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Les Claypool: Bass-Sick-ly
interview Page 3
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Page 2 of interview
mt: I read or heard somewhere that you played in a soul band at one time.
Les: I have played in so many bands. I remember in high school, I had this group called S.T.A.R, which stood for Sax Trumpet and Rhythm. It was a pretty funky band; but I was in an old R&B band, years ago. R&B now is so much different than it was back then. We were playing old Wilson Pickett, Booker T. and The M.G.'s, Teddy Pendergrass, James Brown, and The Meters tunes, you know, the cool old funky stuff. I was the youngster in the group, because I was only 19 at the time. Everyone else in the band was in their thirties. I played with them for a couple of years for three to five nights a week, four sets a night. That was a big learning experience for me.
mt: Is there a difference in your learning curve, depending on the type of music or musicians you are playing with? What kind of things do you discover about yourself playing with an R&B group versus maybe playing with someone like Charlie Hunter?
Les: For me, what keeps me learning is finding something that is stimulating. For me, the past couple of years in Primus I just felt lost. There was nothing that was really exciting me to want to pick up my bass and play it. Then, I did that Oysterhead thing with Trey from Phish and Stewart Copeland in New Orleans at the JazzFest down there and it just rejuvenated me. That led to various projects that eventually led to the Frog Brigade, which is basically just me wanting to play with the most awesome musicians I could possibly find. That is what the Frog Brigade is. It has developed into this group of six guys who are exceptional at what they do. These guys can play anything. I go in with them and say, "Hey guys, let's learn Sergeant Peppers," and we learn it. We used to do Pink Floyd's Animals in its entirety. It was awesome.
mt: Did you hand pick those players?
Les: Pretty much. After Oysterhead, I was asked to put together these different projects for different events. One of them was the original Frog Brigade, which was myself, Skerik, Tim Alexander on drums, Jack Irons on drums, and Merv on guitar. So, I had two drummers, a guitarist, and a sax player. That was from the Califax County frog jumps festival, so that is where the name came from. From there, I did Jeff and Jay Lane. We brought Todd Huth in. Then, we got this guy Enor. I had just run some adds looking for musicians because I wanted to get back in touch with the local scene in San Francisco, because I had been out of it. I mean, you get high on the ladder and you don't know what is going on in the indie scene or the local scene anymore. I was clueless. I ran this ad saying that I was looking for eclectic musicians and got hundreds of tapes. Some of it was awesome, some of it wasn't. I found this guitar player, Enor, who was just a great musician. He sings, is a great player, and can play some Middle Eastern instruments.
mt: You said you found yourself complacent to the music you were making before Oysterhead. Was it because you had been doing the same thing for so long?
Les: I think that is part of it. I think that when Primus was coming up, we were running against the grain. The grain at that time was Guns 'N Roses, Mötley Crüe, Cinderella, and Poison, all those bands we thought were ridiculous. There was this whole vibe and sense of camaraderie with the original Lollapaloozas, and touring with Jane's Addiction and Fishbone. All of a sudden, there came these bands that were definitely influenced by us. There was Korn and Limp Bizkit. We sort of became part of that scene. That scene, because it was such a huge money scene, it has somewhat turned into the same grain that we were running from in the old days—that big rock, excessive money, and ego scene. That kind of disgusted me. I am not into that type of thing. It is this whole angst scene, but angst with no point. I am not into that stuff at this point in my life.
mt: Rebel without a cause music?
Les: Or just not my cause. I am playing for people these days that are interested in music and not so much image and style. People want to see my guys play their instruments.
mt: Do you think you have alienated fans because you have gone that route?
Les: I don't really know. It seems that everyone has been really receptive to this thing. It definitely still has that edge to it. I think that people that know about it are excited, because when Primus comes back, it will be the original crew with Tim Alexander. There is a level of excitement there. So, I don't really know the full answer to that, but so far, it has been going great.
mt: Was Oysterhead your first involvement with the jam band scene? I hate the term "jam band," but it is the only thing out there to describe the scene we have been discussing: music for the sake of music and no image.
