Beyond his status as one of the great bass players of his generation, Les Claypool has always been one of the music world’s more profound thinkers and engaging story tellers. With his band Primus, he’s been disguising social commentary with quirky lyrics since day one in songs like “To Defy The Laws Of Tradition,” “American Life,” and everyone’s favorite place to spend the day, the “DMV.” Claypool fans have come to anticipate his comical between song banter and skewed takes on the world as much as his bass popping and he rarely leaves them disappointed.
During his Duo De Twang set with guitarist Bryan Kehoe at the WinterWonderGrass Festival he shared his thoughts a variety of topics in his trademarked clipped tone that fans have come to love. Our own Rex Thomson was on hand filming the fun from the front row, to share a few of Claypool’s more interesting opinions and questions from the chilly afternoon set. Check out four videos from the set below:
1. “…Quite possibly one of the greatest songs ever written by a human being.”
Claypool’s most controversial comment of the afternoon was surely his pick for the greatest song of all time, the Bee Gee’s disco mega hit “Stayin’ Alive.” He even touches briefly on how his musical tastes affected his audition for Metallica many moons ago.
2. “What a spectacularly glorious political season we’re having!”
Claypool and guitarist Kehoe see some fun parallels between the antics of the candidates and professional wrestling before launching into a fun stripped down take on his more appropriate than ever 2009 song, “Red State Girl.”
3. “Snowboarders! Put that bong down and get ready to sing!”
Realizing a comment earlier in the set saying snowboarders were cooler than skiers was sure go viral, he offered the two factions an opportunity to settle the matter once and for all in the most time honored tradition, a good old fashioned sing off. Bryan Kehoe led both sides of the debate, choosing to vocalize the lead guitar riff of Dick Dale‘s classic “Pipeline.” Late entry tobogganers fared poorly…
4. “We’re supporting the notion that Jerry Brown and Feinstein should stop shipping our water down to Southern California”
Claypool’s thoughts weren’t all silly though, as he stopped in the middle of the set closing take on the Primus tune, “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver,” to speak out on the battle between north and south California over water rights. The multi-year long drought has emptied the local water table, and the battle between the farmers of the north and the city dwellers of the south has been a hot button topic recently. Les announced he and Kehoe would be playing a benefit show for the fisherman who’ve been affected by the draining of the Sacramento River at the Mystic Theater on April 24th.
Check out the song and his hopes to help his beloved fishermen below:
While Claypool might not have solved any of the biggest problems facing society, it’s always a pleasure to see an artist be able to wield the power of the microphone with such a deft touch. Maybe the t-shirts seen all around the festival have the right idea after all…
