t’s one of the longest-running head-scratchers in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, but investigators working the strange case of Ween say they’re no closer to the answers they seek.

Their quest? To find out how New Hope, Pa., a tiny burg nestled along the Delaware River about 40 miles north of Philadelphia, spawned one of the weirdest rock bands of the last 20 years. To learn what it was about that quaint tourist town that gave rise to Dean and Gene Ween, known to locals as Mickey Melchiondo and Aaron Freeman, respectively.

The possibilities are endless: something in the water, a sharp knock to the boys’ heads, an unconventional upbringing. But the investigation seems to be focused on two things the Ween ”brothers” had plenty of: boredom and mind-altering substances.

The band’s bio makes no bones about it: The guys were separately making home recordings of their music when they first met in 1984 in an eighth-grade typing class. Later that year, they were visited by a ”demon-god” named Boognish, which ordered them to form Ween and assume their alter egos.

By the next year, the band was ”hopelessly addicted to drugs,” according to the bio, and released two cassettes and an EP on a New Jersey friend’s small record label. In 1986, Ween played its first club show in Trenton, N.J.; the lineup was Dean on guitar, Gene on vocals and a tape deck providing the drums and bass.

In 1989, Ween signed a record deal and started working on a debut album while living on a horse farm in New Hope. They released the album the next year, kicking off a stream of releases that investigators have studied closely for years, looking for clues.

Here is a rundown of the evidence:

* The band’s first three albums are lo-fi affairs crammed with Ween’s genre-jumping songs, nonsensical lyrics and plenty of expletives. They became favorites of college radio DJs across America and the third record, 1993’s ”Pure Guava,” generated a minor hit with the song ”Push Th’ Little Daisies.”

* Likely the strangest band ever on a major label, Ween recorded for Elektra Records throughout much of the 1990s, providing a view of the wide world of music through the band’s bloodshot eyes. Fruits of this labor included the 1994 soul-and-funk record ”Chocolate and Cheese”; 1996’s twangy ”12 Golden Country Greats”; 1997’s prog-rock, nautical-themed ”The Mollusk”; and the odd psych-tinged pop of ”White Pepper,” released in 2000.

* By the turn of the century, the band released an epic live album and began to gain a reputation as a monstrous live act, backed by three-hour shows that drew from all the Ween eras as well as an eclectic library of cover songs. Crowds began to grow, thanks in part to a booming following among jam band fanatics who heard their beloved Phish covering Ween songs.

* The band’s Web site, ween.com, has been a constant source of amusement for Ween’s fans. Maintained by Dean Ween, the site has always been a place for the brothers’ stream-of-consciousness thoughts on topics ranging from updates on new recordings to the quality of food at Olive Garden. Current links include a Star Wars video game created entirely of Legos, the official magazine of the Louisiana State Penitentiary and the story of a guy who caught a 78-pound striped bass off the coast of New Jersey.

Over the years, the band has evolved, but the concept remains the same: Despite their image as a couple of stoner goofballs, Dean and Gene Ween are, at their core, two supertalented and extremely versatile musicians capable of mastering just about any style they choose.

Take some Beatles hooks, some Hendrix solos and some Zappa idiosyncrasy, stir in good drugs and the Ween mind-set, and you get a critic’s fave, moderate commercial success and one of the biggest cult followings in the music industry.

Reviewer Jason Ankeny nailed it in his summary of the band on Allmusic.com:

”Ween was the ultimate cosmic goof of the alternative rock era, a prodigiously talented and deliriously odd duo whose work traveled far beyond the constraints of parody and novelty into the heart of surrealist ecstasy,” Ankeny wrote. ”In essence, Ween were bratty deconstructionists, kicking dirt on the pop world around them with demented glee.”

The people working the Ween case have reportedly been reading articles on the band, looking for insights into its past, present and future. Those efforts have come up mostly empty, according to a source close to the investigation.

One comment from Gene Ween, however, has drawn more scrutiny, the source said. It came in a 2003 interview with Popmatters.com in response to a question about ”Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down),” one of Ween’s most creepy, unnerving tunes.

”That song didn’t come out of any kind of making fun of. That song came out of fear of death, fear of needles in the spine, and that’s not cool at all. That’s really bad news,” he said. ”There is a lot of psychological terror going on in Ween, and there always has been.”

Investigators say they’re picking apart the statement, hoping it provides a peek inside the psyche of two dudes from New Hope who started making bizarre music 20 years ago and simply never stopped.

If You Go

What: Ween

When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, gates open 5 p.m.

Where: Les Schwab Amphitheater, 344 S.W. Shevlin Hixon Drive, Bend

Cost: Advance tickets $27.50 plus service charges, available at all Ticketmaster outlets, including all G.I. Joe’s stores, select Fred Meyer stores, and at The Ticket Mill at The Shops at The Old Mill District, as well as online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 866-866-4502. Tickets will also be available for $32 plus service charges at the gate.

Contact: 322-9383 or bendconcerts.com