Les: Oysterhead was when my eyes were open to this community where people really wanted to hear music [laughs]. Primus, out of all these rock bands, has always been more open-ended. We tend to open up our jams more than most. We have always had that element, but were never really part of the scene. Obviously, the Phish guys are my friends. I have sat in with them and played with them. There has always been that connection. It is an interesting scene, because it is broad. When you say jam band, it is hard to say, because it automatically brings up this stigma of it being a big hippie thing with soft squishy music. It really isn't. It obviously has brought in guys like me, and I am more edgy. For New Year's, we had Steve Perkins Banion open the show, and it was phenomenal. People were eating it up. It was very musical, but very different than most of the jam band stuff. They would still fit into that scene perfectly. People were freaking out over these guys. I mean, they had Mike Watt on bass, Niels Klein, and Stephen Perkins was shredding these unbelievable rhythms on guitar. The trumpet player was obviously influenced by Miles—they had this artist on stage painting the whole time on this big plastic thing with lights behind it. It was an incredible thing to watch. I am learning about this thing as I go. I come across bands like the Disco Biscuits, and now Lake Trout, and it is different than Phish. I think Deep Banana Blackout is a great band.
mt: It seems like a lot of this is coming out of the East Coast.
Les: I am trying to rally my West Coast to this. I was telling Perkins about how much people were freaking out on Banion, and that we should do a tour together. The scene would love to see things like this. I just got off the phone with Norwood from Fishbone, and he does this thing called Truelio Disgracious, which is sort of this floating band with him and some of the guys from P-Funk, and sometimes Flea shows up. It is all the L.A. homies. They are like P-Funk. I think they would fit perfectly, because the scene is all about jamming out the cool shit from the old days. Let's do songs ten minutes long.
mt: With this new crew, you have hand-picked some of the best players. Do you find yourself having to put the Les Claypool ego of being a front man on the side because you don't need to be as focal with the other musicians?
Les: It's funny, because I wasn't overly interested in having a six-piece band. But, it is such an awesome band, that I sit back and just think about how awesome it is. I mean, there are six people with distinctive personalities and characters. It is like Halloween every night. I love it. Everyone has their own way of shining. There is less room—I don't run around on stage like I used to, because there is no need for it. With Primus, it is a three-piece band, so there is room and necessity to fill space, both sonically and visually.
mt: Sonically, you don't have to play bass parts that are as involved?
Les: Yes, there is also that support element. When it is time for me to do a solo, I can do a solo without having to worry about holding down the rhythm. With Primus, I have to worry about holding down some form of rhythm. With this, I can stop playing all together and there will be somebody driving it. Primus was all about drums; guitar was texture; and bass was rhythm and texture. We all have to find our space while playing, but when it comes down to soloing, each individual really has the ability to go crazy. I am doing bass solos with this that are beyond anything that I have ever done in my life.
mt: As you said before, you covered Animals on one of your times out with this group. What can fans expect with this Frog Brigade tour?
Les: Well, since it is a supporting slot, we only have X amount of time, maybe an hour to play. We are going to reach into our bag of tricks every night and see what comes out. That is the whole story of Frog Brigade; it is different every night. It is whatever, however we feel. Of course, you will see The Sausage and the Holy Mackerel; you may see a little bit of Primus. But, you will also see everything from Pink Floyd to King Crimson to the Beatles, and our interpretation of those things.
mt: How do you feel about tape trading and the free distribution of live music?
Les: We allow the taping of shows. We encourage that. Actually, I would love to get more copies of those performances, myself! Personally, I am not one to download mp3s from the Internet, because I think they sound like s**t! I am a guy whose living relies on music. Besides my living now, my future when I am deaf and can't play anymore, my kids and grandkids are going to have to go to college, and I am going to be relying on my old music to continue to sell. It is a big can of worms. I don't think that Napster hurts the big boys like Metallica, but it makes it difficult. It would have been difficult for Primus to make it from point G to wherever if Napster had been around, because as much as it creates great exposure, we put out our own albums and counted on people buying them. We would press 1,000 albums, take the money from that to print another 1,000. We grew that way, so I think in some ways, something like Napster will affect that by not giving groups the opportunity to get financially situated. I think the trading of live shows builds a great community. I wish there was a way to do it and they sounded better. To some extent, the lack of quality from an mp3 makes people want to go out and buy a quality recording. Fortunately, the cd format isn't that great of a format anymore. 16-bit audio doesn't sound that good. I am excited for when they step up to DVD format.
mt: Lastly, are there any words of advice that you would give to fans who are aspiring to make a life in the music industry?
Les: My first words of advice would be to stay open minded. Be careful not to get caught up in trends. Things that are popular right now are rarely going to be popular six months from now. Try and stay true to what you personally enjoy. We all like to think we have good taste [laughs]. If you stay true to your tastes, then someone will catch on to it.
Interview by Damani at musictoday.com
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