Music

Going Free-Style

CF native drums for ex-Ween member’s band

Rob Hanson |

HELLO, WEEN! From locals to legends, Kyle Keegan has drummed with everyone from Sarah Krueger, The 4onthefloor and most recently, with Aaron Freeman, of famed cult band Ween.
HELLO, WEEN! From locals to legends, Kyle Keegan has drummed with everyone from Sarah Krueger, The 4onthefloor and most recently, with Aaron Freeman, of famed cult band Ween.

The growing tangle of branches on the music tree that links the Chippewa Valley to some of the most well-known rockers around the Midwest and the country has sprouted yet another notable limb.

Chippewa Falls natives Kyle Keegan and Brad Cook were part of the studio band that backed Aaron Freeman, formerly of the cult band Ween, in the recording of his solo album Freeman, which was released in July. Since the recording, Keegan has continued drumming for Freeman on his first nationwide tour, which included September dates in Milwaukee and St. Paul.

Keegan graduated from Chippewa Falls High School in 2005 and went on to study music at the University of Minnesota–Duluth. Inspired by bands like Low and Trampled By Turtles, who were starting to make blips on the national radar, Keegan said being involved in Duluth music scene – where he played with Eau Claire native Sarah Krueger, Dirty Horse, and as a fill-in for The 4onthefloor – made his goals tangible.

“I have to pinch myself sometimes. Sometimes I forget (Freeman is) a rock legend ... like a piece of rock history.” – Kyle Keegan on drumming with Aaron Freeman, formerly of Ween

“Duluth was just the perfect place for me to kind of cut my teeth as a musician,” he said in a recent interview from his home in Chapel Hill, N.C., on a break from the Freeman tour. “The music scene is really supportive up there, all the local musicians are good friends with each other and play in bands with each other.”

After college, Keegan joined what he calls a “large contingency of Wisconsinites” who have relocated to the Chapel Hill-Durham area. There he started playing in a band called Loamlands with his old high school friend Brad Cook, who has had his own success playing bass in bands such as Megafaun, The Rosebuds, and GAYNGS.

Cook was an acquaintance with Freeman’s manager and Ween touring bassist, Dave Dreiwitz, who was at the time working with a club called The Cat’s Cradle in Durham. When it came time to produce Freeman’s debut solo record a group of professional musicians was hired, but Freeman decided he instead wanted to find younger musicians who would be excited about the project and could bring a fresh perspective. Dreiwitz reached out to Cook, and in turn, Cook reached out to Keegan.

“(Cook was) like did you ever listen to Ween? … And I’m like are you (expletive) kidding me?” Keegan said. “Of course I listen to Ween!” After recording the album in Woodstock, N.Y., the band embarked on its first leg of shows and festivals, though Cook opted not to play in the live band because of commitment with another rising star in the Durham scene, Sharon Van Etten.

Since then, Keegan said the band has really come together and has been having a blast on the road. “I have to pinch myself sometimes,” Keegan said. “Sometimes I forget (Freeman is) a rock legend … like a piece of rock history, and he’s accomplished so many great things throughout his career.”

Probably one the most eclectic rock bands of the modern era, Ween – the duo of Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, who went by the stage names Gene and Dean Ween – released 11 studio albums and countless singles and EPs over the course of their 25-year career. Ween had a psychedelic style and a reputation as talented musicians whose songs ranged from downright silly to heart-wrenching, and their dabbling in every style of music known to man (and a few that were unknown) cemented their cult status, but also gained them some commercial success as their music was featured in the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and on the TV show South Park, just to name a few.

The breakup of Ween in 2012 ultimately boiled down to Freeman’s well-chronicled meltdown after a decades-long battle with drug and alcohol abuse, and subsequently hitting a creative wall. In a press release from Partisan Records, Freeman said he “would be dead” if he was still living the life of Gene Ween, and says he started the Freeman project as sort of a clean slate.

Keegan said being on the road with Freeman is not at all like what Ween fans might imagine. “He has been nothing but one of the sweetest individuals I’ve ever gotten to work with,” Keegan said of Freeman. “He’s a very honest musician. He knows what he wants and he’s a great leader.

“Obviously we’re very supportive of him and the fact that he’s two years sober now, and that’s amazing,” he added. “And that’s been kind of nice too, because it’s allowed us to really focus on making the best music we can.”

Keegan calls his time at Chi-Hi the most “formative years” of his music career, where he worked with late band instructor Doug Greenhall, or “G” as many affectionately called him, who was killed in a tragic bus crash in 2004 returning from a band competition.

Whenever his tenure with Freeman expires, Keegan said he will continue playing drums in as many projects as he can until he’s ready to settle down and use his degree in music education, through which he hopes to inspire the next generation.

“I’ve always been extremely lucky to get to work with all the folks that I have, and that’s one of my favorite parts of being a drummer. … I don’t necessarily have to lock myself into one particular project or one particular style of music,” he said. “But eventually I hope to affect kids the way I was affected by the music program at Chi-Hi.”

To learn more, visit freemantheband.com.