Primus and the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble

[chalkpie]

http://www.billboard.com/articles/ne...fungi-ensemble

Ha - these guys are out of their fucking minds - I like it. This may be a case of actually smoking TOO much weed, which I didn't think was humanly possible before this.

Album and tour starting in October.

PS - both "Herb" and LaLonde are back!

[progholio]

I saw the last 3-d tour, it was a blast.

Too much weed, well at least we can get a good contact buzz and Herb to boot, count me in.

[Baribrotzer]

This may be a case of actually smoking TOO much weed, which I didn't think was humanly possible before this.

Sure it is - just listen to most reggae!

[Haruspex Carnage]

This sounds kinda cool...if anyone should put on this show/gimmick it'd be them for sure...good news all around about Herb too.

[polmico]

Probably won't go out of my way to see the tour, but the album sounds interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

[Baribrotzer]

There's a definite Harry Partch feel to that track.

[chalkpie]

There's a definite Harry Partch feel to that track.

and Waits I'd say. Great pals they are......

[Zeuhlmate]

Sounds like The Residents

[Udi Koomran]

I loved Primus
Especially Sailing in the Sea of Cheese
Will check this out !

[Wisdomview]

Great cover of the tune.

[chalkpie]

I loved Primus
Especially Sailing in the Sea of Cheese
Will check this out !

Yeah baby - I use to love Seas of Cheese too! Great dissonant guitar solos that are uncommon in most rawk. Same line-up on this new Willy Wonka album.

Udi - have you heard Anti-Pop? Might be my favorite Primus album.

[FrippWire]

I'm in. I always enjoyed the "wonky" side of Primus that illustrates their love of The Residents.

[Adrian]

I fell in love with Primus from the moment a friend played me "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" back in the '90s. Glad to see the Les/Ler/Herb lineup is back together again. LaLonde gets overshadowed in a band with Claypool, but he's really quite an amazing guitarist, and he always seems to bring just the perfect thing to every song. Seems to have the ability to switch styles on a dime, from funk to psychobilly to heavy buzzsaw distortion, and he has a great ability to find the holes around Claypool's playing and add just the right thing.

First time I heard him, I thought he sounded like some kind of Frankenstein hybrid of Fripp and Belew. There's a lot more to his playing than that, but that's a pretty good starting point.

[progholio]

Went to see Primus last night on their St Louis stop so I'll post a few rambling thoughts -

First off i have no real connection with the whole Willie Wonka thing, never saw the whole movie, i was into other things when it came out (I did see the Burton film which was utter crap). I can appreciate the kind of trippy, psychedelic vibe of the movie so i thought Primus would at the very least provide some interesting music inspired by the film.
So i went into this show as a Primus fan and purposely avoided listening to any samples of the new album, just a clean slate.

The show started with the band taking the stage, sparsely equipped, stripped down and play close to an hour of great back catalog 'hits' and obscure nuggets. Kind of left me with the impression that they were acting as the opening band, a little more like they were in the old club days.

After a brief intermission came the Chocolate Factory part of the show, performing the complete new album featuring the Fungi Ensemble (a cellist and percussionist - vibes/xylophone). Wow, f'king fantastic!!
The 2 additional players really brought this stuff to life, the music itself flowed incredibly well with the subject matter, set design was downright fun. If this show were to play at a progfest people would be talking about it for a lifetime.
After the Wonka set was an additional 30 minutes worth of classic tunes with the additional players - having a song like Here Come The Bastards with cello and vibes really adds another dimension.
Immediately bought the new caramel colored vinyl record after the show.

Another big highlight for this show was having Tim/Herb Alexander back. I really like Jay Lane a lot but Herb is the right drummer for Primus, period.

This was one hell of a trip and highly recommended.
Primus still sucks.

[polmico]

Great review and thanks for it.

I'm really enjoying the new album. Tom Waits meets Residents meets Pink Floyd seems appropriate.