Les Claypool (Primus) interviewed by Rick Beato

[Thenop]

What? Another Beato thing? Yes, I know. But - here me out.

It is 1989 and I am listening to M E T A L. All day and all of the night, while downing coious amounts of alcoholic beverages. In fact, there's a 7 year blur there. Digressing, again sorry.
However in 1989 we are with a bunch of guys listening to music and one of them comes up with a cassette tape b a band called Primus. "Suck on This!" it's called and it's a live recording with the weirdest songs. However, I hear the drummer and he is doing things I want to do. And the sound it so clear, there are less guitars and the bass sounds like it's the lead instrument. Lyrically these guys are waay out there. I mean, John the Fisherman? Brilliant.
My love affair with te band grew and grew and the next year their formal debut Frizzle Fry pops up and it is everything I had hoped for. It has that sound, those songs and more.

Fast forward a bit and Rush is playing the Ahoy' in May 1992, and much to my enjoyment Primus has been elected as openers. It was a weird setup, I was at the venue before and now all of a sudden there chairs set up.. Anyway, I am fully geared up for the openbers, I knew Primus! A trio of weirdos and in my mind this was a Rush like band, a small horde of outcasts so they'd fit right in, no?
That night I learned the grumpy side of elderly gentlemen moaning and sighing their way throurgh an otherwise brilliant set of music. And it dawned on me, they don't get it! . What the...how can they not get Primus but love Rush? Turns out the audience was not a progressive as the band they were watching.

As a coincidence: last week I bought a live DVD Primus did years ago with a 2,5 show just to rip the PCM uncompressed stereo soundtrack to Flac. Did that and what do you know? This interview pops up. I love Les, he talks and takea all sorts of sideroads into highschool, talks about seeing Rush in '77, fixing cars, recording those early Primus records. Of course Geddy gets mention (and praise!), they now each other well.

So, the full interview is well over an hour and a half but if you even have a passing interest in the band or bass playing in general (once he picks up a bass he can't stop fooling around with it) it's a must see.
Oh, and for those that are not in the know: Primus sucks!