Les Claypool live in Melbourne 2009 (review)

Venue: The Forum

Note to self: Never try and write a concert review straight after the event. A series of superlatives and expletives does not make for good reading, it’s true but describing Les Claypool in concert presents many challenges. Claypool is to the bass what Don Burke is to gardening, David Lynch is to weird and Neil Armstrong is to moon landings. His unhinged music delivered with such stone-faced conviction, has the unerring ability to make me laugh  hysterically. Not that Les is trying hard to be funny; he is more or less just stringing together phrases and sounds that compliment each other so as to push the music forward. His first concern is the bass and making that sucker rumble, his second here at The Forum tonight is keeping this seemingly unplanned racket running like a cohesive show.

The San Franciscan ‘king of stoner rock’ is joined on stage by two drummers, a cellist and his collection of basses including an electric up-right. The band, all in Richard Nixon Halloween masks and tuxedos look as though they’re seconds away from pulling m16s out of violin cases and robbing the first few rows. Les is one well dressed man too, in his tailored shirt, vest and fedora. It’s his behavior on stage though that’s really worth noting. While his band continues an onslaught of rubbery drum and bass heavy music, Claypool takes his time in setting up the mood for each song. After an ear-splitting intro set, he walks off stage while the two percussionists battle it out for a few minutes playing off one another on dueling kits. This spectacle is then interrupted by a pig’s face peering out from the side of the stage; the crowd start yelling and leaping like frogs at this sight. Les sheepishly is stalking back out on to the stage posing every few steps with a violin bow in hand as though he’s on an imaginary catwalk. He finally comes to rest at the up-right electric bass recently set up by the roadie.

Those in the audience, who remember Les in the Primus video Mr Krinkle dressed in a pig suit playing the cello, began cheering for what felt like an inevitable set up for a much adored Primus number. I was pretty sure that Les would’ve dropped Primus songs from the set but now as he begins dragging the bow along those strings and Mr Krinkle creeks out, it’s momentarily thrilling. The song however isn’t to last, it’s only a teaser for those who bought and played near to death Primus’s Pork Soda album. Instead he is soon hammering the cello to the just as impressive Tooth. This diversion is too much for some fans though and cat calls (no pun intended) for Tommy the Cat grow louder and louder. Unseen dude behind me; “Play the song that made you famous, you douche!” Les responds; “If I had my way, I’d play Tommy The Cat, every night for all eternity, just for you.” It was the only possible retort, and coming from a very tall man in a pig mask with a voice that’s more nose than throat, is also piss funny.

The tour’s basically in support of Of Fungi & Foe Les’s new bag of weird which really doesn’t divert from his Primus roots at all, with the exception of no guitarist. Instead, Les’s band is working only with percussive instruments including vibraphone. The first four songs are from all over Claypool’s catalogue including the rarely exhibited Riddles Are Abound Tonight, a one-off release he did under the name Sausage. The many Primus fans here tonight are treated to a re-worked Southbound Pachyderm from 1995’s Tales From The Punchbowl, but it’s the distinct lack of noted Primus tracks that has caused some unrest tonight. Personally, I’m contented just to see one of music’s great oddities perform and hear the true sensei of the bass. The current Claypool album is probably still too new for fans to have embraced yet, but given time many of the songs will surely become favourites of anyone who dug Primus. Songs such as Red State Girl could easily find approval of long-term fans with its seedy plot of sexual fantasies regarding dopey US senator, Sarah Palin. Plus anyone who didn’t enjoy the hillbilly-rave of newie Boonville Stomp must have been dead. In a round-a-bout way, Les explains Boonville is a kind of redneck anthem that can be applied to anywhere populated by the dentally challenged; “Launceston!” someone in the audience helpfully suggests.

