Leslie Edward Claypool is an American musician, singer, songwriter, producer, author, director, and actor. He is best known as the founder, lead singer, bassist, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the American funk metal band Primus. His playing style on the bass is well known for mixing tapping, flamenco-like strumming, whammy bar bends, and slapping.
Primus is an American funk metal band formed in El Sobrante, California in 1984. The band is currently composed of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde, and drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander. Primus originally formed in 1984 with Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, later joined by drummer Jay Lane, though the latter two departed the band at the end of 1988. Featuring LaLonde and Alexander, Primus recorded the live album Suck on This in 1989, followed by four studio albums: Frizzle Fry (1990), Sailing the Seas of Cheese (1991), Pork Soda (1993), and Tales from the Punchbowl (1995). Alexander left the band in 1996 due to lack of interest and was replaced by Bryan "Brain" Mantia, with whom Primus went on to record the original theme song for the TV show South Park and two more albums, Brown Album (1997) and Antipop (1999), before entering into a hiatus in 2000.
Suck on This is the debut album by the band Primus, released in 1989. At the time of recording, the featured lineup of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander had only been playing together for "about two months". This along with Jane's Addiction's self-titled live album, are seen as popularizing the then-underground alternative metal genre and inspiring the groove metal genre.
Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People is a career-spanning retrospective DVD plus bonus EP by American band Primus, released on October 7, 2003. The title was inspired by a crayon-made story book written by guitarist Larry LaLonde's son, and the cover depicts a sculpture made by long-time Primus collaborator Lance "Link" Montoya. The DVD features all of the band's music videos to date, plus short films and live footage from as far back as 1986, whereas the bonus EP features five new songs written and recorded specifically for this release. When promoting the release, bassist Les Claypool remarked that "It seems of late that bands are adding supplemental DVD material to their album releases to promote record sales. We've done the opposite. We've added a supplemental audio recording of brand new music to an extremely comprehensive DVD of classic visuals."
Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains (C2B3) was an experimental rock supergroup featuring bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Buckethead, keyboardist Bernie Worrell and drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia.
Prawn Song Records is an independent record label owned by Les Claypool of Primus. The name and logo are a parody of Led Zeppelin's label Swan Song Records.
Sausage was a short-lived alternative/funk rock band featuring a reunion of the 1988 lineup of the San Francisco Bay Area band Primus. They released the album Riddles Are Abound Tonight in April 1994 through the Interscope Records imprint Prawn Song Records.
Electric Apricot: Quest For Festeroo is a mockumentary film by Primus lead-man Les Claypool, featuring himself as well as others using pseudonyms. The band Electric Apricot played occasional shows in 2004 and 2005, unannounced, in the California area for footage. The Electric Apricot also made an appearance at the SXSW music festival in Austin, TX in 2007. The movie has been screened at film festivals internationally, including the Bonnaroo Music Festival and The Raindance Festival in London.
Skerik, is an American saxophonist from Seattle, Washington. Performing on the tenor and baritone saxophone, often with electronics and loops, he is a pioneer in a playing style that has been called saxophonics.
Jay Lane is an American drummer from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a founding member of Furthur, as well as the Golden Gate Wingmen with John Kadlecik, Jeff Chimenti, and Reed Mathis. Bob Weir's RatDog, Scaring the Children with Weir and Rob Wasserman, Jay's Happy Sunshine Burger Joint, and the hip hop/jazz fusion band Alphabet Soup. He was one of the first drummers of Primus, playing with the band for around eight months in 1988 and later rejoining the band from 2010-2013.
"Southbound Pachyderm" is a song by the American rock band Primus. It was released on their 1995 album Tales from the Punchbowl. The song was also released as a single, and a stop-motion animated video was made for it. The song is about the extinction threat faced by elephants, rhinos and hippos.
"Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" is a song by the American rock band Primus. It was released as the first single from their 1995 album Tales from the Punchbowl. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996. Of the band's three members, only guitarist Larry LaLonde showed up at the event. The award went to Pearl Jam for their song "Spin the Black Circle".
Mark Sandman was an American singer, songwriter, musical instrument inventor, multi-instrumentalist and comic writer. Sandman possessed a distinctive, deep Bass-Baritone voice and a mysterious demeanour. He was an indie rock icon and longtime fixture in the Boston/Cambridge music scene, best known as the lead singer and slide bass player of the band Morphine. Sandman was also a member of the blues-rock band Treat Her Right and founder of Hi-n-Dry, a recording studio and independent record label.
Of Whales And Woe is the first solo album by Les Claypool, the bassist and vocalist of Primus. The album was released on the May 30, 2006. The album features Skerik, Mike Dillon, and Gabby La La (multi-instrumentalist). "Back off Turkey" also features Les' children, Cage and Lena. The track "Iowan Gal" is a love song for his wife, Chaney Claypool.
Buckethead is an American musician, predominantly a guitarist. The Buckethead discography currently includes 315 studio albums, 1 live album, 4 special releases, 1 extended play, 5 demo tapes, 3 solo DVD video releases, 2 DVD video releases with Cornbugs, 3 music videos, 3 unreleased albums, 3 solo videography releases, and 16 videography releases with other artists.
Fancy is a DVD of live concert footage compiled from the Les Claypool's Fancy Band 2006 tour. Filmed by Jim "Jimbo" Charna, Jeremy "staunchy" Sewell and Crew, it was released by Prawn Song Records on May 29, 2007. The soundtrack combines soundboard and "taper (Jimbos)" recordings for concert-like experience.
Cheesy Home Video is the first home video from Primus, released in 1992 on VHS in conjunction with the band's first covers EP Miscellaneous Debris. The video includes three music videos interspersed with live footage filmed in the United States and Europe from the Roll the Bones tour, and interviews with the band at home and on Les Claypool's boat, hosted by Bob Cock.
Videoplasty is the third home video by Primus, following 1993's Cheesy Home Video and the fan club exclusive Horrible Swill. Videoplasty was released at the end of 1998 to complement the band's recent covers EP Rhinoplasty, and is composed mostly of highlights from a live show performed on October 14 that year at The Phoenix Theater in Petaluma, California. This live footage is interspersed with montages of clips filmed during previous tours and at other recent shows, footage shot backstage and in the studio, animations by bassist Les Claypool, and the band's then-current music videos, spanning the previous two years back to the recording of the Brown Album and presented in approximate reverse-chronological order.
Reid Laurence "Larry" LaLonde, also known as Ler LaLonde, is an American musician best known as the guitarist for Primus, a position that he has served since 1989, where he is known for his experimental accompaniment to the bass playing of bandmate Les Claypool. Previously, he played guitar for the groups Possessed, Blind Illusion, No Forcefield, and the Frank Zappa tribute band "Caca". He also has collaborated more recently with artists such as Serj Tankian and Tom Waits.
Four Foot Shack is the debut album of Duo de Twang, a country music duo formed by Primus bassist and vocalist Les Claypool and M.I.R.V. guitarist Bryan Kehoe. This album contains one original song and fourteen cover songs. It was released on February 4, 2014 by ATO Records.
