Oct 16, 2018

by John Lanzillo

JimBase is a big fan of the God Ween Evan podcast and thought it would be cool to get an interview with the folks behind the show. Well they accepted the invitation and here it is. We enjoyed our experience working with Paul, Will, Katie, Mikey and yes, even Evan.

JimBase: For everyone, except Evan, what was your first experience with Ween?

Will: First came in contact with them thru Push Daisies on Beavis and Butthead, but Summer of 95 my cousin brought Chocolate & Cheese to our family camping trip and me and her listened to that album for 2 weeks straight. Laughing, singing along. I bought it when i got back home and have been diehard ever since.

Paul: Same as will. Saw them on Beavis and Butthead and was intrigued but never did much about it. Years later, and I know a lot of die hard Ween fans hate to hear it, I was really turned on to them thru Phish covering Roses.

Katie: I was trying to remember my first contact with Ween. In college a friend gave me a copy of Quebec because she had 2 copies. I wouldn’t normally just take a rando CD but I remembered my very cool older brother who was/still is in the noise rock band old Time relijun playing me some Ween when I was 14 or so. He worked at a record store and was always pushing good music on me because all I opted to listen to were oldies and musicals.

Mikey: As discussed in Episode 11, when I was fortuitously offered a shot at Evan, I first heard Ween while buying weed from an intimidating skater punk in college. I was confused, yet fascinated…and soon enough enlightened to the ways of the Boongnish. Nothing has been the same since…

JB: Everyone except Katie and Evan, did Ween live over populate your senses?

Will: First show def did. New Years Eve 98/99 NYC. I was young and innocent then, no drink or drugs. They overpopulated my senses that night, and I’ve been chasing that dragon ever since. Oh silly, silly Ween, I’m so in love with you.

Paul: Yes. My life was forever altered after seeing them at State Palace Theater in New Orleans in 2003. While the show was not technically part of Jazz Fest it was during the festival and it was a wild and weird and druggy and drunk wknd that coalesced during the opening notes of Ice Castles. My heart and head would later to go on to explode during Booze me up, perhaps the happiest i’ve been to this day.

Mike: Fuck and yes. I am still in awe of their ability to overwhelm my senses after nearly twenty years of seeing shows. To this day I walk out of shows high and speechless. My next show (The Cap – December) cannot come soon enough. (And I second everything Paully said about that fateful night in New Orleans…)

JB: I really can’t get over the .5 rating of Albino Sunburned Girl. Oh, sorry, that was a statement. Still in shock about that.

Will: It’s horseshit. The rating, not the song.

Paul: I was not surprised. Its a metaphor for the entire podcast. If Evan would give us/Ween the chance to love him he would discover that ween is the best in the world. But he is still a scared little girl with a congenital lack of pigment who has been exposed to too much sun.

Katie: I’m with you. Evan’s opinion on this is a crock of rotting cum.

Evan: My thoughts and prayers are with you in this difficult time. Honestly, I barely remember this song, and if it was played for me again after I had eaten a meal and rested up, perhaps I would give it a one?

Mikey: Evan can go fly a kite, or go sit and spin, or more aptly put…go piss up a rope. Fuck that guy (all love though of course…)

JB: Evan, I feel like your apologies at the beginning of every damn podcast are insincere, am I wrong?

Evan: All I can say is that I apologize and I’m sorry you feel that way.

JB: Since Paul mentioned Piss up a Rope as a pee break song, everyone but Paul, what would your pee break song be?

Will: Fun fact: I’ve never peed during a concert before. Three Reasons why: 1.) I don’t want to lose my spot where i’m standing and have to push through people 2.) I don’t really drink beers during the show, they are overpriced and I don’t like dropping the cup on the floor when i’m done. 3.) I have a bladder the size of a Jansport backpack. If i urinated like a normal human being, the answer would be Blue Balloon.

Evan: Quick story. When I was a young Jewish man who was forced to go to temple, I would claim to have to “pee” so I could go to the bathroom and kill time by shooting rolled up paper towels into the garbage can in the bathroom of my Synagogue. No idea if it will work, but I plan on using this excuse for an entire concert.

Katie: Imma just wear a diaper.

JB: Would you like to take a moment to explain inter subjective reality? Maybe next time.

Paul: I thought you would never ask. Yuval Harari, in his books Sapiens, describes three types of realities. Objective Reality – which he defines as things that are real whether you believe them or not. You may not believe in radiation, but it will fucking kill you either way. Subjective Reality is a belief a person has whether its real or not. For example, God. Inter-Subjective Reality is when a group of people share the same belief. When enough people share the belief we get things like nation states, money, religion, and isms (none of which are real unless a tipping point of people believe in them to sustain them). Boogni ratings are only real if enough of us on the show and listeners believe in their value.