Towards the business end of the show, Les has decided it’s time for another change and leaves the stage once again as the duelling drummers take their cue for a second battle. This time Claypool is gone for what seems like ages, until finally he waddles on stage stooped over almost dragging his knuckles along the floor, his head contained in a monkey mask. There’s a roar of laughter and cheer, so Les makes a second lap of the stage in ape-fashion. The commotion caused is as though a real primate had gotten loose and entered the room unexpectedly. Claypool finally straps on his big black bass, steps up to the second mic which is running through a voice vocoda, and starts barking indecipherable sounds into it like a circus ring master. He seems to be running through a medley now of Primus and solo tracks, including the much demanded Tommy The Cat. The band and Les are now working hard at tacking bits of songs together in some improvised jam. It becomes utterly hypnotic watching Claypool’s fingers blurring up and down the fret on his bass, while the band attack their instruments for an unforgettable finish.

There’s really nobody quite like Les Claypool, and it’s kind of a shame his back catalogue is bigger than the man himself. For my money at least, he’s still making some excellent music and has one hell of a band, but it seems some fans can’t move on with him. Sure a Primus show would have been great, but a nostalgia trip would’ve taken a lot less skill than what was on offer at this outstanding concert.

lEIGh5

(Pics by myself and Fruitbat)




Click the link to see Les performing "Precipitation" from this show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmrxWDYOxpQ

Les Claypool (Primus) interview (2009)

FRIEND OF THE FREAKS

My first experience of Les Claypool was at the very least timely, or rather not a moment too soon. Hungry for anything weird, comical, noisy and not guitar grunge – A man in a huge pig costume playing the cello while a parade of circus freaks go by was enough to seal the deal for me. That was Claypool’s band Primus and their Mr Krinkle video, coming across as the living incarnation of a Gary Larson comic strip where the animals always took the lead and told stories through an often hilarious, skewed view of the world. The man behind the pig is after a ten year absence finally on route to Australia with his new band of beasts, collection of masks and further tales of Larson-esque oddballs. Talking to Claypool pre-tour, I find out first hand - as would be expected - nothing with the bassist is exactly as it seems. In keeping with the man/animal kinship throughout his work, I begin by asking what significance Les places on animals in their relation to humans.

"Not any necessarily, at least not consciously.” Les begins slowly and thoughtfully, “I think I'm just drawn the imagery really.” The sleeve of his new album Of Fungi & Foe features four sepia portraits of Claypool and his band mates caught between animal and human transformation. Les is half donkey. “Well that’s because I’m a bit of an ass.” He laughs nasally, “Travis Louis is the artist and he did some really interesting oil paintings of us with animal parts, so once again it’s not a conscious animal thing, he did that without input from me.” He adds, “I just liked what he did with our ugly mugs!”

Fans of Primus reciting a list of favourite songs could find themselves conducting a role-call of unlikely names; Mr Krinkle, Tommy The Cat, Wynona (and her beaver)… But do any of these vivid folks exist outside Les’s imagination, I wonder. "It depends on the song, but they're very rarely about anybody I know unless it's like composites of partially fictitious and partially real people. I usually embellish a lot when I'm writing, but there are usually elements of reality as well." The populating of his songs with bigger than life characters continues on Of Fungi & Foe. Only on a Les Claypool album would you find yourself in the company of Ol’ Rosco (“He likes a drink… when he drives”), or Errol (who can’t be told anything, “coz Errol knows everything”). Les explains; “It's always better to go with what you know, especially for me as I get older. As a kid I was exposed to a lot of old-skool country music and old musicals, so I've always been drawn to songs that tell some sort of tale and make me want to listen a little harder, you know.” Despite the unmistakable sound of Claypool’s vocal twang and the identifying freakshow personnel in his songs, the man himself is much happier taking the backseat to his creations. “For me as a performer, because I've never really considered myself a singer - I'm a bass player who kind of narrates the songs. It was always easier for me to go out on stage with these characters instead of just trying to sing like a typical lead singer in a rock band or anything. That's why I like to use the masks I wear, like the pig mask, because I'm fairly introverted so having these characters is a more comfortable way for me to tell my stories. Crazy things tend to happen when I put on the masks." He says giving a long, hearty laugh.

