- Dean Ween
-
Michael Melchiondo, Jr.
Dean Ween performing with Ween at Flames Central in Calgary, Alberta on November 16th, 2007.Background information Also known as Dean Ween Born September 25, 1970
New Hope, Pennsylvania United StatesGenres Alternative rock, experimental rock, neo-psychedelia, hard rock, lo-fi Occupations Musician Instruments Vocals, guitar Associated acts Ween, Moistboyz Notable instruments Fender Stratocaster[1] - "Deaner" can also refer to the development codename of Centrophenoxine.
Dean Ween (also Deaner, b. 25 September 1970) is the stage name of Michael "Mickey" Melchiondo, Jr., American guitarist and half of the alternative rock group Ween.
Contents
Biography
Growing up, Melchiondo listened to a variety of music from The Beatles to Parliament/Funkadelic, to Leonard Cohen to Prince, to The Ramones to Laurie Anderson. He has a very wide range of musical influences.
Dean later met Aaron Freeman (Gene Ween) in a junior high school typing class in their hometown of New Hope, Pennsylvania, and although the two did not get along at first, they soon found they were soul brothers and thus adopted the common surname. The Ween brothers were soon spending all of their time in Melchiondo's bedroom, Melchiondo banging out songs on guitars tuned to open chords and Freeman wailing out the "good word" of the Boognish (a demon god that first appeared outside of their classroom at school and offered them the scepters of wealth and power for their "services") into a cheap microphone. Within a few years, the two found themselves opening for the likes of underground favorites such as the Butthole Surfers and Henry Rollins.
In the wake of Ween's new success with Elektra Records after releasing the albums Pure Guava and Chocolate & Cheese, Melchiondo started up another band with his friend Guy Heller (who had a guest appearance on Pure Guava) called the Moistboyz. This was his introduction to Ipecac Recordings and also the source of his alternative title, "Mickey Moist" (Heller taking the name "Dickie Moist" in typical surname fashion). The Moistboyz' music was, for the most part, a clash of heavy metal and punk rock accompanied by lyrics focused on overtly offensive humor blended with a strange form of social commentary.
After having recorded 12 Golden Country Greats, an album of ten country tunes Ween had written over the years with the help of Charlie McCoy, Buddy Harman, Bobby Ogdin and many other legendary session players in Nashville, he married longtime girlfriend Ellen Schmit (whom he met when she pulled up in her pickup truck at his job pumping gas at a Mobil Station). The couple had a baby boy in December 2000. The family currently resides in New Jersey.
Dean made significant contributions to two projects by his friend Josh Homme: The Desert Sessions and Queens of the Stone Age. On the critically successful 2002 Queens of the Stone Age album Songs for the Deaf, Dean played guitar on "Mosquito Song", "Gonna Leave You", and "Six Shooter".
In 2009 Mickey Melchiondo received his captain's license and regularly leads fishing trips off the Jersey shore as Mickey's Guide Service.[2][3][4]
Side projects and appearances
Year Title Label 1993 En Esch - Cheesy TVT Records 1994 Moistboyz - Moistboyz I Grand Royal 1994 Moistboyz - O.G. Simpson X-Ploit Records 1995 Moistboyz - Second Hand Smoker Arson Records 1995 Kostars - Klassics With a 'K' Grand Royal 1996 Moistboyz - Moistboyz II Grand Royal 1996 Yoko Ono - Rising Mixes Capitol Records 1996 Ben Vaughn - Instrumental Stylings Bar None Records 1997 Z-Rock - Hawaii Nipp Guitar 1998 Hub - Hub Slash Records 1999 Ben - Wool Ben Chatrer 2001 Pigface - Preaching To The Perverted Invisible Records 2002 Moistboyz - Moistboyz III Ipecac Recordings 2002 Ben - I Am a Monster Ben Chatrer 2002 Rollins Band - Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three Sanctuary Records 2002 Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf Interscope Records 2003 Desert Sessions - Volumes 9 & 10 Ipecac Recordings/Rekords Rekords 2005 Moistboyz - Moistboyz IV Sanctuary Records 2005 Moistboyz - Moistboyz IV Sanctuary Records 2005 Chris Harford - Looking Out For Number 6 Chocodog Records 2011 Ben - Bath Ben Chatrer References
- ^ Ween - Dean Ween Guitar Rig Gear and Equipment Uberproaudio.com Retrieved: 2009-05-16
- ^ "CHOCOLATE AND CHEESE AND STRIPED BASS - Half of Ween Will Take You Fishing in New Jersey for $300 - Vice Magazine". Viceland.com. http://www.viceland.com/int/v17n1/htdocs/chocolate-and-cheese-and-striped-bass-296.php?page=1. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
- ^ "Mickey's Guide Service". Mickeysfishing.com. 2010-01-01. http://mickeysfishing.com/. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
- ^ Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger (2011-06-14). "By night, he's a rock star - by day, he's a fisherman". NJ.com. http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2011/06/by_night_hes_a_rock_star_by_da.html. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
External links
- Dean Ween at the Internet Movie Database
Ween Dean Ween • Gene Ween
Claude Coleman, Jr. • Dave Dreiwitz • Glenn McClellandInternationally released
studio albumsGodWeenSatan: The Oneness · The Pod · Pure Guava · Chocolate and Cheese · 12 Golden Country Greats · The Mollusk · Craters of the Sac · White Pepper · Quebec · Shinola, Vol. 1 · La CucarachaIndependently released
studio albumsThe Crucial Squeegie Lip · Axis: Bold as Boognish · Erica Peterson's Flaming Crib Death · The Live Brain Wedgie/WAD · Prime 5Live albums Paintin' the Town Brown: Ween Live 1990–1998 · Live in Toronto Canada · Live at Stubb's · Live in Chicago · At The Cat's Cradle, 1992Related articles Categories:- 1970 births
- American alternative rock musicians
- American fishers
- American musicians of Italian descent
- American rock guitarists
- Living people
- People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania
- Pigface members
- Ween members
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