Published by Josh, Frankie, & Soya
Primus Tracks chronicles the recordings of the rock band Primus, one track at a time. Join Josh, Frankie, & Primus friend/assistant Tim Soya as they create the ultimate Primus companion - for beginners and hardcore fans alike.
Listen on Apple PodcastsThe "A Handful of Nuggs" 12" is out in the world, finally! We discuss the new material and dig into The Ol' Grizz, which serves as a teaser for a forthcoming Primus LP in 2027. If this is the direction they're taking, we're all for it! Plus, some new information about an older Primus song. Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
That's right! Perm Parker, the very first Primus drummer (Linn drum machine is officially number zero) joins the podcast! Perm went to De Anza High School alongside Les Claypool, Kirk Hammett, Bryan Kehoe, Marc Biedermann, the list goes on. He recollects his time in the music room with Les, getting Primus off the ground, and where his music career took him. Plus, Perm has some interesting connections to John Hoffman and Tim Alexander. Enjoy this one, and be funky! Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
Primus made numerous radio appearnces throughout the 90s and into the 21st century. Two standout radio appearances are the 1989 KZSU at Stanford University and 1990 at VPRO in the Netherlands. The Stanford performance is well-known for the accompanying video footage, and the VPRO performance also has two of the songs performed on video as well. Perhaps someday we'll see and hear both performances with pristine audio quality. For now, we treat them as companion pieces to Suck On This (KZSU) and Frizzle Fry (VPRO). KZSU: https://youtu.be/iIMh_2KH6MY VPRO: https://youtu.be/OoUqOFtLeFQ Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
We recap the madness of the Claypool Gold tour, from the stage production to the lineups and songs, sit-ins, cross-pollination, and all the little tidbits that made the tour special. Did you attend? How was it? Let us know! Les at Berklee: https://vimeo.com/1199432977 Hoffer Grizz drum cam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3LrE4BsE-o Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
Former Primus manager David Lefkowitz makes his long-overdue return to Primus Tracks to discuss the Tales From the Punchbowl album cycle, whic pushed the band to their highest heights in terms of popularity, airplay, and a massive supporting tour. Dave and Soya take us behind the scenes to document seminal moments from the album promotion, live dates, and the wackiness along the way. Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
CLD gave us an EPPP of four cover tunes in 2017, three of which had been performed live on the previous tour. We sample the originals, discuss some of the circumstances of the bands being covered, and compare to the CLD effort. Overall, it's a rewarding piece that might expand your musical pallette. If you're already familiar with Flower Travellin' Band, more power to you! Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
We conclude our Monolith of Phobos discussions with the album closer, in which we ride stardust to the furthest edges of known space. We also debate the song title and dig into the undergarments of astronauts. Note: we discuss the mysterious appearance of HEllbound 17 1/2 at the first Claypool Gold show, and behold! There is audio evidence: https://youtu.be/unlrRsnkZGk?si=i3kzl7-u2lPT0Ld2&t=6872 Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
NEW PRIMUS MUSIC. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. I mean, it's mostly new. Handful of Nuggs is already out there on Youtube and other streamers, with a vinyl edition on the way. Collecting four tracks: a new studio song, a studio cover of Holy Diver with Puddles, and previously-released Little Lord Fentanyl and a performance of Duchess, the EP will tide us over until an announced Primus album in 2027.We get into the details of the release and what it means for the upcoming tour, and the future of all these Claypool projects. Go buy stuf! Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
The penultimate track on Monolith gainded the most notoriety for its music video and demo bonus track. Sean Lennon tells the tale of hanging with Michael Jackson and his chimp Bubbles at Neverland Ranch, and Sean has a lot to say about that portrayal, which we sample from a 2016 NPR interview. Most childhood odes wouln't sound or read anything like this, so it's a fascinating glimpse inside the weirdness. Plus, the music is good, too! Sean Lennon on NPR's All Songs Considered: https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2016/06/03/480451184/all-songs-1-sean-lennons-surreal-ode-to-michael-jacksons-pet-chimp-bubbles The Screwups - Bubbles Burst: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh-qSeZbS4g Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
Thanks for the downer, CLD! This tale of addiction (and another anti-pharmaceutical anthem) is possibly the saddest set of lyrics we've ever gotten from Les Claypool, but boy, does the song-writing, with it's catchy "so blue" repeptition and that heavy Sabbath-like riff in the middle, really make the words palatable. We now see why this one's buried in the back half of the record. Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
