and the video was equally as strange. My 13-year-old brain was completely caught off guard."
The video is a disjointed series of clips in black and white featuring Dean and Gene eating various foods over the intentionally whiny and annoying vocals repeating the phrase "push th' little daisies and make 'em come up."
It doesn't make sense, but that's Ween for ya.
I ALREADY KNEW WEEN
I can almost guarantee that you've heard a Ween song or two if you were born in the '90s or early 2000s.The band's 1997 album The Mollusk directly inspired Stephen Hillenburg's iconic TV show, Spongebob SquarePants. The nautical-themed album sparked Hillenburg's idea to create an underwater cartoon. Hillenburg asked the duo to write a song for the episode "Your Shoe's Untied." The song "Loop de Loop" is a sub-one-minute song explaining how to tie your shoes that I've whispered to myself nearly every time I've laced up my shoes in the past 20 years.
GENRE BENDER
Ween is often regarded as "alt-rock," but putting Ween into any sort of categorical box is ridiculous given the number of genres they've covered in their prolific discography.If Ween has to be placed into any sort of box, they would fit best under "experimental."
For instance, Ween has an album titled 12 Golden Country Greats featuring 10 songs within the country genre. (Yep, there are only 10 songs on the record called 12 Golden Country Greats.)
The strange mix of genres is what initially attracted my stepdad to the band's music.
"They have songs with island calypso beats in them," he says. "Then the next song on the album will be an acoustic love song. Then the next song after that is a hard thrash metal song with power chords. And then the next is a weird, off-time thing with helium vocals. It's their humor and uniqueness and the fact that they don't take themselves too seriously."
In a world of cookie-cutter pop songs about the same sad love story, Ween is, weirdly enough, a breath of fresh air with its songs about spinal meningitis and Zoloft.
BOOGNISH BUSINESS
Ween has a staggering amount of lore. So much lore that, for the uninitiated, Ween seems a bit like a cult.And it might be?
From the earliest days of the band, they've claimed to be "sprouted from the demon-god Boognish" and have featured Boognish in songs like "Up on th' Hill" and, most prominently, in their logo, a circular face with seven horns and 10 teeth.
"I learned the story of Ween over some beers in college," Ryan says. "This was before we had the internet in our pockets so you had to go home and look something up. My friend explained to me that there was this religion that was based around the Cult of the Boognish. It was weird, but it made sense for them."
The story of Boognish lives inside of the GodWeenSatan linear notes if you're interested in the full, ridiculous origin story.
WEEN'S NOT THAT SERIOUS
Though some pretentious music fans might disagree, Ween's appeal largely comes from the fact that they're not afraid to goof around and take risks with its music, even when it sounds a bit stupid."I'm a believer that not everybody has to be a fan of everything," Ryan says. "It's an acquired taste, and I wouldn't expect everyone to be a fan."
Ween's live shows often run far longer than necessary due to overcomplicated guitar solos and general silliness on stage. Ween's live album Live in Chicago is treasured among the fanbase due to the variety of songs played and the inclusion of a cover of "All My Love" by Led Zeppelin. Surprisingly, Ryan has never seen Ween live, but listens to and watches Live in Chicago religiously.
Behind the absurd lyrics and foolish behavior is a band capable of making music fans smile and of quite literally bringing people together.
"It's music that makes me feel like life isn't that serious," Ryan says. "I always spread the gospel of Ween whenever I can."
This week, I'll get to witness my Ween messiah witness his first Ween show.
And he gets to see me witness mine. ♦
Ween • Sun, Aug. 4 at 7 pm • $50-$55 • All ages • Spokane Pavilion • 574 N. Howard St. • spokanepavilion.com
RYAN'S WEEN PLAYLIST
"Your Party"
"The Mollusk"
"Blue Balloon"
"Boys Club"
"Roses Are Free"
"Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)"
"Mutilated Lips"
"Push th' Little Daisies"
"Freedom of '76"
"Pork Roll Egg And Cheese"
"Monique The Freak"
"Stay Forever"
"It's Gonna Be (Alright)"
"Big Jilm"
"Bananas and Blow"
"She's Your Baby"
"Tried and True"
"Transdermal Celebration"
