Primus Tracks

Former Primus manager David Lefkowitz makes his long-overdue return to Primus Tracks to discuss the Tales From the Punchbowl album cycle, whic pushed the band to their highest heights in terms of popularity, airplay, and a massive supporting tour. Dave and Soya take us behind the scenes to document seminal moments from the album promotion, live dates, and the wackiness along the way.   Get involve...

CLD gave us an EPPP of four cover tunes in 2017, three of which had been performed live on the previous tour. We sample the originals, discuss some of the circumstances of the bands being covered, and compare to the CLD effort. Overall, it's a rewarding piece that might expand your musical pallette. If you're already familiar with Flower Travellin' Band, more power to you! Get involved Instagram F...

We conclude our Monolith of Phobos discussions with the album closer, in which we ride stardust to the furthest edges of known space. We also debate the song title and dig into the undergarments of astronauts.  Note: we discuss the mysterious appearance of HEllbound 17 1/2 at the first Claypool Gold show, and behold! There is audio evidence: https://youtu.be/unlrRsnkZGk?si=i3kzl7-u2lPT0Ld2&t=6...

NEW PRIMUS MUSIC. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. I mean, it's mostly new. Handful of Nuggs is already out there on Youtube and other streamers, with a vinyl edition on the way. Collecting four tracks: a new studio song, a studio cover of Holy Diver with Puddles, and previously-released Little Lord Fentanyl and a performance of Duchess, the EP will tide us over until an announced Primus album in 2027.We get...

The penultimate track on Monolith gainded the most notoriety for its music video and demo bonus track. Sean Lennon tells the tale of hanging with Michael Jackson and his chimp Bubbles at Neverland Ranch, and Sean has a lot to say about that portrayal, which we sample from a 2016 NPR interview. Most childhood odes wouln't sound or read anything like this, so it's a fascinating glimpse inside the we...

Thanks for the downer, CLD! This tale of addiction (and another anti-pharmaceutical anthem) is possibly the saddest set of lyrics we've ever gotten from Les Claypool, but boy, does the song-writing, with it's catchy "so blue" repeptition and that heavy Sabbath-like riff in the middle, really make the words palatable. We now see why this one's buried in the back half of the record.  Get involved In...

Sam Stewart of Flagman returns to Primus Tracks Towers to discuss Ohmerica, which he labels as possibly his top track from Monolith of Phobos, putting him in the vast minority. However, Sam espouses on the merits of this tune, and we all get misty-eyed nostalgia for those halcyon days of the post-9/11 Bush administration, when times were simpler.  Find Sam @flagmanband anywhere and everywhere, inc...

Captain Lariat is a mysterious figure; a legendary carouser, or so he'd have you believe. Josh's pal Jeff Roscher, a recent CLD convert, drops by to discuss the finer points of the characterization of the "Captain," what the world sounds like when you're on nitrous, and learns some new words.  Find Jeff at https://bluebirdsmusic.org/ and make a new friend.  Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Bu...

The great Bret Crow of TikTok fame joins the pod to discuss CLD's Breath of a Salesman. You've likely seen Bret's creations even if, like me, you've never used TikTok, likely because a friend or internet stranger has posted his videos all over creation. Bret digs into the songwriting details of Breath, and we find numerous connections to the tune via the Arthur Miller pun, annoying salespeople, ha...

Frequent guest Anthony Garcia joins the pod to discuss Boomerang Baby, a Lennon brainchild that is disarmingly charming in its time signature and slow build to a flourish that calls home those lost in the sea of smartphone culture, using an ironic term in the process. Anthony's keen ear catches some details we may have otherwise missed, and Frankie educates us on other invectives used against youn...

We resume our Monolith of Phobos coverage with Mr. Wright, which contains a very Beatle-esque bass lick that drives a lyrical story about a distasteful voyeur. Kello Gonzlez zjoins us to model the bass part and to explain Les Claypool's singular talent in terms of writing strong licks that can carry a four-minute track, and remarks about the Lennon-Claypool connection.  Find Kello @kellogc just ab...

We pause our nascent Monolith of Phobos episodes yet again due to irrational excitement for the forthcoming CLD record, and this time the great Rich Ragsdale joins the podcast to talk about how the visual components of the album came to be. Rich directed the CLD video Blood & Rockets, and returned to the fold to create the comic book that accompanies The Great Parrot-Ox album; he also directed...