The music on Les’s latest release, Of Fungi & Foe was originally written for two separate projects - Mushroom Men, a Nintendo Wii computer game - and for a film called Pig Hunt – before he decided the songs could form an album all of their own. “I tend to just compile albums these days from whatever’s laying around in the home studio.” He says casually, “I’ve never really been one to sit down and write a whole album.” Ah, but has Les found himself parked in front of the computer game he’s scored?, “No I'm not a big gamer or anything but my son has been playing it, so I've had a look, you know. I just like the artwork, but I can’t actually play it very well.” He confesses. “With Pig Hunt, I decided to do the score for that because, well, how could I not want to be involved with a film about a 3000 pound wild boar that terrorises the pot fields of Northern California. You don't get those kinds of opportunities very often in life." He cackles, "I wasn't involved in the score at the start, I actually got to play a small role in the movie which was shot up near my house.” He continues, “My offices are in the old Industrial Light and Magic space so there's a lot of film sets that are still being used and one day I saw them building this huge prosthetic boar and I went up to the guys there they told me what was going on and I was really impressed with the idea so I said tell your producer if he wants a guy to deliver a pizza or anything in the film, I'm in!” The film, which is yet to get distribution, sees Les in a dramatic role for his on-screen debut; "I ended up playing an inbred redneck preacher whose hell bent on vengeance." He laughs. "I don't like working away from my home very much so the fact that film was being shot in my area was great for me. I do all my work at home, it's where I'm happiest."

The area where Les lives also happens to be the pinot noir mecca of Northern California, so it was no great stretch to branch out into the wine making field. His signature drop is the ‘strong and fruity’ Purple Pachyderm. "All my friends in the area are wine makers so it was just one of those things I decided to try to keep me off the streets. Since my marijuana usage has waned I've had to try and find something else to alter my perspective." He crows. "Also it's a great way to indulge in some good wine without having to pay a lot of money for it." Les confides his significant pot smoking habit began having some negative effects; "The worst thing was it started affecting my memory", he continues with a sharp cough, "I felt like it was starting to fragment my hard drive. People were saying to me 'oh hey remember that time we were in Italy and this thing happened...' and I was just like 'no I don't remember that at all', so that was getting worse and I've got some fairly interesting stories to tell and I would like to be able to remember them.”

The most high profile work in Les’s career is by far the South Park & Robot Chicken theme songs. The common thread in both of those cartoons is of course influences drawn from their creators' childhood fascinations being totally fucked about with. I wonder if  Les felt a connection with the twisted ideas behind those shows, and if he sees his own childhood as an inescapable reference in his own work? "If I sat and thought about it I could probably find a lot of stuff that came directly from childhood experiences but after being on the planet for a few decades, even my 20's seem like a long time ago. There were a lot of interesting things happen to me living in Berkley and running around San Francisco like a lunatic in my 20's that I draw from continuously and now that I'm into my 40's I've got a lot of fodder." He laughs. "My road manager recently came up to my house and hung out with me and a bunch of my friends and he was like 'oh my god, who are these people', because he saw us as being such a diverse group of unlikely companions, but I've always been attracted to people who are a little off centre. I guess we're just birds of a feather and the birds I happen to squawk with also happen to be a little obscure".

The upcoming tour has a lot of Les’s fans in a flutter about what exactly he is going to pull out this time around; a suitably impressionistic answer ensues…"Well people always want to know this because I'm always doing something different but I can only answer you by saying, it'll be something like you've never heard or seen before. The instrumentation is so unique and the players such mutants.” He cracks up again, “I've got Mike Dillon who's this insane vibraphonist and junkyard percussionist, Paulo Baldi on this bastardised drum kit that I make him play and Sam Bass who plays a sort of mutated cello and finally myself slapping away on my four string piece of furniture. It's all very unpredictable and quite, quite bizarre.” He says in closing. Now there's a reliable guarantee if ever there was one.

lEIGh5

Check out Les's official site here for everything Claypool... 
http://www.lesclaypool.com