Fans of 1990s funk-metal band Primus can't forget that famous live footage from Woodstock '94. In it, the band's resident bass god, Les Claypool, dexterously covered Metallica's "Master of Puppets" by playing the guitar part on his signature Carl Thompson bass using the slap technique. To top it off, he then brought out legendary grunge guitarist Jerry Cantrell and spent the next ten minutes going lick for lick with the Alice in Chains ax madman.
Primus went on hiatus in 2000, much to the chagrin of the band's hardcore following. And for the most part, the group then fell off the map, though it reunited in 2003 to record Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People, a DVD/EP release. Primus followed that with a two-month tour and has since released DVDs and a hits collection. Still, the fervor surrounding releases like Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Miscellaneous Debris, and Pork Soda was never really matched again.
But that's not to say Claypool has been lounging poolside on money from "Jerry Was a Racecar Driver" and "My Name Is Mud." The man is a talented and multifaceted artist who has kept himself quite busy as a novelist, actor, director, music producer, and, of course, musician. The eccentric and often outlandish Claypool has continued issuing solo work, including his most recent album, Of Fungi and Foe, which dropped in March.
