Ween and Moistboyz guitarist Dean Ween has announced his new group, The Dean Ween Group, will release their debut album, The Deaner Album, on October 21. The band will begin touring, supported by the Meat Puppets on October 18th in support of the album.
Dean Ween’s work with The Dean Ween Group reflects his desire to collaborate with varying musicians. Ween recruited Meat Puppets’ guitarist Curt Kirkwood, veteran punk drummer Chuck Treece, and Funkadelic guitarist Mike Hampton, among others, to perform on the album.
The Deaner Album will mark Dean Ween’s first studio LP produced without either his Ween or Moistboyz bandmates. Following Ween’s 2012 hiatus, Dean Ween refused to play guitar for over a year. His 2013 effort with Moistboyz, Moistboyz V, saw his ultimate return to studio production. He has since worked extensively with artists including Josh Homme and Mark Lanegan.
Ween said his new collaborative effort allowed him a newfound creative freedom.
“If I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea, I’d call a session and have the whole band come in and learn the song and play it together,” Ween said. “That was really different for me. I could actually show some patience and not just half-ass it. If I needed a drummer, I’d get the best drummer I could to play that particular song”
Ween recorded the majority of his album at his own studio, located in Western New Jersey. He credits the strength of his record on the solitude his studio allowed him.
“I think finally having my own studio has been a big part of why this record is as good as it is,” Ween said. ” I’m there pretty much all day, every day, all night, every night, doing something – recording, practicing, mixing. It’s in the country, in the woods, nobody can hear us, and I’ve got a sound system in there powerful enough to power a big club. And you can go outside in your underwear and smoke a cigarette or blow off a grenade and nobody’s going to hear you.”
Despite the album’s relatively atypical production, Ween said the album itself relies primarily on relatively mainstream influences.
“My tastes are very mainstream; I love Jimi Hendrix and Santana and Zeppelin, but my ears are always open,” Ween said. “P-Funk, they’re right up there with the Beatles. That’s what my influences were – that and punk rock – and I wanted all that in this album.”
The Deaner Album
01. Dickie Betts
02. Exercise Man
03. Bundle of Joy
04. Charlie Brown
05. Shwartze Pete
06. I’ll Take It and Break It
07. Garry
08. You Were There
09. Bums
10. Gum
11.Nightcrawler
12. Mercedes Benz
13. Tammy
14. Doo Doo Chasers