Primus has long been known for creativity in the live environment, doing shows that paid tribute to the many influences that have filtered into the hard-to-define sound of the band led by bassist/vocalist Les Claypool. Now Claypool is giving fans a whole new type of tour this summer, including a local stop as part of Blue Note Napa Summer Sessions on July 4.
This time out, the tour features a triple header of three different Claypool-related acts—the Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, the Claypool Lennon Delirium (with Sean Lennon, son of the late Beatle John Lennon) and Primus finishing the evening.
All three acts have new music to accompany the tour. Primus has released a four-song EP, A Handful of Nugs. The Fearless Flying Frogs have a new live album, Return of the Live Frogs Volume 1, and the Claypool Lennon Delirium has a new studio album, The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy.
“We’ve got a few surprises up our sleeves,” Claypool said of the shows during an interview, noting that they could feature deep cuts, fan favorites and even new songs.
Primus can only do that, Claypool acknowledged, because the band has, over the last 40 years, built up an audience dedicated to seeing them and hearing their recordings—no matter what they’re doing.
“Thank God for the loyal following,” he said. “The Primus crowd is sort of famous for a big mosh pit. But people want to see more improvisation, deeper cuts; the show changes up every night.”
So, what is that irresistible Primus sound?
“It’s all just devil music,” Claypool quipped, then took on the question more seriously.
“It’s really not a technique or a style,” he said. “I think with Primus, it’s three guys with very different backgrounds and a multitude of influences coming together. It’s funny; I get asked the Frank Zappa question quite a lot. But I didn’t go down the Zappa road. I think I had like one (Zappa) album my whole life. That’s more (guitarist) Larry LaLonde.
“Tim Alexander (drummer) has some world music. So that element comes in,” the frontman continued. “Obviously, I have a background with guys like Geddy Lee and Larry Graham and Peter Gabriel. Early Peter Gabriel was some of the biggest influence on me and Primus forever. But a lot of people don’t really spot that.”
Claypool was instantly drawn to the bass the first time he saw and heard someone play it back in the ’70s.
“I remember going to these dances when I was a kid that had live bands,” he said. “And I’d see these guys up there playing these instruments and I was like, ‘I want to do that.’ Then I saw that skinny one with the six strings, and I thought that one with four strings must be easier.”
“Then I ran across John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin), and that reinforced it,” the bassist recalled.
Claypool was about 14 when he got a bass.
“That thing never left my hands. As soon as I got the damn thing, it was just playing it all the time. I was playing along with records, so the notation was probably way off,” he said. “But that’s how I got going, just playing along with records and not actually being able to hear what it was.”
He picked up some influences, like jazz bassist Stanley Clarke, from record covers and by seeing others, like Louis Johnson of the Brothers Johnson, thumping his bass on Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert, a ’70s/early ’80s syndicated television show.
“Back then, you either had to go to the concert, or (watch) Don Kirshner,” Claypool noted. “That was the only way to get exposed to that.”
Then, how did Claypool develop that distinctive style and impressive technique that gets him listed as one of rock’s top and most innovative bassists?
“I’ve been at it for a long time,” he said. “It’s like anything else, the timbre of your voice, the style of your clothing. As you move through life, you get exposed to more and more, whether it’s film or literature or, for me, bass playing. And then there’s all the people you’re around. That’s what builds your brand. That’s what makes me as a guy, not even just a bass player, you know.”
Claypool founded Primus with two other musicians in 1984. The “classic” lineup with LaLonde and Alexander debuted on the 1989 live album, Suck on This.
Signed to Interscope Records, Primus released their major label debut, Sailing the Sea of Cheese, in 1991, which featured its breakout single, “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver.”
The band’s top 10 single, “My Name is Mud,” came two years later, and “Winona’s Big Brown Beaver” became their only song to chart outside of the U.S. in 1995.
“We got a little bit of MTV play,” he said of the singles. “We didn’t get a lot. We were always kind of under the radar. But we had a couple sparkles in the mix.”
Primus now has nine studio albums, two of them platinum sellers, and regularly tour the world playing arenas and amphitheaters. That, on a commercial level, would seem to be a success for the under-the-radar band.
“I always say you have to define success,” Claypool said. “Is success making a bunch of money? If you want to make a bunch of money, then you find what’s popular on the radio and you copy it. To me, success has always been being able to do what I want to do.
“And hopefully when we do a record, we’re writing something to please ourselves … and that translates to other people coming and wanting to see that,” he continued. “That’s an amazing, wonderful thing. But any attempt I’ve ever made at trying to write something to please people or to be popular, it just comes off as contrived, and it falls on its face, at least in my mind.”
Claypool has his side projects to spin off work that doesn’t fit with Primus, and he isn’t looking to put down the bass anytime soon, if ever.
“It’s funny, we did this tour (with Pusifer and A Perfect Circle) celebrating Maynard (James Keenan) turning 60,” Claypool said, referencing the Sessanta tour of 2024, which was brought back for a second outing this past spring. “I was like the old guy on the tour. People have always asked, ‘How long are you going to do this?’ I love Willie Nelson’s response. He said, ‘When are you going to retire?’ He said, ‘Retire from what? Our life? This is what we do.’ He says that’s what keeps you getting up in the morning.
“So I’m going to go as long as I can go, you know,” he added. “My buddy, Bernie Worrell, went to the very end, and he was a glorious human and musician.”
Claypool Gold kicks off at 7pm, Saturday, July 4, as part of Blue Note Napa Summer Sessions at The Meritage Resort and Spa at 850 Bordeaux Way, Napa. For tix and more info, visit bit.ly/claypool-gold.
