Dean Ween Tells The Tale Of Getting Kicked Out Of Prince’s Paisley Park Studio

Guitarist Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo of the recently reunited Ween is the latest musician to share his thoughts about Prince, who tragically died last month, with Rolling Stone. Deaner discusses what Prince meant to him, The Purple One’s influence on Ween’s music and shares a story about the night he and Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman were thrown out of Paisley Park.

Dean Ween was asked if he had any personal encounters with Prince and shared the following:

I have a Prince anecdote that’s pretty good. Aaron and I got signed to Twin/Tone Records for our first record, GodWeenSatan. In 1989 they flew us out to Minneapolis to play a showcase at the Uptown Bar. Soul Asylum was on the label as well, and they were making a record at Paisley Park. The Ween guys from Twin/Tone took us out to Paisley. We came in and they gave us this little personal tour. We came down to Studio A, which was Prince’s personal studio, and that’s what we really wanted to see. That studio wasn’t for hire. Aaron and I snuck in, and I’m looking at all the guitars. His blond Telecaster was there, which is the one he used in Purple Rain.

Suddenly Aaron goes, “Dude!” I look over and he’s hovering over a music stand in the middle of the room with a microphone. Aaron grabbed a page of lyrics and goes, “Look at this!” In obvious Prince handwriting, there was a drawing of an eyeball for the letter “I” that said “Wanna suck you off.” I ran over to look at it, and the next thing I know we’re horse-collared by two security guards. They fucking threw us out in the snow. That day I learned you don’t grab Prince’s lyrics off the mic stand. We were 18 years old and got thrown out of Paisley Park. We had no idea where to go. As far as I know, Soul Asylum got thrown out too [laughs]. We were at the height of our Prince fanaticism at that time. If Aaron hadn’t picked up those lyrics, I would have picked up a guitar and gotten us thrown out.

Deaner also takes those reporting on rumors about Prince died to task, “Prince kept the clamps down on his personal life. There were no nasty rumors. It was all about the music. Now it feels like the ultimate violation that people are gonna start digging into his life. It’s so horrible every time I see speculation on his life now, or rumors about how he died. As a Prince lover, no one’s supposed to go there. Nobody is supposed to be in his bedroom in Paisley Park. No one is supposed to be talking about his personal affairs. It’s an awful thing.” Melchiondo called Prince “my John Lennon” and explains that he’s “very heartbroken” over The Purple One’s passing.

Head to RollingStone.com for more including how Deaner is paying tribute to Prince.