Listen to the Les Claypool interview

Les Claypool of Primus picked up the bass guitar for three reasons – bassists are always in demand, he figured a four-string instrument would be easy to learn and he liked the rumble it made.

“I always thought guitars sounded wimpy,” he says. “The bass has got that feel to it, that vibration, that gets the sperm count going.”

Whatever the motivation, Claypool has become one of rock’s most celebrated bassists. In 1992, Bass Player magazine readers named him bassist of the year in appreciation of a style that was first influenced by Yes’ Chris Squire and later by funk players Louis Johnson and Larry Graham.

Claypool shows off his talents tonight at Market Square Arena when Primus opens for Rush.

“I’ve always worked with very textural guitarists,” Claypool says. “I’ve never really worked in Primus with guys who were very aggressive rhythmically, so I always felt I had to hold down a couple of parts, like a rhythm guitar part and a bass part.

“That’s where all the strumming and tapping and stuff came in. As far as the thumping and plucking, that’s all old-school Larry Graham and Louis Johnson stuff.”

Claypool started playing in a band almost as soon as he picked up a bass. He learned the band’s original songs and also knew how to play Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water “in the wrong key.”

He never felt any constraints on his style because he never took a lesson.

Quirky and proud of it

“I’ve always been one to want to do things differently,” he says. “That’s the way I’ve always been. Immediately, I tried to do things nobody else was doing.”

You could say the same thing about Primus. The band’s quirky music can switch without warning between influences such as Pink Floyd and Sly Stone. Overall, it sounds like King Crimson led by film composer Danny Elfman (Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas) or Ravi Shankar on acid.

On the band’s latest disc, Pork Soda (Interscope Records), Claypool writes direct, often funny lyrics about fishing, visits to the Department of Motor Vehicles and sweating his way through concerts.

“I like to take things with a grain of sugar,” he says.

His humor and the band’s phenomenal musical abilities have made Primus an alternative-music favorite. (On April 5, Claypool will release a disc under the band name Sausage, which features him and two original members of Primus doing Primus songs from 10 years ago.)

The band headlined last year’s Lollapalooza tour, which Claypool says was an unforgettable experience. The daylong show was among the most successful tours of 1993.

“It was an amazingly fun thing to do,” he says. “Touring has its ups and downs and it can be pretty boring at times. But there was never a dull moment on Lollapalooza. You’re traveling around with a couple of hundred people and we basically went to Lollapalooza every day! It’s like being part of a circus.”