Primus Tracks

We've reached the title track of Oysterhead's lone studio album, and its medieval bent invites comparisons between the futility of feudalism and modern capitalism. Les Claypool uses classic and crass imagery to expose our class system, while maintaining the happy-go-lucky jauntiness of the music. Tamborines to armageddon!

Get involved:
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money


Get involved
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money 

This one might be The Grand Pecking Order's top track for many listeners, and we get into what makes it so inviting in terms of musicality (Sabbath?!) and the tale hidden within the lyrics, some of it autobiographical for Les Claypool, and some of it hurtful to Buffalo Bills fans, me included. Dig in!

Get involved:
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money


Get involved
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money 

Have you spent endless sleepless nights wondering, "What does a Romanian dictator have to do with Oysterhead?" Friend, we understand, and will assuage these existential worries with an exploration of Stewart Copeland's lyrics and the underlying groove of the music. BARBER...

Get involved:
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money


Get involved
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money 

Birthday Boys is a little ditty that celebrates the accident of adjacent birth for two of the band's members, right? RIGHT? There's a bit more to it, and Les Claypool has hinted at some of the details over the years, which lend a tawdry bent to the lyrics, contrasted with the wholesome-sounding music. Rumors and innuendo swirl around Birthday Boys. Join in the intrigue!

Get involved:
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money


Get involved
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money 

We are thrilled to welcome Tim Alexander to Primus Tracks! The longtime Primus drummer has stretched his rhythmical and compositional skills through numerous projects over the years, and he is ready to share what he's learned throughout his career. We discuss his newly-founded Stick Academy, the foundations of his drumming, his abstract visual art, and what it means to be back in the Bay Area.

Reminder that PT Patrons get episode video - this is one you don't want to miss!

Find Tim:
https://www.stickacademy.com/
https://timalexanderabstract.com/
https://www.instagram.com/timalexander65/

Get involved:
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money


Get involved
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money 

It seems antithetical to describe anything Claypool-related as pleasant, but that's the word which comes to mind for this jaunt. The vocal layering is a highlight here, as well as the imadery produced by the lyrics. Feel the gravel between your toes and dance your way through this episode of Primus Tracks!

Get involved:
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money


Get involved
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money 

The title "Rubberneck Lions" suggests a strange word soup, but there's some kind of meaning underneath the opaque lyrics, and they trend towards familiar territory for Les Claypool and Trey Anastasio. We closely inspect this track, which is one of four that survived Oysterhead's initial performance in May 2000.

Get involved:
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money


Get involved
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money 

Army's on Ecstasy, or as I call it, Military on Molly, is a an uptempo, art-rock exploration of musical compormise. That is to say, with three strong-willed musicians in the room, something has to give, and this is what we get. It's sort of poppy, sort of jammy, and sort of weird, but undeniably a product of Les, Stew, and Trey. We get into these unique Claypool lyrics, their source material, and hypothesize on how this tune came about. We also ponder the uncredited voices in this track, and just what makes it a product of compromise.

Get involved:
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money


Get involved
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money 

We can all breathe and drift away after the heavy subject matter and oppressive aura of Shadow of a Man, and perhaps it's a relief that the music of Radon Balloon is light and airy, and the lyrics make zero sense. Either way, please have your basement tested for radon, the silent killer, and then drift away as Josh and Frankie talk about the only Oysterhead track credited solely to Trey Anastasio.

Get involved
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money 

Despite being an Oysterhead track, we suspect this is a tune that Les had at least formulated during the Primus Antipop cycle, and was revived for the Oysterhead record after some time on the shelf. The only track solely penned by Claypool on The Grand Pecking Order, this one is a quintessential Les track, and we discuss the for such an assertion, while embracing the darkness of the lyrical experience. It gets grim.

Get involved:
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money


Get involved
Instagram
Facebook
Email
Burn your money