GROUND COMPONENTS' BASS PLAYER INDRA ADAMS CHATS WITH INTERNATIONAL BASS GURU LES CLAYPOOL

Interviewee: Les Claypool, front man for nineties eclectic rock trio Primus, international bass guitar legend, voted third best bass player of all time by Australian Musician readers, and suspected loon.

Why the interview? Claypool is currently promoting 'The Big Eyeball in the Sky, an album released by his latest band Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains. CCBBB (as we'll refer to them henceforth) consists of Claypool on bass, former Primus bandmate Brains on drums, Buckethead from the last version of Guns n' Roses, and legendary keyboard player Bernie Worrell, famous for his work with Talking Heads and Parliament.

The four disparate musicians met collectively for the first time at a music festival in Tennessee in 2002. Claypool joined the other guys on stage when he replaced Bill Laswell, who for one reason or another couldn't do the gig. The set was completely improvised, yet totally inspiring, resulting in a need for the four to work together again. Months later they gathered at Claypool's Rancho Relaxo studios in California and laid down eleven tracks for an album. Those who know Claypool's work, won't be surprised to find that this aint no pop record. To enjoy the sometimes complex rhythms and feels of this album is to appreciate the sum total of each musician's amazing playing ability, creative input and chemistry. Add to this, Claypool's quirky, yet incisive lyrics and you have a disc to experience on many levels. Les was In between CCBBB gigs when he found time to speak with Australian Musician.

Interviewer: Indra Adams is bass player with the very cool four piece Melbourne rock band Ground Components.

Why Indra? Although musically spectrums apart, Indra and Les share common ground. Both are bass players, but more importantly both are equally unimpressed by the machinations of the mainstream record industry. Ground Components have got to stage one of their career in a manner dictated by themselves, ignoring to date the enticements of eager major record company A&R personnel. This band's ever-increasing following has emerged from a ground swell of curiosity that they have self-generated through their passionate and energetic live shows, and a couple of impressive EPs that hint of greater things to come. Ground Components' raw mix of Stax and Clash, combined with the enigmatic stage presence of lead singer Joe McGuigan has garnered the band a great deal of kudos. Among the band's most recent coups are a spot on the star-studded Homebake bill and the sole support slot on the national Powderfinger tour in January. Australian Musician thought it quite apt that a representative of one of Australia's most stubbornly independent bands should converse with an artist who has successfully forged a musical career totally on his own terms.

The Interview:

Indra: How do you find working in a collaborative environment, bringing new people into the studio, as opposed to working with the Primus guys who you know so well?

Les: For the past five years I've been playing with several different groups, so this seems to fall right in line with the other things I've been doing. I approach each project differently based on the individuals involved. Frog Brigade is my project, and I write the songs and I even play a lot of the instrumentation, or I'll bring in other musicians to flush out the songs that I am trying to build. But something like this, is the sum total of its members. Each member contributes creatively to the end result as with another of my projects, Oyster Head with Trey Anastasio (Phish) and Stewart Copelend (Police). So those are the fundamental differences.

This album is so rich with ideas, did you find in the studio that someone needed to get into the driver's seat at any stage and pull things back a bit?

No that's not what this project is all about at all. Prior to this tour we did a few dates. It was complete improvisation. We didn't have a set list, we didn't know what keys we were playing in, we just went out and started playing. So now we have these songs, but live it's still 50% or 60% of the show that is improvised. In the studio we just started jamming on riffs that one of us might have come up with, and built upon that. I took the producer role, but that is as 'driver seat' as anybody got. It was always meant to be a spontaneous project. Every show we do is completely different.

Explain to me how Prawn Song, your record label came about?

Many years ago we released the very first Primus album on our own label. After that my manger revamped the label and we released some other people's material like Charlie Hunter and Alphabet Soup and others that were friends of ours. We didn't really like the experience that much so we stopped releasing other people's stuff. When Primus quit playing five years ago, I started releasing my stuff on Prawn Song. Since then I've released several albums on Prawn Song including the first two Primus albums, because the rights reverted back to us over a period of time.

How did you find working with a major label like Interscope as opposed to doing stuff on your own label?

Well it's different things for different situations. For myself I much prefer putting stuff out on my own label because a major label would have no idea what to do with me, I'm this eclectic musician that creates music that will not be on the radio or will not be on MTV.

Do you have a problem communicating with the major labels?

Every situation is different. When we first signed to Interscope, we did so because they were an independent with the power of a major. Since then they have had multi platinum selling albums by the dozen and have bought up all these big labels, and have now become a huge major label. Would Primus be able to do what we did I the early nineties on Interscope now? I really doubt it. I think it's a different machine, not that I think it's bad, it's just not set up for a band like Primus. But in the early days it was a fabulous place for us. Things change. It's the nature of business, it's the nature of everything, the nature of life. Right now the place for me is my own label. I have great distribution, it's been working out fantastically. I guess we're just releasing this stuff now in Australia, but we've been doing it in the states for five years.

What do you hope to achieve with the release of this album, and what's your definition of a successful album?

A successful album for me is something that we are proud of and enjoy listening to, and if it catches on with other folks then that's fantastic. That's the overall goal when we make a record now. I think in the early days with Primus, we never expected to be on MTV and radio. Then when we got it, it was like "look at that"! Then we started to expect it. Then when it stopped happening, it's like what the hell happened! But going back to that original mentality has been a healthy thing. That's the nature of the type of person and artist that I am. I don't pay much attention to pop culture at all, in fact it's very rare that there are elements of pop culture that interest me even slightly. But every now and then, things come along that catch my eye …but it's rare

How important are record sales?

Well they are fantastic things because they help pay my mortgage. However, I think I am a realistic person. I have platinum albums on my wall, but I don't really expect to get them again.

You get to work with some amazing musicians. What was working with Tom Waits like?

Fabulous, I've been doing it quite a bit over the years. Always a marvellous experience.

Is it as easy as just ringing up these guys and asking them down to the studio?

To an extent. I've been around for quite some time now. I've got to know a lot of people. You make friends, and friends are always anxious to help each other out. Some players I didn't know such as Stewart Copeland but now he's one of my very good friends. I'm in a band with him. I mean, you probably know a lot of your own local musicians. Once you start travelling the world you'll get to know more musicians too…so good luck with your music endeavours.

Next:

Les Claypool will continue to broaden his musical horizons playing with many different musicians in various incarnations. Hopefully there'll be enough interest in 'The Big Eyeball in the Sky" to bring him and the band down for an Australian tour.

Ground Components will follow their Powderfinger support by jetting overseas to capitalise on interest generated by their last jaunt, when they participated in South X Southwest in Texas. Then when respected US producer Casey Rice is available, they'll enter the studio to record their all important debut album, which should see the light of day in the first half of 2005.

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