Les Claypool Names Primus’ Hardest Track To Perform Live

Primus vocalist and bassist Les Claypool recently sat down with Rick Beato for an in-depth conversation covering his musical inspirations, career highlights, creative process, and more.

Among the topics discussed were the impact of the band’s 1997 release, Brown Album, and an early ’90s track that has largely been retired from live shows due to its difficulty.

“Yes. But I didn’t know that. I just knew that. I mean, look, when people want you, you get bargaining power. So, this other label wanted us and Interscope wanted us, right? So, part of our thing was, well, if you want us, you got to let us do our thing. And Tom Whalley [Interscope head of A&R] he fought the fight for us. He always would say, ‘No, let these guys do… it’s working. Let these guys do their thing…’

Until, like I said, ‘Brown Album.’ And then everybody was like, ‘Ehhh, wait a minute. That album sounds quite a bit different.’ And it didn’t sell as well as the one previous, [so the label said] ‘Maybe you guys…’ And so that’s why the next record we did [Antipop], we worked with a bunch of different people as producers. But for a while there, we hadn’t sh*t ourselves yet. So they let us just do whatever we wanted.”

Claypool also reflected on one of his biggest regrets: turning down a co-bill tour with Nirvana just as their 1991 landmark Nevermind was gaining momentum.

“…There was one thing that I’ve always regretted… Don Muller — who was our agent — spectacular man, great guy, he said, ‘Hey, how about I’m putting together… We want to do a co-bill Primus and Nirvana.’ And this was right as Nevermind was just coming out.

And I’m like, ‘No, no, no. We want to do our own tour.’ Because we’d been doing these 45-minute opening sets, or playing with other bands. We wanted to do our own tour, play a full set. And of course, the whole thing blew up. And I never really, you know, we never really ever played with those guys…”

When asked about the hardest Primus song to perform live, Claypool pointed to the bass-driven, erratic track “DMV” from Pork Soda. The song has largely been shelved, with only 27 known live performances, the last occurring in 2015.

“…There’s a song ‘DMV‘ which we just don’t even play because it’s so fucking hard [laughs]. It’s one of those I wrote when I was a young guy, and I probably can’t even play it now. I wouldn’t even play it on this bass. It’s like… But I play it on the six-string, so it’s even harder.”

The conversation provides a fascinating glimpse into Claypool’s perspective on creativity, performance challenges, and his storied career with one of alternative metal’s most distinctive acts.

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