“It’s been a long time, 25 years. It was a good run,” Ween’s Aaron Freeman told Rolling Stone today, adding that he’s retiring his Gene Ween moniker in light of the project formed in 1984 with Mickey Melchiondo being “a closed book.” If that doesn’t fully cement the unfortunate news from Freeman’s end, he elaborated that this decision has been 8 years in the making, that his new covers LP is only the beginning of “forging a new thing for [himself],” and that the next planned release will be a record of original solo material.
Meanwhile, Deaner learned of Freeman’s departure along with the rest of us: “This is news to me, all I can say now I guess,” Melchiondo wrote on Facebook.
Perhaps an official announcement is around the corner, but things are looking kaput for Ween at this point. On a brighter note, Freeman has been undergoing recovery from substance abuse since last year, and as a fan of these guys since the ’90s who’s genuinely bummed out about today’s turn of events, here’s hoping this decision leads him in the most healthy and creative direction. Let’s hear him sing “Gener’s Gone” one last time as Gene Ween below: