Dean Ween brought back his “Ask Deaner” site to assess the band’s recent gigs in the Northeast as well as the pair of shows they played at Lockn’, with the second coming before Phish’s headlining set on Friday night.

As Jambase uncovered, Deaner had numerous thoughts on the topic, citing that he had no idea Ween would be playing two sets at the Arrington, VA festival. “All I knew about the Lockn’ Festival is that we were opening for Phish,” he said as a part of a lengthy response. “I’d be lying if I said that opening for Phish wasn’t a big deal. All i’ll say is that we really wanted to play our asses off in front of those guys, who we’re friendly with going back a long ways. Call it friendly competition, but it exists with every band.”

The thoughts then turned a bit more unfiltered, saying, “Read: I wanted to blow their fuckin’ asses off the stage and rupture their fans’ ear drums and harsh their “vibe.” So there it is. You happy now? I hate their fans, they hate Ween, and I wanted to kill them with our music and un-fuck their minds from their normal listening habits.”

Deaner called the first night a “new high for us at a festival” and had some issues with the second night as the band played during the day before Phish’s set. “This crowd is somehow indifferent. They’ve taken a lot of shit from Ween fans for many years, we are officially on the scale. We do in fact whoop their ass, but nothing compared to the first night when it was OUR crowd.” He continued, “They reacted to us like you would to any opening act when you’re waiting to see the headliner, who you follow around, although I know we made many converts this night.”

There was also some mention of Phish’s elaborate stage setup, as Melchiondo noted that the group “could’ve played medleys with the openers, and Phish, had they not needed 19 hours to set up.” He added, “Phish went on about 80 minutes after us–we didn’t watch them. I thought their long setup was a buzzkill from the vibe of the one-two punches of the other bands. They brought EVERYTHING. Production, lights, video, sound–it was excessive I thought.”

The lengthy response ends with the guitarist’s favorite part of his Lockn’ experience. “My favorite part was Peter Wolf from J. Geils opening, we met before and he loves Ween. He was the only dude at the festival i could relate to at all. Like, the only motherfucker except the guys in my band that really understands rock and roll and is still doing it.”