The Claypool Lennon Delirium's The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy is a really long album title, but it serves the purpose of what we can only imagine is a modern-day fable told in a retro style that may or may not end up with all of humanity being turned into paper clips. We have tracked down all the available information about the forthcoming CLD record and packaged it here, so you...

It's a double dose of delirium! We've packaged both the Cricket and the Genie tracks together, as they were released as one to promote the release of Monolith of Phobos, and these two tracks have always been performed together at every single CLD show thus far . Josh's longtime pal Jerry Roscher drops by the pod to discuss why these tracks and this album as a whole speak to him so deeply; for him,...

What do you get when you put on the early Pink Floyd, pair it with Carl Sagan's Cosmos, and throw Buzz Aldrin in for fun, then drink loads of red wine with Sean Lennon and Les Claypool? You get the title track to The Monolith of Phobos, a journey of whimsy and wonder. Get ready for psychedelic delights of all sorts! Buzz Aldrin on CSPAN Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money 

In 2016, Les Claypool had some time away from Primus and invited Sean Lennon to Rancho Relaxo; Sean had guested on some Primus encores during their 2015 summer tour and jammed backstage with Les, where a connection was born. They fished, drank pinot, discussed nuggets from newspapers and periodicals, in the process birthing The Claypool Lennon Delirium. We get into the details of how these two got...

Tim Slowinkski, the man behind the excellent Oysterhead album cover art, tour poster and iconography, joins Primus Tracks to talk about his dinstinctive art style and subject matter, as well as the entire Oysterhead experience, which brought him some notoriety and remains a project that earns recognition. What does he think of all of it, 25 years down the line? Give a listen to find out! Find Tim...

The Duo de Twang album is a fun listen, but the shows were where the guys really let loose and silliness reigned. Soya and frequent Twang contributor Wylie Woods drop by to talk about their experience on the road with DDT, including a show that Josh attended which they described as one of the worst of the tour, lousy conditions at Jam Cuirse, and an unexpected success in Europe. The big question:...

We turn our attention to Duo de Twang, the "vacation fuck-off band" that Les Claypool started after a couple special California gigs gave away to a full-blown vision for a sit-down campfire acoustic project. We chart the project's logisitical and inspirational origins, and discuss the album track-by-track. Grab some cowboy beans and don't squat with yer spurs on! Get involved Instagram Facebook Em...

WE WERE THERE at the Fox Theater on December 30 & 31, 2025, to witness Primus send in the clowns over two nights of inspired musical madness. We detail how it all went down, and preview what we already know for 2026: Claypool Lennon Delirium record, Claypool Gold tour, and Primus in Europe.  Get involved Instagram Facebook Email Burn your money 

This week on the podcast we welcome Robi Bean, who drummed with Primus for about half of 1986. Although he doesn't appear on any demo tapes, and live footage of his playing with Primus is scarce, Robi played an important part in the formation of many early Primus songs that would become fan favorites, including Tommy The Cat. Robi details how he first worked with Les Claypool in a band called Manx...

For our next entry in the Primus DNA sub-series, we swing for the fences by daring to take on the mighty Rush as a major component of the Primus makeup. Gerry Schramm of the Something For Nothing podcast joins us to make sense of it all, including where to hear elements of each band's hallmarks in the music of the other, the enduring friendship between the two bands, and their commonalities, inclu...

We end our Of Fungi And Foe review with Ol' Rosco, who may be one of the more abhorrent characters in the Claypool lyrical universe, perhaps for being all too real. This is the final "fungi" track in the sense that it was initially written for the Mushroom Men video game; Les later added vocal and percussion tracks for the OFAF record. Frankie provides a loving sendoff to this record, which he hol...

This week, we cover tracks 10 and 11 from Of Fungi and Foe: Pretty Little Song with guest Bryonn Bain, as well as the title track. These tracks are buried on the back end of the record and have never been performed live, so they're obscure nuggets in the catalog. Wail and gnash your teeth along with us as we explore the agony of Pretty Little Song and what the title tracks tells us about the whole...

Primed By 29 has a fetching title for a Primus fan exploring the solo works of Les Claypool. Although the lyrics don't necessarily refer to anything Primus-related, they're certainly in the wheelhouse of Claypool, who pens another cautionary tale about going too far with recreational drugs in an attempt to create excitement from the mundane. It also happens to be Frankie's favorite track on the al...