Duo Weened on country music

From The Toronto Sun, written by Kieran Grant. 

If Ween is respected for anything, it's their everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mentality.
 
The duo, at the Phoenix tonight, has produced three albums by mixing pop, rock, hip-hop, funk, folk, and show tunes, with some very goofy lyrics.
 
So the big surprise with Ween's fourth album, 12 Golden Country Greats, isn't that the songs include things like Mister Richard Smoker, but that the music is straight-up country.
 
Indeed, fictional brothers Dean and Gene Ween had every intention of making a proper country album.
 
"It was just a good opportunity," says a sleepy Dean Ween from his home in New Hope, Pa. "We had some country songs lying around, and we wanted to put them on our new album no matter how it was going to sound. It seemed kind of weird to put five or six country songs on a record, so we did the whole thing country.
 
"I mean, you put a pedal steel on anything and it sounds like country music."
 
The authenticity of 12 Golden Country Classics goes beyond its sound. The brothers Ween recorded the disc in Nasville with country music legends, including steel-guitarist Russ Hicks, former Dylan bassist Charlie McCoy, and the Jordanaires, who used to back-up Elvis.
 
"Producer Ben Vaughn mentioned that you can still go to Nashville and get all those guys who played on all those great records," says Dean, whose real name is Mickey Melchiondo.
 
"It's certainly not us," he says with a laugh. "These are guys that have been on tour forever and been around some crazy people. They didn't bat an eyelash at us. It was different for them, but we're pretty adaptable, friendly guys.
 
"I don't think they realized we were Elektra recording artists," Dean adds. "I think they thought we were a couple of dudes down there to put a feather in our hats."
 
The Country album has led to Ween's first touring band, a nine-man lineup of session players. Dean says it's a great show, but not a trendy one.
 
"We don't listen to the radio," he says. "I'm not proud of it but I don't know what's going on in music today at all. I would like to buy new albums, but there's not that much happening.
 
"We're lucky to be in Ween. We're not expected to do things. We're in a better position than someone like Bush. Not to say we're better than Bush, even though we are better than Bush."
 
Dean adds that Ween had few fears that their country journey would alienate fans.
 
"To be honest, no," he says. "We just went down there to do a session and it was too good to shelve. I never thought about it until we got a big cheque from Elektra and had to start doing interviews. Then I got scared.
 
"It is strange. I mean, it's a country and western album."
 
Still, 12 Golden Country Greats is not a prank. "I don't want to feel like we're getting one over on people by making records," Dean says. "I want people to like our music."