Melchiondo and Coleman collaborated with Japanese noise rock band Boredoms on a project released two years later as Z-Rock Hawaii. Melchiondo became a big fan of Boredoms upon seeing them live in Philadelphia in 1993, calling them "the heaviest band [he] had ever seen since the Butthole Surfers". Boredoms frontman Yamantaka Eye had previously released an album that heavily sampled Ween's Pod album. These recording sessions took place in a Pennington, New Jersey studio during the recording of Chocolate and Cheese. Ween turned to Nashville studio musicians and producer Ben Vaughn for the November 1995 recording of 12 Golden Country Greats (1996) which contained only ten tracks. There are two theories regarding the title of the album. The first claim is that it refers to the dozen veteran musicians, known as The Shit Creek Boys, who played on the album. The second claim refers to the fact that the band did indeed record twelve songs during the demo sessions for the album. When it came time to record the actual album, the band chose not to use the songs "I Got No Darkside" and "So Long, Jerry" but kept the album title. "So Long, Jerry", a tribute to the then recently deceased Jerry Garcia, was featured as a B-Side on the "Piss Up a Rope" single. Sticking to Nashville tradition, Freeman and Melchiondo provided only vocals, allowing The Shit Creek Boys to play all the instruments. Elvis Presley's former backing vocal quartet The Jordanaires appeared on the tracks "I'm Holding You" and "Powder Blue". After a brief return to the original lineup of Freeman, Melchiondo and the DAT machine for a series of dates opening for the Foo Fighters, Ween toured with the Shit Creek Boys in October 1996. This lineup performed not only 12 Golden Country Greats material, but also played Ween songs from previous eras with added country instrumentation, including the Pure Guava tracks "Pumpin' 4 the Man" and "Push th' Little Daisies" and the Chocolate and Cheese tracks "What Deaner Was Talkin' About" and "Buenas Tardes Amigo". Parts of the show of October 23 at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre would later be released as the album, Live in Toronto Canada (2001). Commercial breakthrough (1997–2001) The nautically themed album The Mollusk followed in 1997. The album was another eclectic set showing Ween's penchant for satire, deconstruction, and pastiche, including 1960s Brit-pop, sea shanties, Broadway show tunes, and especially