Ween Status Update: Claude Coleman Jr. On When The Boognish Will Rise Again

Next week marks a year since Ween unexpectedly canceled a series of shows and then less than a month later announced an indefinite touring hiatus. Drummer Claude Coleman Jr. addressed the future of the band in a new interview.

Ween called off the West Coast concerts and decided to put the band on ice after “it’s become clear that touring and performing is too taxing on Deaner’s [Ween guitarist Dean Ween] mental health to continue.” 2024 was supposed to be a big year for the quintet as they were celebrating their 40th anniversary. The first sign of a disturbance in the force came in March, when Ween canceled April tour dates to give Deaner time to “preserve [his] mental and spiritual well being.”

Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo further explained the decision as part of the March 2024 announcement. “For the majority of my life I have been blessed enough to have a career doing the thing that I love the most. This privilege has never been lost on me. The fact that the music reaches other people and means so much to them is something that I never take for granted, and for which I am truly grateful, all of the time, every time we perform,” Deaner said.

“At this moment in time though I need to step away from performing live in order to preserve my mental and spiritual well being, and instead focus on myself and loved ones,” Melchiondo continued. “I know this will come as a disappointment and with great inconvenience to many people who bought tickets and made travel plans, and for this I sincerely apologize. I look forward to returning to the stage with the enthusiasm, joy, and renewed sense of inspiration that our fans deserve, and that I require of myself when we play live. Thank you and god bless.”

Ween — Dean Ween, Claude Coleman Jr., guitarist Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman, bassist Dave Dreiwitz and keyboardist Glenn McClelland — returned to the stage on August 2, 2024 in Missoula, Montana and made it through three shows before scrapping the rest of the run.

Claude Coleman Jr. and Brett Spivey spoke with 15-year-old Jai Yadav for his J Interviews podcast series. The majority of the conversation covered the pair’s plans to rebuild SoundSpace@Rabbit’s. The music rehearsal and studio room facility in Asheville, North Carolina was severely damaged by Hurricane Helene. A GoFundMe has been established to help Claude and Brett repair the space.

Host Jai Yadav asked Coleman about the status of Ween towards the end of the interview. While Claude didn’t have much to report, he feels confident Ween will eventually come “back raging and ripping it up.” Read Claude Coleman Jr.’s full response below:

“Everyone is still in a holding pattern, and everyone is just hoping for the best for everybody involved, including the primary person who is the focus of everything – Big Deaner [Dean Ween]. Everyone cares enough about him to just let it all play out.

“I think everybody probably has a notion that it’ll come back around at some point just because it kind of has to – that’s just the nature of music and creating. I don’t know anybody who retires from music. It’s just not possible physically, emotionally or spiritually. So I don’t think there’s any chance of it ever going away with any kind of real permanence.

“I think we’re still all just sort of waiting it through and letting it go through a healing process. However long it takes is however long it takes. We’re waiting, we’re ready, letting it be organic. I don’t think anything is going to be much different when we come back to it. We’ve been through this sort of situation before – similar shocking disruption. But in the end, in the long term, it’s just like a flick of a switch and we’re back on the bike, raging and ripping it up.

“So I think everyone’s hopeful that it’ll eventually come around, but we’re not really putting too much energy and focus on when and how and what’s really happening. We’re just letting it happen naturally.”

Watch Jai Yadav’s chat with Claude Coleman Jr. and Brett Spivey below:

Ween’s social media feeds have mainly stayed quiet over the past year. The last posts came in June to promote a poster sale and Chocolate & Cheese Championship Belt. The current hiatus is the band’s second lengthy break. Ween was previously put to bet from 2011 through 2016.

May the Boognish rise again sooner rather than later.