It’s been three months since the band Ween announced their indefinite touring hiatus. A bummer for fans of the New Hope, Pennsylvania-based rock band, whose sounds wander from hard-rock to pop, tripped-out lounge to experimental jam.
However just because we’re without Ween doesn’t mean we’re completely without Ween, as there are bands out there willing to take on the not-so-easy task of digging into Ween’s song list. Enter Nederland-based jam-band Magic Beans, a quartet with their own catalog of twang-tinged rock and jam ready to take a stab at the music of Dean and Gene Ween.
If you go
WHAT: Two nights of Magic Beans.
WHEN: Dec. 13 (featuring openers Cycles), Dec. 14 (featuring openers Squeaky Feet). Doors at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive.
TICKETS: $29.
MORE INFORMATION: www.animascitytheatre.com.
Magic Beans will pull into Durango next week, performing two nights (Dec. 13 and 14) at Animas City Theatre, with night No. 1 being billed as “Magic Weens” as they will strictly dig into the deep and diverse Ween catalog.
The motivation behind the show is all from fandom while filling the void created by the Ween hiatus.
“We’re huge fans of Ween, and Eugene who is the promoter of the show, he loves Ween as well, and I think it’s been stewing in his mind for awhile, and he proposed the idea and then Friday the 13th came along,” said Scott Hachey, Magic Beans guitar player and vocalist. “So what a better opportunity to do this on a two-night run and give people another taste than just a Magic Beans show?”
Magic Beans runs with the jam crowd, and while Ween wouldn’t call themselves a “jam band,” they certainly have audio tendencies of the genre, from rolling through numerous styles to banging out extended guitar solos. Slight similarities between the bands lends itself to the task of being Ween for a night.
“We kind of feel like we’re the perfect Swiss Army knife band to approach this,” Hachey said. “And the opening band Cycles, they’re good friends of ours and multi-instrumentalists in their own right, so we’re going to have them join in and try to bring the music to life. Because sometimes there is more than one guitar, or layers and support vocals, so we’re going to make it a little party and try to really honor the music.”
Honoring the music includes trying to decide what to play. Ween is a band with 10 studio releases, records loaded with cuts that can be folk ballads, metal tunes or sea shanties; building a set list means digging into a vast pile of tunes.
“You decide which ones we can honor best, which ones we can pull off the best, and just go from there,” Hachey said. “I describe them as a Beatles from the ’90s; it’s all about their relationship as songwriters together. It’s about the difference between each album, and each release has its own atmosphere, its own vibe, even story behind it. They have lore behind them, they have story. I just love the band.”
Learning the catalog is a tough challenge. One of the great things about Ween is the “sky’s the limit” vibe to the music – nothing was too out there, and anything was welcome, which is why one moment Ween would be playing country music with some of Nashville’s top session musicians, other times they’re writing tunes for “SpongeBob SquarePants” cartoons. Figuring out these songs is a solid audio exercise for the band.
“It’s not like learning an Eddie Van Halen solo, you know? I don’t think I’ll be crying in my basement trying to learn these things, I think it will be more of a fun process,” Hachey said. “Because they do cover so many genres, I’ll learn a little bit, which is always exciting.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
