Primus is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California.
Primus began as Primate in El Sobrante, California in 1984 with singer and bassist Les Claypool,
guitarist Todd Huth, and a LinnDrum drum machine.
-Wikipedia
Members:
Les Claypool - lead vocals, bass, double bass (1984-2000, 2003-present)
Larry "Ler" LaLonde - guitars, backing vocals (1989-2000, 2003-present)
Former members:
Todd Huth - guitars, backing vocals (1984-1989)
Vince "Perm" Parker - drums (1984)
Peter Libby - drums (1984-1986)
Robbie Bean - drums (1986)
Tim "Curveball" Wright - drums (1986-1988)
Jay Lane - drums, backing vocals (1988-1989, 2010-2013)
Bryan "Brain" Mantia - drums (1989, 1996-2000)
Tim "Herb" Alexander - drums, backing vocals (1989-1996, 2003-2010, 2013-2024)
Name Origin:
They were originally called Primate,
but changed it after "about a month" because there was already a band called 'The Primates'.
They changed their name to
Primus because it was the closest thing to Primate in the dictionary.
From: El Sobrante, California, United States
Genre(s):
Alternative metal,
funk metal,
progressive rock,
experimental rock
Active From: 1984-2000, 2003-present
Associated Acts:
Sausage,
Holy Mackerel,
Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains,
Les Claypool's Frog Brigade,
Oysterhead,
Blind Illusion,
Possessed,
Buckethead,
Phish,
Tom Morello
Awards:
1990
Bammie award for Frizzle Fry
Quotes:
Well, it's better than digging a ditch is one of the good things about it. I would've never thought that you would have to do it 24 hours a day.
-Larry "Ler" LaLonde
This is it pretty much it. (Larry started playing guitar at twelve, and was in the band Possessed since his last year in high school. He than joined Primus.)
-Larry "Ler" LaLonde
My 21st. I went to Reno to see Metallica and Faith No More, and just went crazy all night.
-Larry "Ler" LaLonde
Oh I'm sure there's a few that stick out now and then, but it's a very relative thing. Some songs have become popular and you play them and play them because people want to hear them and you get a little tired of them. so you let them sit for a while and then some time goes by and - well, like we just worked up some songs that we used to play a lot and we hadn't played in ages and now it's fun to play them again.
-Les Claypool
We don't own this bus. We rent it. It's less of a headache because if you own it, you have to deal with the maintainence. And then when you're not touring, what do you do with it? We had a motor home on our first couple of tours. It was a nice motor home when we started. It wasn't afterwards. It was like it wasn't even the same motor home when we were done with it.
-Les Claypool