Soon, they hung out and began jamming, recording most of what they put together. Both of them talked about bands they liked and playing their own music. Career įreeman and Melchiondo met in an eighth grade typing class in 1984, in New Hope, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where they both grew up. In November 2015, Ween announced a February 2016 reunion for three shows in Colorado, with later dates subsequently announced. As I grow and get more confident in who I am and my sobriety it's like, 'Oh yeah, Gene Ween.' It's a positive thing and it represents the work I did since I was 16. It's not anything I should be ashamed of.I was really having an identity crisis and that happens – just what you said – so it's important to separate those things. In 2015, Freeman returned to using the Gene Ween name for his "Gene Ween Does Billy Joel" concerts, saying it was a positive thing:Īt the end of the day, people know Gene Ween. In 2014 he formed a new five-piece band called Freeman. After leaving Ween, he stopped using the name Gene Ween and performed under his birth name Aaron Freeman. Freeman, along with childhood friend Dean Ween (Mickey Melchiondo), started the group in the mid-1980s.įreeman announced his departure from Ween in 2012, shortly after releasing Marvelous Clouds, his first solo album.
Aaron Freeman, better known by his stage name Gene Ween, is an American singer, guitarist and a founding member of the experimental alternative rock group Ween.