Mickey Melchiondo, left, and Aaron Freeman

Mickey Melchiondo is making a deposit at the bank and watching the skies when he calls The Bulletin to talk about his bands show tonight in Bend (see If you go).

Im supposed to go sharking, but it looks like were going to get (the fringes of) Hurricane Bill, says Melchiondo, aka Dean Ween, guitarist for the cult-fave alt-rock band Ween. Theyre calling for nasty thunderstorms through Saturday, so Im kind of waiting right now.

Turns out sharking is the same thing as fishing for shark, which Melchiondo does regularly near his home in New Hope, Pa., a small town along the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border about an hour from the Atlantic coast. And if the sharking doesnt work out, hes going to fish the Delaware River, which runs right past his place.

Melchiondos been fishing the Delaware even longer than hes been playing with Aaron Freeman (aka Gene Ween) as Ween, which has the distinction of being one of the more bizarre musical success stories of the late 20th century. The guys began making music together in eighth grade in 1984. Math wizards will recognize, then, that 2009 is Weens 25th birthday.

Those 25 years have produced such an array of sounds, its hard to even begin to describe them. From lo-fi noise to classic country, chugging sludge-rock to psychedelic pop to soul and funk, Freeman and Melchiondo are masters of mind-warping, genre-hopping, often nonsensical songs that have gained the band an enormous, ravenous following. Indeed, few bands can claim as much crowd-drawing power backed by such minor mainstream success.

All of which means that when Ween comes to town even two years removed from their most recent album, La Cucaracha their fans will show up, ready to consume whatever the band throws their way. (Plus, probably, illicit substances. Lots of illicit substances.)

Melchiondo says to expect no big surprises. A note he posted in March at www.ween.com touting a new look for the band was premature; he and Freeman talked about changing Weens touring lineup, but that never happened. (Fiction is better than reality sometimes, Melchiondo said.)

The duo has begun the process of writing songs for a new album, but havent yet really focused on new material. So in Bend, theyll draw from a well of tunes as deep and wide as just about anyones.

We have a lot of songs, Melchiondo said. Its different every night.

Which is probably why these two guys have been able to make it work for a quarter of a century. Considering how far out on the edge Ween can be, its particularly interesting that 25 years after they met in typing class, Freeman and Melchiondo are still at it.

Although, Melchiondo says the duo envisioned this scenario way back then, in its own offbeat, off-color way.

We always joked that we would be at this point and, like, 20 years beyond this point when we were 15 and 16 years old, he said. You look at pictures of the Beatles on the Let It Be cover and theyve got beards and s–t and they look silly and its like, yeah, thats gonna be us, were gonna have our … beard phase, and eventually well just be, like, fat and lame and writing songs about our kids and s–t that nobody wants to hear.

So theres a whole late-era Ween record in the vaults, just waiting to be released?

Oh yeah, Melchiondo said. We flirt with it. We like to pretend and write songs like that just to amuse ourselves and then we dont let anybody hear them. Theres a bunch of phases were gonna go through.

Until then, though, Ween will stick to the road, except when it doesnt. And when it doesnt, youll find Melchiondo somewhere with fishing gear in his hand. Like, all the time.

Hes got his captains license through the U.S. Coast Guard. (I could go run a scallop boat if I wanted to.) Hell continue doing his wildly entertaining online fishing show at www .brownietroopfs.com.

(Hes been approached a few times about doing it on actual television.) And hes starting a guide service on the Delaware River.

Ive been fishing that river my whole life, said the pride of New Hope, Pa. Im as qualified as anyone to do it.