Primus’ Les Claypol, incognito in monkey mask and pinstripes. (photo by Ryan Snyder)
If there are people who
deny the moon landing
simply because they can’t
fully comprehend such an
occurrence, they might as
well say the same about Les
Claypool’s bass playing. The
way in which he thumps
and plucks through thrash,
funk and metal with such
effortless precision is simply
unfathomable. Even when
he dedicated much of the
last few years to his more carnivalesque creations
with his Fancy Band, a somewhat unwieldy
product of his jam-scene explorations after an
early 2000s hiatus from Primus, his technique
was breathtaking to behold. Now, the Three Men
of Extreme Power are back to rile up the base
with their lengthiest tour in eight years and some
curious new tunes to boot.
It has to be noted that optimal enjoyment of a
band like Primus comes via the traditional environs
of a punk or metal show: The more uncomfortable
the proximity to your neighbor, the better.
The oddity of Primus as a shared experience
is at its most effective a visceral one — big, open
spaces with ugly, sweaty, possibly mud-covered
people all around you that feign epileptic seizure
the moment Larry “Ler” LaLonde squirrels
into a solo. Les might call Raleigh’s Memorial
Auditorium a bit “fancy” for his tastes, with its
tiered seating and off-Broadway ambiance. But
Primus is also a theater of the mind, and amidst
rallying cried of “Primus sucks!” their May 31
show left plenty to the imagination.
Like for instance, how good would Primus
sound is only they’d turn Ler’s guitar up a little
bit more? Aside from his mind-bending loungepunk
bridge in opener “Harold On the Rocks,”
one of the most unsung axe-slingers in rock
music remained just that for much of the show.
Primus’ set was heavy on new material from
Green Naugahyde, their first release since 1999’s
Antipop, but having Ler so low in the mix made
it hard to distinguish those songs from some of
Claypool’s solo stuff. “Pie In the Sky” sounded
a lot like Claypool’s “Of Fungi and Foe” with its
top-heavy groove, the fidgety vibes on “The Last
Salmon Man” riffed on “What Would Sir George
Martin Do,” and even “Jilly’s On Smack” had
Ler playing a Buckethead-approved horror flick
score.
Still, the show was, in a word, awesome.
Openers the Dead Kenny G’s played like they
put Plas Johnson, John Zorn and Fat Mike in a
blender and guzzled them down, while splattering
the result all over their jumpsuits. They paid
homage to both ends of their portmanteau’d
namesake, first with with an ultra cheesy duet
between frontman Skerik on tenor and bassist
Brad Houser on baritone sax, the teased-out wigs
they donned to obscure their faces and a frenetic
instrumental cover of the Dead Kennedy’s “Kill
the Poor.” Much to the chagrin of most in the
house, Skerik never made his way out for a jam
with the headliners.
This tour marked the return of long-time Bob
Weir drummer Jay Lane to the skins, a post he
hasn’t held for Primus since briefly in 1988 and
in a way, the band’s overarching sound seems
to be reaching out to that time. The set list came
mosh-pit ready, with a heavy selection of songs
from the doomier Primus days of Frizzle Fry
with spurts of instrumental chaos dotting the title
track. The redneck dementia of “Sailing the Seas
of Cheese” was covered with staples “Jerry Was
a Racecar Driver” and “Those Damned Blue
Collar Tweakers,” even breaking out the queasy
funk of rarity “Bob” from Pork Soda.
Visually, the stage accoutrement was toned
down from the Hallucino-Genetics tour, with
the giant, peering eyeballs of 2004 replaced
with a pair of astronauts from deep within
MTV’s storage bunker that flickered images
of Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz during the
intro. You had to squint to see the creepy video
clips that including kids playing with Rock
‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots and vintage MTV
Video Award footage streaming from their
helmets, but Claypool was plenty unnerving
in his monkey mask while bashing on his one-stringed
Whamola.
Claypool tipped his bowler as he walked
offstage after “Southbound Pachyderm,” the
relatively quick show’s lone encore. It was
still hugely satisfying for those who’ve waited
patiently for years for some new Primus, but the
show’s throwback vibe made it feel almost like
the band hadn’t ever gone anywhere.
