Les Claypool Of Fungi and Foe

• Mushroom Men
• Amanitas
• Red State Girl
• Booneville Stomp
• What Would Sir George Martin Do
• You Can't Tell Errol Anything
• Bite out of Life
• Kazoo
• Primed by 29
• Pretty Little Song
• Of Fungi and Foe
• Ol' Rosco

Les Claypool’s weirdo appeal always overshadowed his virtuoso bass-work, even in the early 90s, when Primus were still a relatively big deal and Red Hot Chili Peppers hadn’t taken over all the alterna-funk respect from other bands of the era who probably deserved it more. Claypool, however, is too consummate a professional to hold a grudge—after all, this is a guy who thinks the highest form of flattery is getting told he sucks all the time. So once South Park showed he could do theme songs and movie scores as well as any rock weirdo this side of Mark Mothersbaugh, a post-Primus career arc was born. Claypool has also branched out into videogames extensively, and Of Fungi and Foe, his follow up to Of Whales and Woe, is actually a combination of material from the video game Mushroom Men and the movie Pig Hunt. That may sound bizarre, but considering Claypool’s work with Robot Chicken, the standards for bizarre are deeply skewed in Claypool’s world.

To promote Of Fungi and Foe, March 2009 will see Claypool launch his Oddity Faire: A Mutated Mini Fest Tour. Anyone who’s been to a Claypool/Primus live show knows how fun the can be and how devoted his fans are, and with opening acts like Devotchka, Saul Williams, and the Yard Dogs, this could be as much entertainment as you’ll have at any rock show in 2009. Even though Claypool was on Guitar Hero II, he seems to have been immune the casual fan invasion of many fellow rhythm game artists; at this point, he’s gotten more belated recognition for his forgotten masterpiece “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver,” recently included on the Zach and Miri Make a Porno Soundtrack. With an album like Of Fungi and Foe, however, Claypool may remind people just how fare his oddball influence has reached; I briefly thought he may have even had role in the VeggieTales soundtrack

Abstract by Ethan Stanislawski