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Live Daily Interview: Les Claypool
When Primus sat down and tried to pick a producer for its recently released LP "Anti-Pop," bassist/singer Les Claypool said that the threesome was stumped and couldn't think of any one person who could adequately capture the eclectic swings that the band's bottom-heavy tunes take.
''We were becoming frustrated. We couldn't really find a producer that we felt would cover all the bases for us, so we decided to work with a variety of producers. Every Primus album is a big experiment and has its individual characteristics. This one is no exception.''
The revolving door of producers included Tom Waits , Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst , Stewart Copeland (former drummer for The Police), and South Park cartoonist Matt Stone. Claypool explained the difference in production styles employed for Primus' seventh LP.
''Stewart was very conceptual, like I think a Brian Eno or George Martin would be like. We came to him with a fairly bare-bones arrangement of the tune [''Dirty Drowning Man'']. He helped put the meat on it. Tom Waits is a very unique individual. We've worked with in the past on a few of his projects. We came to him with just the lyrics and guitar, sort of a Woody Guthrie-type tune and he had a lot of ideas as far as expanding it, like Brain playing a 100-year-old wagon wheel. He was all about capturing a particular moment. It's the only song we got in one take.'' Claypool characterized Durst as a cheerleader, egging the band on to adopt the more aggressive style of their earlier work.
The 13 songs on ''Anti-Pop'' showcase Claypool's trademark storytelling, with odes to gluefiends, average Joes and bucking broncos, all seamlessly woven together and sung in Claypool's unique warble, capably backed by guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Brian ''Brain'' Mantia. Claypool said that most of the characters who inhabit his songs are fictional, with the exception of the title character of ''The Ballad of Bodacious.''
''[Bodacious] was this Burma bull they had to retire early. He almost killed a couple guys. I stumbled across it on some program I was watching. There's a whole subculture that revolves around it, [buying] T-shirts and belt buckles. I did some investigating and wrote a song about it.''
On tour into early December in support of ''Anti-Pop,'' Claypool said that Primus will ring in the new millennium at the Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium in Oakland, the eighth New Year's show Primus will have played at that venue. Claypool's sarcastic advice for the Y2K-concerned is simple. ''It's going to be the end of the world. Gather your canned goods now.''
