A PAIR OF KINGS

Les Claypool—bassist, producer, novelist and low-end pioneer—is the frontman of the remarkable funk-rock band Primus, as well as a whole string of amazing side projects. Admired for his thumping and plucking and his willingness to experiment with a host of fretted, fretless, whammy-barred, and multi-stringed instruments, the man can do it all. Tapping, clawhammer-style picking and high-register chords all populate his approach, but technique is as important as feel in his philosophy, with the groove of his playing the mainstay of his music.

You may know the 58-year-old Californian as the voice behind Primus songs such as ‘Jerry Was A Race Car Driver’ and ‘Tommy The Cat’, or for his cameo role in the second Bill And Ted film, or maybe for writing novels, producing movies, running a vineyard and ranting wherever possible about his love of fishing. Today, though, BP is interviewing the master about Primus’s forthcoming tour on which they’ll be playing through the whole of A Farewell To Kings by Rush. Who would undertake such a mad endeavor? And what does Geddy Lee of Rush think of it... and how does Les react when we tell him what Geddy thinks of the Claypool approach to bass?

Why did you choose to play A Farewell To Kings as opposed to any other Rush album?

Well, any Rush album is an undertaking. You know, we always joked that we should go out and play its entirety—but then we thought, ‘Well, maybe we actually its entirety’. But one reason why we didn’t is that you can’t do ‘Cygnus II’ before you do ‘Cygnus I’. In looking at all the Rush records, seemed a little too obvious, and some of the records have a little more keyboards than I’m comfortable with. But was the first