Primus doesn’t have a new album to promote. Nor is the eclectic San Francisco rock band overtly paying tribute to one of its many influences as the group tours the United States this summer.
But that’s just fine with bassist and band leader Les Claypool.
“We’ve got a few surprises up our sleeves,” Claypool says of the shows. “But you know, it’s gonna be a retrospective of all the things we’ve been doing over the years. But no Rush albums, if that’s what you’re looking for.
“We’ve done the Willy Wonka show, We’ve done the rainbow goblins show. We did the tribute to Rush’s ‘A Farewell to the Kings’ record,” he said. “There’s been a lot of requests for us to do songs we haven’t played live for awhile, if ever. So we’re probably going to dig into a lot deeper pockets.”
Primus can only do that, Claypool acknowledges, because the band has, over the last 40 years, built up an audience dedicated to seeing the band and hearing their recordings – no matter what they’re doing.
“Thank God for the loyal following,” he says. “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 quips before taking the question more seriously.
“It’s really not a technique or a style,” Claypool says. “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 says. “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 recalls. “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 said.
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 says. “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 and earlly-‘80s syndicated television show.
“Back then, you either had to go to the concert, or Don Kirshner,” Claypool says. “That was the only way to get exposed to that.”
Then, how did Claypool develop his distinctive style and impressive technique that gets him listed as one of rock’s top and most innovative bassists ever?
“I’ve been at it for a long time,” he says. “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 its only song to chart outside of the U.S. in 1995.
“We got a little bit of MTV play,” he says 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 explains. “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 continues. “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 a couple side projects to spin off work that doesn’t fit with Primus, and he isn’t looking to put down the bass any time soon, if ever.
“It’s funny, we did this tour (with Pusifer and A Perfect Circle) celebrating Maynard (James Keenan) turning 60,” Claypool says. “I turned 60 a few months ago. 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 adds. “My buddy Bernie Worrell went to the very end and he was a glorious human and musician.”
Primus performs with Coheed and Cambria and Puddles Pity Party on Friday, Aug. 16 at Virginia Credit Union Live! All ages. Doors at 6 p.m. Show at 7 p.m.
