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Gene Ween Says Band’s Split Came After Decade of ‘Struggle’

Gene Ween / Photo by Getty Images

Following comments he made last month that the quarter of a century he and bandmate Mickey Melchiondo spent as the brilliant rock duo Ween had at last come to an end, Aaron Freeman — better known as Gene Ween — released an official statement to Ween fans this afternoon explaining the decision. As SPIN has already said goodbye to the firecracker pair’s career together, we’ll let the statement speak for itself:

“I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your kind words and support,” he writes. “It means a lot. My decision to leave Ween, however interpreted, was absolutely not made in haste. It’s evolved over a decade’s worth of internal and external struggle. Know that I am extremely proud of all that is Ween. And while Mickey and I are going our separate ways, I wish him only the best. I will always have nothing but love and respect for what we created together. I need to now move on for myself and for my family. I still, as always, look forward to a future filled with music as Aaron Freeman.”

“It’s been a long time, 25 years. It was a good run,” Freeman originally told Rolling Stone when he unofficially announced Ween’s demise in May. “For me it’s a closed book. In life sometimes, in the universe, you have to close some doors to have others open,” says Freeman. “There’s no, ‘Goddamn that such and such!’ For me, I’d like to think it’s a door I can close finally.” As SPIN reported just before that announcement, Freeman’s debut solo record (and apparently first post-Ween record) Marvelous Clouds, an album comprised entirely of Rod McKuen covers, is excellent. Download a cut from that record, “Love’s Been Good to Me,” here.