Unquestionably, Primus bassist Les Claypool stood out as the most distinctive rock bassist to surface during the 1990s. Blending an eccentric wit with groovy bass lines, he wove together assorted musical inspirations into a fresh, wholly original approach. Born September 29, 1963, in Richmond, California, Claypool began his journey there. As a teenager he crossed paths with classmate Kirk Hammett, later of Metallica, who introduced him to Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Led Zeppelin. Around the same period Claypool started playing bass, guided by Geddy Lee of Rush, Chris Squire of Yes, and Paul McCartney. Although Hammett invited him into one of his bands, Claypool instead joined his high-school progressive metal outfit Blind Illusion and broadened his scope by performing with jazz and swing groups. Discovering fusion and funk bassists Stanley Clarke and Larry Graham at that time led him to adopt slapping techniques.
After finishing school, Claypool joined the Tommy Crank Band, a local cover group focused on blues, R&B, funk, and mainstream rock material. Performing multiple sets nearly every night honed his improvisational abilities, allowing him to handle virtually any style convincingly. While with Tommy Crank he purchased his first Carl Thompson piccolo bass, modeled after one played by Stanley Clarke, an instrument that became his signature. In the early to mid-1980s Claypool began recording demos of original material that would later spark Primus. Initially named Primate, the band featured guitarist Todd Huth and drummer Jay Lane alongside Claypool, who handled vocals in an idiosyncratic sing-speak manner reminiscent of a narrator as well as bass duties. Though the trio quickly built an underground following in the San Francisco area, Primus paused when Huth departed and Claypool rejoined Blind Illusion, whose sound had shifted toward thrash metal, appearing on the group’s sole album, The Sane Asylum, issued by Combat Records.
Claypool’s second stint with Blind Illusion proved brief, yet he connected with guitarist Larry LaLonde, a fellow musical spirit from the band. By 1989 Primus had reformed with Claypool, LaLonde, and new drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander, and soon afterward the group released its debut, the live album Suck on This. The record generated enough college-radio interest for independent label Caroline to sign the band, prompting a reissue of the debut and the follow-up studio effort, 1990’s Frizzle Fry, while the trio toured alongside Jane’s Addiction and 24-7 Spyz. The year 1991 brought further success when the major-label debut on Interscope, Sailing the Seas of Cheese, attained gold status a year after release, as Primus opened for Public Enemy, Anthrax, U2, Fishbone, and Rush.
A surprise Top Ten hit arrived with 1993’s Pork Soda, which earned the band a headlining slot on that year’s Lollapalooza tour and confirmed Primus as quirk rock’s leading figures; additional charting releases followed through the decade and into the new millennium, including Tales from the Punchbowl, The Brown Album, Rhinoplasty, and Antipop, plus the theme for the television series South Park, with Claypool also directing several of the band’s videos. Beyond Primus, Claypool pursued numerous side projects such as Sausage, a reunion of the original Primus lineup, Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel on Highball with the Devil, the Frog Brigade with Live Frogs and Purple Onion, Oysterhead, and The Claypool Lennon Delirium, a duo with Sean Lennon, while contributing to recordings by Buckethead, Jerry Cantrell, Victor, Limp Bizkit, Tom Waits, and Rob Wasserman. He issued Of Whales and Woe in 2006, his first solo project under his own name. In 2012 Claypool formed Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang with guitarist Bryan Kehoe, and the pair released the album of twang-infused originals and covers, Four Foot Shack, in early 2014.
