Photo: User:Watermastermonkey, [1] (Les, LaLonde and Jay), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Primus
Primus came out of El Sobrante, California, with a sound nobody else was making: Les Claypool's slapped and strangled bass pushed out front, guitar used more for texture than riffs, and drums that could turn on a dime. Songs like "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver," "My Name Is Mud," and "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" made them unlikely MTV fixtures in the '90s, a metal-leaning alternative rock band that took technique seriously and almost nothing else. Claypool also wrote the South Park theme, which may be how a lot of people first heard his bass even if they didn't know it yet.
Start here
Sailing the Seas of Cheese (1991). Their major-label debut has the songs that still define them: "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" and "Tommy the Cat," with Tom Waits voicing Tommy. It catches the band at the point where their weirdness and their chops locked together.
Biography
Primus ( PRY-məs) is an American rock band formed in El Sobrante, California, in 1984. As of 2026, the band consists of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde, and drummer John "Hoffer" Hoffman. Primus originally formed in 1984 with Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, later joined by drummer Jay Lane, though the latter two had departed by the beginning of the band's recording career in 1989, replaced by LaLonde and Tim "Herb" Alexander respectively.
The "classic" lineup of Claypool, LaLonde and Alexander debuted with the live album Suck on This, which was self-released in 1989 on Claypool's label Prawn Song and reissued a year later by Caroline Records. Caroline also released Primus' debut studio album Frizzle Fry (1990), which was critically well received, and its underground success led to interest from major record labels. Their second studio album and major-label debut Sailing the Seas of Cheese (1991), released through Interscope Records, launched the band into mainstream exposure, supported by their first charting single "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" and receiving platinum certification within a decade after its release.
From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA. Read the full article.
Studio albums
Discography
Official studio albums and EPs.
- 2026A Handful of NuggsEP
- 2024Sessanta E.P.P.P.EP
- 2022ConspiranoidEP
- 2017The Desaturating SevenAlbum
- 2014Primus & the Chocolate Factory With the Fungi EnsembleAlbum
- 2011Green NaugahydeAlbum
- 2010June 2010 RehearsalEP
- 2003Animals Should Not Try to Act Like PeopleEP
- 1999AntipopAlbum
- 1998RhinoplastyEP
- 1997Brown AlbumAlbum
- 1995Tales From the PunchbowlAlbum
- 1993Pork SodaAlbum
- 1992Miscellaneous DebrisEP
- 1992Making Plans for Nigel: Cheesy EP 2EP
- 1992Making Plans for Nigel: Cheesy EP 1EP
- 1991Sailing the Seas of CheeseAlbum
- 1990Frizzle FryAlbum
Latest news
No news stories yet.