La Musica Coolica #32 (Primus)

Les Claypool is legendary in the realm of bass players. I’m not just talking about bass guitars. Claypool is not afraid to break up the stand-up bass and bow on occasion, to wow the masses. His infectious ultra-complicated slap-heavy bass playing is the backbone of the group Primus. Primus is not to be confused with, and is in no way related to Prius, which is a weak little tin can of a Toyota hybrid car.

When I was in high school, the group released an album called “Sailing the Seas of Cheese.” It was an amalgamation of the weirdest/coolest music that I had heard, at that time in my life. Claypool also does vocals and has a very Kermit the Frog-esque voice. Despite the odd vocal quality, Claypool’s voice doesn’t detract from the music, as much as it does give it character.

When I first obtained a copy of “Sailing the Seas of Cheese,” I was in the beginning stages of learning to play bass guitar, myself. As I would listen to the album, I though that there was no way that all of that noise was coming out of a single bass track played by one person. It was not until attending Lollapalooza 1994, and seeing Primus live, that I truly appreciated Claypool’s skills. He is amazing to watch.

The song that I’m sharing today is from the seas of cheese album. It was one of the more heavily played singles from the album. It is called “Jerry was a race car driver.” Give it a listen.