Rolling Stone had a quick Q&A with Primus frontman Les Claypool and asked him a few questions about what he's got going on these days and what lies ahead for him.
The big news for Primus fans is that longtime drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander is set to return to playing with the band again after a few years doing other things. Claypool said:
"Just coincidentally, Herb had been peeking out of the woods and wanting to play again, so we thought, "Well, let's talk to Tim about it." So we've been talking, and it seems like he's in a much better space now than he had been in the past. He's got a little girl now and it just seems like he's excited about playing drums again, which I hadn't seen that from him in many years."
He also spoke about his current Duo De Twang project, which he has been recording with and touring with lately:
"I'm just finishing up the Duo de Twang record. I think I'm going to call it Four Foot Shack. It's come out pretty good - I'm pretty stoked on it. It's very much like our show - interpretations of other people's stuff, as well as my stuff. Twang-stylee. There's no newly written material as of yet, but I did have an idea this morning. There's interesting renditions of "The Beaver," of course, and "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver," as well as "D's Diner" and "Rumble of the Diesel," and there's some Johnny Horton on there, there's some Stompin' Tom Connors. We've been toying with a Bee Gees tune, which is coming out sweet. You can Twang-ify anything."
Fans waiting for the reunion of Oysterhead, featuring Claypool, Trey Anastasio of Phish, and Stewart Copeland of The Police, might have to wait longer still:
"Ah … I don't know what the hell is going on with Oysterhead. We always talk about it. There's a lot of talk. I think it's an itch we should start scratching here pretty soon. It's been long overdue."
Claypool's fishing show with Mickey "Dean Ween" Melchiondo is still on the horizon as well:
"Well, we got some financing from some friends, and went down to Florida and shot a bunch of footage. Unfortunately, didn't catch a lot of fish, but got a lot of good footage of us attempting to catch fish. Men on the hunt. So then we shot some more footage in New Hope Pa., where we did catch a bunch of fish, which is near his house. Then he was at my place a couple of months ago, and we got incredibly drunk the night before and he actually continued on and got even more drunk with our cameraman. So we went out to fish the next day, and pretty much everybody just slept on the boat, while one guy was vomiting. So, no fish on that one either. We started off with this 30-minute episode, and we whittled it down to a five-minute piece. We're talking to production houses, and we're starting to take meetings, so we'll see what happens."
This is big news for Primus fans, and with the possibility of a new album and a tour with Herb, there's plenty to be excited about. Go to Rolling Stone to read the full interview.
