Happy 4th of July Weencast listeners, and welcome to another episode. To celebrate Independence Day, we go back to 2002 one more time. We revisit 2002 one more time because that year wrapped up with a series of events that would end up playing a significant role with the band as well as the surrounding music scene for years to come.
August 7th, 2002. A date that will live forevermore in infamy: the day of Claude’s devastating car accident. We recount that horrible day, as well as his path to recovery, and go into all the deets about the resulting cascade of events, a laundry list of the legendary, revolving around what we’ve come to call the Josh Freese Era.
Consider such seminal events as Claude Aid at the Whiskey Bar in Hoboken, New Jersey, which was the last time Aaron and Mickey played as a duo with the DAT. And the short-lived residency of future Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese, who replaced Claude for six shows, and who will forever be a part of Ween lore due to the celebrated job he did as stand-in drummer. He learned more than 50 Ween songs in a matter of days, and rocked them out like he knew them his entire life.
The conversation goes on to the legendary two night stand at the Bowery Ballroom. These were the so called “Concerts for Claude,” where the dream of witnessing a “Ween” festival was finally realized with two nights that included not only Ween, but also acts from the family tree such as Chris Harford, Sound of Urchin, Chocolate Genius, Instant Death, and Sharief in Burgundy. Never before, and never since, have all the guys gotten together like this.
To round it out, we also discuss the impact Claude’s accident would end up having on the Ween community writ large: how it led to a resurgence in such acts as the Moist Boyz, Sound of Urchin, Instant Death, and others. These were difficult but heady times indeed!
So come check out the episode while you enjoy a beer at your 4th of July cookout or pool party. And when you’re done, come on over to Patreon for some amazing dessert because we got some great bonus material including interviews with fans who were there, as well as Tomato of Sound of Urchin, who played at Claude aid and the Concerts for Claude, and had quite the tales to tell.