JB: Evan, you said you were going to make a play list to fuck to, let’s be honest here, you don’t seem like the type of guy that fucks. But if you were, could you list a few songs?

Evan: Hmm… well, you have mean pretty well pegged. I find sex to largely be distasteful… but I guess just spin any Sufjan Stevens record you have handy.

JB: Will, could you please expand upon your feelings when you got a 5 Boogni review, but then rejected it?

Will: Watching my lovely co-hosts and a bunch of fans get perfect 5 Boogni ratings made me feel like the weird kid in class that never got invited to any parties. I knew that if I just got that 5, if i just got invited to that party, it would be amazing. Sadly it was an Evan Pity Point party and everyone got a 5 Boogni rating, and I wanted no part of that charade. While on the episode I did reject the 5 and gave myself a 4, in the “official” ratings I kept it a 5 to keep my average up.

JB: Evan, congratulations of the birth of your son, how would you feel if he ends up being a huge Ween fan?

Evan: All children rebel against their parents, and if this is his act of rebellion, so be it. Will I have failed as a father and husband? Of course.

JB: Evan, this seems right up your alley, on September 17th 2010, Madonna was filming a movie in Central Park and tried to shutdown the Ween soundcheck, do you feel she was in the right?

Will: Evan’s favorite motion picture director is Madonna.

Evan: Our greatest living actor Madonna? Yeah… I think she nailed it.

JB: Katie, Evan has said that all the songs you pick have a carnival theme to them, is this your subconscious’ way of letting us know you have an undying love for carnies?

Katie: Look, yes I’m a big fan of Danny Elfman and the click-a-clack jingle jangle of children’s bones covered in tiny bells. If that leads you to believe that I like to suck on the crusty cotton candy wrapped toes of carnies then I can’t stop that. Let the people think what they want! I feel no shame!

JB: Finally, for all of you, has this podcast opened your eyes to how deep rooted the Ween community is? And did you find it was deeper than you originally thought it to be?

Will: My first interaction with the Ween community was back in the days of the Ween Forum and it was not a good experience. I’m a fairly positive person, and that website felt more negative. I stayed away for a long while and would just see shows with my friends. Then after the band broke up I found the facebook community and would check it every few months. When we started the podcast the community was way deeper than I ever even imagined. I didn’t expect the positive reaction we got from our fellow Ween fans, frankly, i didn’t expect a reaction at all.. I find it inspiring and makes me want to make a better and funnier show for them. We get to make the podcast that I would want to listen to. Like the brownest of onions, this community has so many layers, and like an onion it’s delicious and can make me cry.

Paul: Very much so. Communities created around music have always kind of freaked me out. I have seen over a 120 phish shows but always kind of loathed much of the scene. When I saw the dead in 95 the scene was unwieldy and wild. When I went to Red Rocks I was nervous because I have always just seen the band with my friends and never tried to connect with anyone else. When I got to the meet up before the show the vibe was so wonderful and full of joy. It felt very inclusive and warm and still kind of brown, like everyone was in on the same dirty joke.

Mikey: Absolutely. I had an inkling Ween fans were awesome and some of the most passionate there were, but I honestly didn’t know the extent. I am in awe of the creativity and spirit of the GWE fan page on Facebook daily. One of the greatest joys of being a part of this podcast, is coming to a deeper understanding of how extraordinary Ween fans are. I feel it a privilege to be a part of the Ween community in any way. Real talk.

Katie: I’ve been blown away by the online community surrounding Ween and how many people have responded to this podcast positively. It makes sense because we’ve all tried to make friends, loved ones, and maybe even a few baby nephews understand how good Ween really is. I’ve never engaged with any fan base of anything I love so to have this world opened to me, even the smallest bit, has been wonderful. Plus any Ween fans who listen to GWE and reached out have only been supportive, hilarious and loving. It’s been a true joy to share this journey, rooting all together for dummy Evan to open his chest cavity and beg the Boognish to enter!

Evan: I have to say this is the one thing that keeps me coming back. To drop the veil for a second, I acknowledge that I’m the heel of this podcast… but seeing the memes on the FB group, the t-shirts and stickers that people send, and their undying optimism, that I – a miserly, withered, husk of a “man” – could someday like their favorite band? It does make me wish I could love them, to go where the others are, to be… a part of something? Maybe this is what Deaner was talking about… Maybe…

Nah. Forget it. I’M GOOD.

Again, we want to thank the crew at GWE for taking time out of their busy schedules to make this happen.

Be sure to listen to the podcast, it is really funny and great to hear an outsiders prospective on our favorite band. You can find them at the following links

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/god-ween-evan/id1325824889?mt=2

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mike-shields/god-ween-evan

https://m.facebook.com/groups/522032521507120/?ref=group_header&view=group