Hummingbird Centre
Toronto, Ontario
June 19, 2004
Hummingbird Centre
Toronto, Ontario
June 19, 2004
Finally got to shoot the
whole band. Not just Les. Great show at the Hummingbird Centre.
The boys were in top form as usual. This time they played a bunch of tunes
taking us into a different barrage of drug propaganda films. One
arrangement they threw at us was "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver" interwoven with "My
Name Is Mud" then back into Jerry again... really cool.
Then they played the entire Frizzle Fry album. Killer stuff. Before the show we met Les, Ler and Bob Cock by the tour bus and showed Les the shots I took at the Kool Haus, mentioning as well that they were shot WITHOUT a flash. "Good Man!" He said. He signed three 8X10s for us, told me it was all good to shoot without a flash of course, and bid us farewell, Les proceeded to wander off and mingle into the streets of Toronto as if he were just another dude on the street. And he was really. Just another dude on the street... who happens to play some of the most smokin' bass you're EVER gonna hear.
Kool Haus
Toronto, Ontario
November 23, 2003
I was into these guys way back when Sailing the Seas of Cheese was first released. Didn't get into a whole lotta their other stuff at the time. Wish I did. These guys are REAL musicians. Virtuosos. Can play better than most guys with both hands tied behind their backs. Les Claypool is a quirky dude with some stage rules that he hates his audience breaking. He'll stop in mid tune to chastise some fucker for throwing his shirt up on the stage. He'll make you wait an extra few minutes before a song starts cuz some asshole just took a picture of him with a FLASH.
Well Les, I don't use a flash cuz I think flash photography SUCKS. Les hates it too. He told us that. He stopped playing and explained his whole feelings about flash photography. They wouldn't let anyone in with cameras but once everyone was in there, Les said, by all means, bring in a camera and shoot but DON'T use a flash. It's distracting. At one point someone threw his coat on the stage and Les picked it up with the very tips of his fingers like it was doused in SARS and held it up to the audience. "Someone here has no genitalia whatsoever.", he says.
He sounds like Maxwell Smart or, for those of you who are too young to remember Max, Inspector Gadget. Go go Gadget BASS. And go it does. He fuckin flies up and down the neck of that thing, plucking and slapping at lightning speed making it look effortless. He can get up on stage with a full trench coat and hat on, stand in the blazing lights, pull off crazy fuckin bass lines and not even break a sweat.
This show, they did a bunch of tunes taking us to intermission. Yes Primus actually has intermission. A full 20 minutes or so of old anti-drug propaganda videos. Comical enough considering the band is probably in the back grabbing a quick puff to heighten the senses for the next set. The next set being the entire Seas Of Cheese album played front to back. This was amazing. And this was the only album I ever owned of Primus. Not only did I own the album, I listened to it until it wore out. I knew every note and every lyric on that fine album. So, naturally I was right into the whole thing. Where I was standing, I couldn't even SEE the guitarist or drummer from where I was so I just shot Les. Ok.. I got one of the drummer but you couldn't even see his face. Maybe next time.
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