Claypool Les - Primus: over the electric grapevine: insight into Primus and the world of Les Claypool

The germ of the idea for this book can be traced to an exact dateThursday, June 9, 2011, at roughly 5:30 p.m. That was when Greg Prato wrapped up an interview with Les Claypool over the phone for Rolling Stone and presented the question, Thanks for the interview... and by the way, did you ever think of doing a book about the history of Primus? A brief backstage meeting took place after a Primus show at Roseland (RIP) in New York City on Friday, September 30, 2011, shortly before midnight, and the book idea was officially given the thumbs-up (with an agreement that it would be best to set it up in an oral history format). The first interview for the book took place (with Les) on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, at 1:00 p.m., and the final interview for the book (again with Les) took place on Tuesday, October 23, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. The first draft of the book was submitted via e-mail on Thursday, November 8, 2012, at 7:56 p.m., and the books contract was signed/submitted on Thursday, February 20, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. This paragraph was completed/submitted for inclusion in the book on Tuesday, April 29, 2014, at 10:12 p.m. [Please note: all times listed above are according to Eastern Standard Time.]

Cast of Characters

M HERB ALEXANDER: Primus drummer 19891996, 20032010, 2013present

TREY ANASTASIO: Phish singer and guitarist, Oysterhead singer and guitarist

MATTHEW BELLAMY: Muse singer, guitarist, and pianist

CHARLIE BENANTE: Anthrax drummer

TOM BLANKENSHIP: My Morning Jacket bassist

LES CLAYPOOL: Primus singer and bassist 1984present, Sausage singer and bassist, Oysterhead singer and bassist, Frog Brigade singer and bassist, Colonel Claypools Bucket of Bernie Brains singer and bassist

STEWART COPELAND: The Police drummer, Oysterhead drummer, producer of the Primus song Dirty Drowning Man

CHRIS TROUZ CUEVAS: Primus tour manager 19891996

CHUCK D: Public Enemy rapper

MIKE DILLON: Frog Brigade marimba player and percussionist

MILES DOUGHTY: Slightly Stoopid singer and guitarist

NORWOOD FISHER: Fishbone bassist

P. FLUID [a.k.a. Forrest Thinner]: Original 24-7 Spyz singer, blkVampires singer

MICHAEL FRANTI: The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy rapper, solo artist

ADAM GATES: Friend of band, the chap who plays Bob C. Cock, Electric Apricot actor

KIRK HAMMETT: Metallica guitarist, high school classmate of Les

WARREN HAYNES: Allman Brothers guitarist, Govt Mule singer and guitarist

TODD HUTH: Primus guitarist 19841989, Sausage guitarist, Frog Brigade guitarist

EUGENE HTZ: Gogol Bordello singer and guitarist

JOSH KLINGHOFFER: Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist

LEANNE LAJOIE: Current Primus management

LARRY LaLONDE: Primus guitarist 1989present

JAY LANE: Primus drummer 19881989 and 20102013, Sausage drummer, Frog Brigade drummer

GEDDY LEE: Rush singer and bassist

DAVID LEFKOWITZ: Former Primus manager

BRYAN BRAIN MANTIA: Primus drummer 19962001, Colonel Claypools Bucket of Bernie Brains drummer

JASON McHUGH: Electric Apricot producer and actor

MICKEY DEAN WEEN MELCHIONDO: Ween singer and guitarist

TOM MORELLO: Rage Against the Machine guitarist, Audioslave guitarist, producer of the Primus songs Electric Uncle Sam, Mama Didnt Raise No Fool, and Power Mad

ANGELO MOORE: Fishbone singer and saxophonist

BUZZ OSBORNE: The Melvins singer and guitarist

LINDA PERRY: 4 Non Blondes singer and guitarist, songwriter/producer

VERNON REID: Living Colour guitarist

CLAUDIO SANCHEZ: Coheed and Cambria singer and guitarist

BRAD SANDS: Current Primus manager, Oysterhead tour manager

SKERIK: Frog Brigade saxophonist

CHAD SMITH: Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer, Chickenfoot drummer, Bombastic Meatbats drummer

MATT STONE: South Park cocreator, producer of the Primus song Natural Joe

KIM THAYIL: Soundgarden guitarist

ROBERT TRUJILLO: Suicidal Tendencies bassist, Infectious Grooves bassist, Ozzy Osbourne bassist, Metallica bassist

TOM WAITS: Solo artist, singer on Tommy the Cat and singer, producer on Coattails of a Dead Man

MIKE WATT: The Minutemen bassist, fIREHOSE bassist, Stooges bassist, solo artist

BRIAN HEAD WELCH: Korn guitarist, Love and Death guitarist

TOM WHALLEY: Interscope Records cofounder

HANK WILLIAMS III: Solo artist

MATT WINEGAR: Suck on This and Frizzle Fry coproducer

FOREWORD

To think back a long way, I suppose it was the album Sailing the Seas of Cheese. I must have been thirteen or fourteen years old. That was the time when I started to get really interested in musicrock music and guitar-based music. It was around about that time that I first joined a band in high school, a band called Gothic Plague, that featured the drummer Dominic Howard, who Im in the band Muse with now. Gothic Plague would do cover songs of various indie music from the UK and also grunge music. The bass player we had at the time couldnt face Primus. [Laughs] Because the bass lines were so complex. But myself and Dom in particular, I felt like we were both moving toward more interesting, great instrumentalists and great musicians, rather than some of the stuff the band was listening to at the time. And Primus was one of those groups.

I remember Sailing the Seas of Cheese was the first record I ever listened to where the musicianship really shone through in a way that didnt seem just purely chuffiness. It had loads of originality, and it was my first exposure to real experimental harmony usage. It blew us away. It was one of the groups that definitely led to usmyself and Domknowing that what we wanted to do was a little bit different to what the other two guys were doing in the band. And eventually that band broke up.

It was just myself and Dom, so I was playing the guitar and Dom was on drums. For a year there, we were a bit like the White Stripesjust guitar and drums. But we were always drawn to the idea of trying to find a bass player who we felt was up to the kind of standard that we believed we were. [Laughs] At the time, we were becoming more interested in progressive rock musicgroups like Pink Floyd, Rush, Primus, and stuff like that. And really drawn toward instrumental music. Also, film music was always a big influence, like Ennio Morricone, and even Hans Zimmerjust this more left-field approach to prioritizing instrumentation in music and complex arrangements, over the standard sort of songwriting approach that everybody seems to take.

At the time, our two favorite bass players were Les Claypool and Flea from the Chili Peppers, and being where we were from in Southwest England, I think that was probably quite unusual for us to be into that musicfrom such a faraway place from where we were raised. Especially since it was radically different from the music that was popular in the UK at the time, which was very much Britpop, like Oasis and Blur. Talking about groups like Oasis, the level of instrumentation in these groups we always found to be very uninspiring. So we were always drawn to these more impressive, clearly higher level of musical intelligence that was coming out of groups like Primus and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.