Les Claypool on Primus, a new psych-rock opera and Metallica

When Les Claypool wrote his first Primus song in 1984 he was too embarrassed to sing in his apartment. His roommate had keys to the nearby church, so in the dead of night he set up on the podium and recorded 'Too Many Puppies' — recasting soldiers as little dogs with the line 'Too many puppies are being shot in the dark!' Primus’s rubbery fusions of prog, metal and funk, its Looney Tunes–inspired voices and hits such as the South Park theme helped Claypool build two platinum records and a devoted global cult following, even as his wackiness left him labelled a class-clown.

'There’s an iron hand in that velvet glove,' he promises. Raised in a family of mechanics, Claypool picked bass over guitar, drawn to Geddy Lee and funk players, and cut his teeth playing R&B in Hells Angels bars. He began crafting cartoonish characters and a signature nasally tone that carried songs about violence and addiction as well as humour.

les claypool, primus, south park, prog metal, funk, psych rock, metallica, bass, geddy lee, cult following