“Lars said, ‘You’re not really used to this kind of music, are you?’” Les Claypool on his failed Metallica audition By Joel McIver published 11 January 24 According to James Hetfield, Les Claypool was “too good” for the thrash metal giants
“I’m trying to show the world that a bass player can do many things”: Watch the first trailer for Geddy Lee’s new docuseries, featuring Les Claypool and Robert Trujillo By Nick Wells published 26 October 23 Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too? also stars Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic and former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur
“If I wanted to play like Geddy Lee I’d play a black-and-white Rickenbacker”: Les Claypool on his bass collection, and the Rickenbacker he bought from John Entwistle By Joel McIver published 14 September 23 The Primus frontman has employed a range of instruments during his career, including a Dobro bass and the famous one-string Whamola
"Like wrestling an octopus": How to play bass like Les Claypool By Nick Wells published 14 August 23 Even if you're not playing double-stops tapped on a fretless 6-string bass there’s still a lot you can learn from Primus frontman Les Claypool. We asked him to break down some of his craziest basslines...
Primus's Les Claypool names 7 bassists who shaped his sound By Andrew Daly published 24 May 23 The alt-rock innovator on "one of the most underrated bass players ever", who he sees as the instrument's Jimi Hendrix and that time a low-end hero "f**king kicked my ass" in a jam
The Lowlist: Primus' Sailing The Seas Of Cheese – a weird mix of twisted basslines, warped lyrics and general weirdness By Tom Poak published 7 May 23 For the second Primus album, Les Claypool decided that he was bored with the 4-string and his playing needed something to "blow it wide open". Cue 6 string fretless mania…
Hear Justin Chancellor play through Les Claypool’s rig as this Primus-Tool supergroup take on Ænima at chest-rattling velocity By Matt Parker published 3 May 23 Members of the two bands and Queens of the Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen teamed up for a double-drummer take on the Tool classic
Les Claypool: “The Pachyderm bass has one knob on it, a volume knob: I don’t want any tone” By Joel McIver published 10 March 23 Primus’ bass wizard tells us all about his Pachyderm bass and exactly what naugahyde is
The 10 best covers of Charles Mingus songs By Nick Wells published 20 January 23 From Keith Richards to Joni Mitchell, we chart the 10 best takes on ‘The Angry Man of Jazz’, Charles Mingus
Les Claypool: the 5 basslines that changed my life By Joel McIver published 12 October 22 "Chris Squire was an early hero to me": Primus bass hero Les Claypool on the five tracks that helped shape his bass career
Les Claypool praises Willow Smith's Primus cover: “Fine guitar pickin’ there young fiery lass” By Sam Roche published 23 September 22 Willow donned her one-of-a-kind St. Vincent signature model to play one of Larry LaLonde's signature avant-garde leads
Les Claypool says he was on acid during Primus’ 1992 MTV Spring Break performance – “everything I saw was just orange” By Matt Parker published 6 July 22 The bassist extraordinaire has been reflecting on Primus’ early years amid the 90s alternative boom, in which the band got picked up by MTV before Metallica... It was quite literally a trip
Primus cancel European leg of A Tribute To Kings tour due to “unavoidable logistical challenges” By Matt Owen published 29 June 22 The mammoth Rush tribute tour comes to a premature end
Larry LaLonde and Les Claypool join Alex Lifeson to discuss A Farewell To Kings and recall that one time the Rush guitarist used a tortilla chip as a guitar pick By Joe Bosso published 16 June 22 With Primus on tour playing the 1977 classic, the band's guitarist and bassist/frontman talk tribute acts and discuss the album's legacy with Rush's Alex Lifeson
Rush’s Geddy Lee on A Farewell To Kings, Les Claypool the bassist, and what he thinks of Primus playing the album live in its entirety By Ellen O'Reilly, Joel McIver published 9 June 22 Playing A Farewell To Kings in full is not for the fainthearted. Even Geddy Lee, the man who recorded it, thought Les Claypool “was a little bit nuts” for attempting it
Les Claypool: “Singing Geddy Lee parts and playing bass, or just singing Geddy Lee parts period, is f**king hard, because it’s up in the upper stratosphere” By Ellen O'Reilly, Joel McIver published 1 June 22 Primus are currently on the road, playing the Rush album A Farewell To Kings in its entirety. We ask Claypool what made him embark on such a mad endeavor
Primus's Les Claypool teams up with Gogol Bordello frontman Eugene Hütz for Volodymyr Zelensky tribute song, The Man With the Iron Balls By Sam Roche published 22 April 22 The charity single also features The Police drummer Stewart Copeland, John Lennon's son Sean, Billy Strings and Hütz’s bandmate, Sergey Ryabtsev
Primus announce Conspiranoid EP, share sprawling 11-minute lead single, Conspiranoia By Sam Roche published 6 April 22 The EP arrives April 22, days after the trio are set to embark on the second leg of their Rush tribute tour, A Tribute to Kings
Watch Primus perform the entirety of A Farewell To Kings as they kick off their Rush tribute tour By Matt Owen published 12 August 21 Fresh from his lesson with Geddy Lee, a kimono-kitted Les Claypool took to the stage with his bandmates to tackle the daunting setlist from start to finish
Les Claypool has been taking bass lessons from Rush's Geddy Lee By Sam Roche published 10 August 21 The Primus man said he was “learning from the master” ahead of the band's upcoming Rush tribute tour, A Tribute to Kings