Sam Stewart of Flagman returns to Primus Tracks Towers to discuss Ohmerica, which he labels as possibly his top track from Monolith of Phobos, putting him in the vast minority. However, Sam espouses on the merits of this tune, and we all get misty-eyed nostalgia for those halcyon days of the post-9/11 Bush administration, when times were simpler. Find Sam @flagmanband anywhere and everywhere, including your local chili cookoff. Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
Captain Lariat is a mysterious figure; a legendary carouser, or so he'd have you believe. Josh's pal Jeff Roscher, a recent CLD convert, drops by to discuss the finer points of the characterization of the "Captain," what the world sounds like when you're on nitrous, and learns some new words. Find Jeff at https://bluebirdsmusic.org/ and make a new friend. Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
The great Bret Crow of TikTok fame joins the pod to discuss CLD's Breath of a Salesman. You've likely seen Bret's creations even if, like me, you've never used TikTok, likely because a friend or internet stranger has posted his videos all over creation. Bret digs into the songwriting details of Breath, and we find numerous connections to the tune via the Arthur Miller pun, annoying salespeople, hangers-on who try to get in with celebrities, and even Tales From The Crypt. Find Bret @thebretcrowshow on the socials. Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
Frequent guest Anthony Garcia joins the pod to discuss Boomerang Baby, a Lennon brainchild that is disarmingly charming in its time signature and slow build to a flourish that calls home those lost in the sea of smartphone culture, using an ironic term in the process. Anthony's keen ear catches some details we may have otherwise missed, and Frankie educates us on other invectives used against young people. Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
We resume our Monolith of Phobos coverage with Mr. Wright, which contains a very Beatle-esque bass lick that drives a lyrical story about a distasteful voyeur. Kello Gonzlez zjoins us to model the bass part and to explain Les Claypool's singular talent in terms of writing strong licks that can carry a four-minute track, and remarks about the Lennon-Claypool connection. Find Kello @kellogc just about anywhere, including instagram and youtube. Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
We pause our nascent Monolith of Phobos episodes yet again due to irrational excitement for the forthcoming CLD record, and this time the great Rich Ragsdale joins the podcast to talk about how the visual components of the album came to be. Rich directed the CLD video Blood & Rockets, and returned to the fold to create the comic book that accompanies The Great Parrot-Ox album; he also directed the Golden Egg of Empathy video, which provides a glimpse of the overarching narrative. Rich discusses the creative and collaborative processes for the comic book, including some abandoned concepts, and how his numerous influences led to what we will soon hold in our hands. Find Rich on Instagram @richragsdale and at richragsdale.com Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
The Claypool Lennon Delirium's The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy is a really long album title, but it serves the purpose of what we can only imagine is a modern-day fable told in a retro style that may or may not end up with all of humanity being turned into paper clips. We have tracked down all the available information about the forthcoming CLD record and packaged it here, so you won't miss a thing. Plus, rampant speculation on what we don't know, because it's fun. Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
It's a double dose of delirium! We've packaged both the Cricket and the Genie tracks together, as they were released as one to promote the release of Monolith of Phobos, and these two tracks have always been performed together at every single CLD show thus far . Josh's longtime pal Jerry Roscher drops by the pod to discuss why these tracks and this album as a whole speak to him so deeply; for him, it's the sense of melody and songwriting that Sean Lennon brings and how it incorporates with all things Claypool. Great talk about the musical influences and the lyrical narrative! Find Jerry's band, Bluebirds: https://bluebirdsmusic.org/ Bandcamp Youtube Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
What do you get when you put on the early Pink Floyd, pair it with Carl Sagan's Cosmos, and throw Buzz Aldrin in for fun, then drink loads of red wine with Sean Lennon and Les Claypool? You get the title track to The Monolith of Phobos, a journey of whimsy and wonder. Get ready for psychedelic delights of all sorts! Buzz Aldrin on CSPAN Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money
In 2016, Les Claypool had some time away from Primus and invited Sean Lennon to Rancho Relaxo; Sean had guested on some Primus encores during their 2015 summer tour and jammed backstage with Les, where a connection was born. They fished, drank pinot, discussed nuggets from newspapers and periodicals, in the process birthing The Claypool Lennon Delirium. We get into the details of how these two got together and give an album overview of Monolith of Phobos, a proggy/psychedelic album name if there ever was one. Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money