Les Claypool on AI, Metallica Rejection, and Rock's Great Joker Legacy
Les Claypool, the eccentric bassist and frontman of Primus, recalls a pivotal moment from 1984 with vivid clarity. "I was too embarrassed to sing in my apartment," he confesses during a video interview. His solution was characteristically unconventional: using keys from his roommate, who was dating a preacher's daughter, Claypool snuck into a church across the street in the dead of night. There, on the podium, he recorded his first song, Too Many Puppies, an anti-war anthem that reimagined soldiers as helpless puppies. This oddball creation marked the beginning of a career defined by rubbery fusions of prog, metal, and funk, establishing Claypool as one of rock's most unlikely success stories.
From Blue-Collar Roots to Platinum Records
Raised in a family of mechanics in blue-collar California, Claypool's musical journey began in high school, where "everybody wanted to be Eddie Van Halen." Among his classmates was future Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett. However, inspired by Rush's Geddy Lee and funk legends like Larry Graham, Claypool gravitated toward the bass, finding it "a more sultry instrument" compared to the "wimpy" sound of guitar. He honed his skills playing R&B in Hells Angels bars before forming Primus, initially called Primate, where he played over a drum machine. His unique style, blending slap-bass, taps, and chords, emerged from his desire to "hold down the root of the bass but also try to play the rhythm guitar parts."
Claypool's upbringing, marked by alcoholism and drug abuse in his family, taught him to find "humour through pain." This perspective fueled his creation of cartoonish characters with darker undertones, such as those in Jerry Was a Race Car Driver and My Name Is Mud. "I know most of these characters," he admits, using them to explore themes of violence and addiction. His vocal style, often described as nasally, even earned praise from Public Enemy's Chuck D, who told him, "You sound like Mr Magoo."
The Metallica Audition and Primus's Rise
In 1986, Claypool's astonishing bass-playing earned him an audition to replace Cliff Burton in Metallica. "I didn't know how popular they were," he says, and he misread the room entirely. After playing a song or two, he suggested jamming on some Isley Brothers, a proposal met with silence. While Claypool attributes his rejection to his eccentricity, Metallica's James Hetfield offered a different explanation in the documentary Behind the Music: "He was too good."
Undeterred, Primus soon found their own path to success. With guitarist Ler LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander, the band released Suck On This in 1989 and Frizzle Fry in 1990, landing a major-label deal with Interscope. Claypool recalls saying, "We're going to be sailing the seas of cheese," meaning they were thrust into the mainstream to sink or swim. Their 1991 album, Sailing the Seas of Cheese, went platinum, offering an alternative to the self-serious rock of Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten. A second platinum record followed with 1993's Pork Soda, cementing Claypool's mandate to be as weird as he liked.
The AI-Themed Concept Album with Sean Lennon
Claypool's latest project, The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, is a collaboration with Sean Ono Lennon under the name the Claypool Lennon Delirium. This Technicolor psych-rock opera, paired with a comic book, may be his strangest work yet. Inspired by philosopher Nick Bostrom's writings on uncontrollable AI, the album tells the story of an AI named Cliptron that turns the world into paperclips, only to be foiled by an art-loving youth, a seaman, talking manatees, and a half-parrot half-ox. Lennon, who met Claypool when his band supported Primus in 2015, describes bonding over "oddball stuff" like King Crimson and deciding to collaborate.
"I can be funny in life, but it can be hard to be funny intentionally in music. Being in a band with Les brings out that side of me," Lennon says, praising Claypool's "deep layers of irony" and calling him "one of the best lyricists I've ever met." The album doesn't demonise technology but argues for human compassion as its necessary partner, symbolized by a golden egg that hatches to reveal a baby parrot-ox, softening Cliptron's chrome heart. Claypool, a father of two, notes that fatherhood reinforced his imagination, citing Primus's recent album The Desaturating Seven, based on a bedtime story he read to his children.
Embracing Whimsy and Legacy
Claypool's whimsical streak has often led to him being labeled a "joke band," a perception he traces to 1995's Wynona's Big Brown Beaver, a silly track that became a single, earned a Grammy nomination, and sparked incorrect speculation about Winona Ryder. "It was kind of a bummer," he admits. However, he now embraces the comparison to Dr Strangelove, which "can tell a story and make a statement, but it's humorous and entertaining."
As Primus prepares for their first UK shows in almost a decade, Claypool reflects fondly on Britain, recalling visits to London's Tower Records in the 90s to buy tapes of British comedies like Blackadder and The Young Ones, which he sampled on Primus's Los Bastardos. He also bought Cannibal! The Musical by the future creators of South Park, leading to his commission to write the show's theme song.
Looking ahead, Claypool is set to embark on the Claypool Gold US tour, featuring his various acts, including the Claypool Lennon Delirium, Primus, and Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade. Yet, amidst all the imaginary characters in his career, he cherishes the real people he's met, from Lennon to idols-turned-fans like Tom Waits and Geddy Lee. "If I was my 16-year-old self looking at me now, I'd be way more impressed by the roster of heroes I've gotten to meet, befriend, and work with. That's what it's all about," he concludes. The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy is released on 1 May on ATO Records.
