Les Claypool Archives - Page 10

Les Claypool is a man that defies genres and labels. Since picking up bass at an early age, his influences of funk, prog rock and everything in between have melded to create his unique sound, which the bassist admits even he has trouble labeling. Of course, his creativity doesn’t stop at bass playing – Claypool is also an accomplished producer,...

Les Claypool has joined forces with Rush’s Neil Peart, the Police’s Stewart Copeland and Tool’s Danny Carey to form “Carey Claypool Copeland Peart” or “CCCP.” The supergroup is documented with a jam called “Count Drumula,” recently posted on Neil Peart’s website. The extent of the collaboration is unclear, as no other announcements about the group has been made. With three...

Primus will be hitting the road again this Fall, just in time for their new album Green Naugahyde to drop. The tour, which starts September 23rd in Boston, Massachusetts, will snake through the East Coast with two Canadian stops before heading west and ending October 22nd in Los Angeles. Bassist Les Claypool and the rest of the oddball trio have...

After the passing of Allen Woody, Gov’t Mule played with a host of bassists, resulting in two albums and culminating an a 6+ hour concert that was released as The Deepest End. This performance is from that concert, and has Primus’s Les Claypool jamming with the group on “Greasy Granny’s Gopher Gravy” parts 1 and 2. Check out some of...

Les Claypool and Primus have announced a new spring U.S. tour in support of their upcoming album, the band’s first studio release in 11 years. “The album will come out in late spring/early summer,” an update from the band explains, “so expect to hear a whole batch of new songs this tour.” The trek will focus on taking the trio...

Les Claypool rocks the bass banjo on this live performance of “Iowan Gal”, a tune written for his “wonderous, lovely wife”, Chaney Claypool. “Iowan Gal” is from Claypool’s album.

Les Claypool has finally revealed some clues about the new mystery bass he was sporting during Primus’ New Year’s Eve shows. “What I played at those shows was a semi-finished prototype bass that I designed and had built by my old pal Dan Maloney,” he wrote in a Primus update. Maloney is also responsible for building Claypool’s banjo bass, called...

A new book chronicling Les Claypool’s career through photos has been published in a limited run through San Francisco based Rock Out Books. To Defy The Laws of Tradition is a collection of over 750 photographs taken by Jay Blakesberg’s 10,000+ image archive of Claypool’s groups including Primus, Holy Mackerel, Sausage, Oysterhead, and the Frog Brigade. Claypool also contributes an...

As they wrap up the South American leg of their reunion tour, bass wizard Les Claypool and Primus have released a new version of “My Name is Mud” with all Spanish lyrics. “Me Llamo Mud” is a new recording of the classic track from the trio’s Pork Soda album. The track is available on iTunes, but is also streaming from...

Les Claypool recently sent a heartfelt newsletter reaching out to his fans for help. In the email, he thanked fans for supporting the recent Primus tour, and went on to share some bad news he’d received following his Oddity Faire Tour. “I received the very traumatic news from my brother Ron that his little baby boy, Matthew, had been emergency...

Les Claypool will be pulling out all the stops this year at Primus’ 2010-2011 New Years celebration. Claypool and his trio will be playing the Fox Theatre in Oakland, California on December 30th and 31st as part of the special event, which is a milestone for the innovative bassist. It will mark his 20th anniversary of playing New Years performances,...

Primus made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel live last week. Here’s Les Claypool and company performing “Tommy the Cat” on the show.