Primus’ Claypool on Rush, new music
For 46 dates, Primus has set aside their alt-rock, experimental jazzy funk, and post-punk (with a dash of Whamola) to deliver a few note-for-note covers of Rush’s 1977 album, “A Farewell to Kings.”
Primus is still playing a set of their own music, including tracks from their latest EP, “Conspiranoid.”
We spoke with singer/ bassist Les Claypool about the tour, the new release, Taylor Hawkins, and numerous projects in the works and the band’s Wind Creek Event Center show on Wednesday.
Jay Honstetter for The Morning Call: How are the shows going so far? What’s it like to kind of step in the shoes of one of your favorite bands (Rush) and take an album of theirs on the road? Les Claypool:
It’s been pretty amazing. The thing about the Rush material is ... in Primus, we’re lazy bastards. We never rehearse. We write a couple songs, make a record, then we rehearse a little bit, then we go drink some wine and eat some steaks. But the Rush thing, we had to rehearse our asses off. When I was a teenager, I was a huge Rush fan. That’s sacred ground. So we really had to take it seriously, and really make sure we nailed it.
It’s impressive to hear because his voice is so unique and you really kill it.
My son told me, because he has a film production office right outside of our studio, and he’s like, “Dad, it sounds great ... but I gotta tell ya, quit trying to sing it like Geddy (Lee). Sing it in your own voice.” He was basically letting me know it was getting a little cringe-worthy. So I just kinda stepped back and did my own take on it.
And when did the idea to do this come about? Was it Neil Peart’s passing?
No, we were supposed to do this tour over three years ago, but then we ended up taking the Slayer tour and postponed it. Of course, COVID hit and it got postponed for quite a while. In fact, I asked Geddy what he thought, even before we had pursued it fully.
I said, “Hey what do you think about us doing this?” He said, “Oh, that would be amazing.” But Neal was still on the planet at that time.
I know Rush has a huge impact on you, and I’m curious to know what other bands’ orartists also had an impact on your playing?
Rush was kind of my first love when I was a kid. Rush was my entire world, but when I started Primus, I was into much more obscure stuff. I was into early Public Image stuff, and old Peter Gabriel stuff, ’80s Crimson, Residents, and all these things that were a little more abstract.
When the three of us got together for the first time we saw this guy with this giant drum kit show up and we’re like, well shit, I bet this guy knows some Rush licks. So we started playing Rush licks, and it was one of the main things we were able to connect on. Primus is an amalgamation of many different influences.
Your latest release is the “Conspiranoid” EP, which includes the 11-minute “Conspiranoia.” I’d love to know a little about how the EP came together, the choice to make an 11-minute song, and also a little about the video. I feel like your videos are an integral part of your work. How involved are you in the production or storylines for these?
I’ve always been very involved in the videos, this one was more my son. But the whole notion was to do a 20-minute song. We knew we were coming back out, and were like, we should play something new for these people, but we didn’t want to do a whole album. We had just built this new rehearsal space and put in a bunch of recording gear, and we just started having fun with it. I had this whole notion of “Conspiranoia” that I’ve been wanting to do for a while.
As far as the video… that painting for the cover was something I did during COVID. I just started painting because I was bored. It was actually the first painting I had done.
So my son took that, and he went in and built this whole 3D environment that brought it to life. Then he got involved in all the conspiracy theories, and listening to a bunch of them. And we had a few friends on the recording that are sort of conspiracy, I don’t want to say connoisseurs, because it’s more that they find humor in a lot of these theories.
I had them rattling off some things into microphones and whatnot. A bit of a group effort.
You’ve played in several supergroups, and have several projects outside of Primus. What is it like working with so many different artists and groups?
I’m a very fortunate person. I’ve been able to meet, befriend, and oftentimes collaborate with a lot of my heroes. And as I move through life, as I get older, especially now with the passing of Taylor (Hawkins of the Foo Fighters) ... me and Taylor always kind of talked about doing stuff at some point in time. Well, holy sh*t, now he’s gone.
It just makes me want to work with more people. I’m doing a project now with Billy Strings, and I’m always doing stuff with Sean (Lennon). And the Zelensky thing.
I had no desire to do anything else cause I have literally like four different recording projects going right now. But I started texting back and forth with Eugene (Hütz of Gogol Bordello) the night of the Ukraine invasion, cause he’s Ukrainian … and next thing you know we’re talking about the fortitude of Zelensky, and how he has these massive steel balls. He’s an incredible leader, so I committed to doing a project about it.
Yeah, it’s really cool, and I saw you guys are accepting videos of people clapping along with the song.
Yeah, my son did the little placeholder which is the sculpture that he did of Zelensky and the visuals that you see there now. But what we want to do is just get videos of people clapping. And like I’ve said, I said it on CNN the other night, this is not a song of condemnation of anybody. It’s a song of support, unity, and admiration for this guy who just stepped up, more than any leader I’ve seen in many years, to rally his people, and rally the world. And it’s amazing what this guy has done.