Quebec

Quebec
Quebec
Studio album by Ween
Released	August 5, 2003
Recorded	c. 2001–2003
Length	55:07 (Regular release); 58:18 (with Japanese edition bonus track)
Label	Sanctuary Records
Producer	Andrew Weiss
Ween chronology

Quebec (sometimes stylized as quebec in lower case) is the eighth studio album by Ween, released on August 5, 2003 on Sanctuary Records. It was the first Ween record produced after the band parted ways with Elektra three years earlier, and their first independent studio release since 1991's The Pod.

Description and History[edit | edit source]

Background and production[edit | edit source]

After the release of White Pepper in 2000, Ween’s recording contract with Elektra Records ended, and the band began work on a new studio album. The production process, which took place between late 2000 and early 2003, was delayed by multiple factors, including both logistical constraints and problems in the band members’ personal lives. Dean Ween said in a 2003 interview, "We'd get on a kick of writing, and then we'd either go on tour or we'd have some sort of major family disaster. There was a lot of that kind of thing. It was really a depressing three years.”^[1] In addition, drummer Claude Coleman Jr was seriously injured in a car accident in 2002, and consequently does not appear on the album (with drums on the final record performed instead by Josh Freese).^[2]

Quebec marked the return of longtime producer Andrew Weiss, who had been absent during production of White Pepper due to personal conflict with Ween beginning around the time of The Mollusk.^[3] Gene Ween asked Weiss to return as producer on Quebec. “When I was writing Zoloft, there’s a little taster, a backwards cymbal sound in there, and that keyed Andrew Weiss, because it’s just such an Andrew thing to do. Then I realized that he should probably just work on all of the songs, so we got him back.”^[4]

The album was recorded at various locations over the course of the two-and-a-half year production period. Recording locations included Graphic Sound Studio and Andrew Weiss' home studio, as well as band members' houses and rented accommodation (including the beach house in Holgate, New Jersey, where Ween previously recorded The Mollusk).^[5]

Music and themes[edit | edit source]

The majority of the songs on Quebec were written by Gene Ween, who has cited his divorce from his first wife as a major influence on the album. "I wrote most of these songs right before the end [of his marriage]. A lot of these songs are about that. Even if it's not direct, you can feel the beginning of the end of the breakup in these songs.”^[4]

As well as divorce, the album deals with themes of drug use, addiction, alienation, depression, grief, and mortality. Reflecting on the writing process in a 2014 interview, Gene Ween explained, “I was going through a lot of shit and I got to put it directly down on people. And that’s how I write. I’m not a very sentimental writer. I like to be very present, autobiographical.”^[6]

Cover art[edit | edit source]

The concept for the album cover was based on the board game Thorns. Dean Ween had the idea after finding a copy of the game at a flea market.^[7] The cover artwork itself was designed and drawn by Phil Yarnall of Smay Design, and features Dean and Gene Ween in place of the couple in the Thorns artwork.^[8]

Track Listing[edit | edit source]

1	It's Gonna Be a Long Night
2	Zoloft
3	Transdermal Celebration
4	Among His Tribe
5	So Many People in the Neighborhood
6	Tried and True
7	Happy Colored Marbles
8	Hey There Fancypants
9	Captain
10	Chocolate Town
11	I Don't Want It
12	The Fucked Jam
13	Alcan Road
14	The Argus
15	If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)
16	(bonus track, Japan release only) Ooh Va La ^[9]

Singles[edit | edit source]

2003	Tried and True	B-side: Mountains and Buffalo	Promotional single only. Released on limited edition 7" vinyl.^[10]
2003	Transdermal Celebration		Promotional single only.^[11]

Known Personnel[edit | edit source]

Sourced from the liner notes unless otherwise stated.

Gene Ween - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, synthesizer, omnichord, drum machine
Dean Ween - guitar, bass, electric sitar, vocals, keyboards, vocoder, drums, "the waste"
Andrew Weiss - producer, mixing, keyboards, synthesizer, strings, fretless bass, percussion, "the waste", drums
Glenn McClelland - keyboards, organ, piano, accordion
Dave Dreiwitz - bass on "Chocolate Town"
Josh Freese - drums
Sim Cain - drums on "It's Gonna Be a Long Night"
Chris Shaw - co-mixing on "It's Gonna Be a Long Night" and "Transdermal Celebration"
Howie Weinberg - mastering
Ted Young - assistant mix engineer
Smay Vision - design