Les, you’re just about to do soundcheck. How do you usually use your sound check, purely to test the sound system or do you also like to try new things out?

It depends on the mood of the day. How you’re feeling, how much you have partaken the night before, how your lunch is sitting with you. Whatever the case may be. Sometimes we just go in and make sure things are working and sometimes we jam for up to an hour.

How many basses this time?

I believe I have two.

Do you still like to play around with your sound, testing out new amps etc?

I’m not a big amp guy. In fact all the amps I’m using down here are all rentals. So every night seems to be a different set up.

Some bass players have told me it’s difficult to find effects for bass guitar. What are you using?

I’m using a Lexicon guitar pre amp and have been doing so for a couple of years now.

Is it true that you bought your first Carl Thompson bass guitar because Stanley Clarke played one?

I saw one sitting in a store when I was at high school at maybe 16 or 17 and I immediately recognised it as one of the basses Stanley had. He had an album entitled "I Want To Play For You". One of the things I used to do as a young kid was to stare at the picture of the all the basses lined up on his front porch and he had a few Carl Thompsons. I recognised the bass and picked it up and played it and it just was just like butter. So I scrimped and saved and borrowed and cheated and wangled and dangled and got the thing. It’s amazing I even got it because I got it for a lot cheaper than I was supposed to.

Who else excites you musically today?

I’m a big Morphine fan. It was quite tragic when Mark died. Fabulous bass player, probably one of the most innovative bass players to come across in a while. I just bought the new Pantera record but I haven’t listened to it yet. So we’ll see how I digest that. It’s sort of leaping off in a different direction for me.

Is that something you get to do much, listen to music?

I don’t listen to a lot of music to tell you the truth. I tend to relish the silence. When I do, I’m into various soundtrack music and things like that.

How much of the new album are you playing on this tour?

We try and drop in 4 or 5 songs but we change the set around every night.

"Eclectic Electric" is a great song, an epic, are you playing that one?

I’m trying to learn the damn thing. He’s resisting. Sometimes I just bust into it myself.

Did it take long to record?

It took a while for the different parts to be complete but the basis of the song, Brain and I laid it down in a day or so. It was something that I had recorded on to a DAT and then we fudged with it a bit and built upon it. We produced it ourselves.

It’s got a huge drum sound on it!

Big drums are good things.

The things that excite me are the things that have never been done before or are fresh. I’m not into regurgitation, it doesn’t excite me.

How do you usually record your bass?

It’s different every time but for the most part I just go into the board through a pedal or two but I don’t mess around with miking up amps or anything.

There are a lot of wonderful sounds on the album, do you hear these sounds as you’re writing the songs or seek them out later?

It depends. It’s always different and there’s no set formula. A lot of times you just try to stumble across a vibe and build upon it. You get to a point where it feels complete and you say it’s done but sometimes that takes a while.

Do you collect samples?

I don’t. I’m sample illiterate. Even when I do drop in sounds, I’m usually lifting from a tape or something. Even all the various ambient things that are on the album, they’re not loops and samples as much as actual ambient recordings that our engineer has collected from travelling around the world on a portable DAT machine.

The title track ‘The Antipop’, is that autobiographical?

To an extent. It’s sort of a magnified distorted version of my outlook on pop culture. It’s obviously fairly extreme and I tend not to be an extreme individual when it comes to my viewpoints but it’s sort of making a statement of this is what we are and that’s what we do. I don’t ever see us being pop icons, it’s just not on the cards.

What about the manufactured music that’s dominating the charts, does it anger you, sadden you or do you just ignore it?

I tend to ignore it like just about every other thing that tends to be trendy. It’s just the way I have been since I have been a youngster. I’ve always been the guy who was looking for the new something different. When all the kids were into Kiss, I was into Led Zeppelin. When they were into Zeppelin, I was into Rush and so on. Since I got older, my tastes have got more eclectic. It’s been the same with fashion and film and literature. The things that excite me are the things that have never been done before or are fresh. I’m not into regurgitation, it doesn’t excite me.

Do you ever see yourself collaborating with any of the people you grew up listening to?

Such as?

Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp ...

I met Adrian once, a great guy and I’d love to play with him. I’m actually working on a project right now with Stewart Copeland and Tre Anastasio, which is exciting because Stewart has been a monster influence on me. I have been very fortunate to work with Tom Waits. In fact I’ve got to play with a lot of my heroes whether it’s Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. So I’m always looking to do things with friends and heroes, whether they are contemporaries or mentors or whatever. I thoroughly enjoy working with people that excite me.

It seems that you surround yourself with people that are innovators, from your band members to your graphics people, is that important to you?

It’s very important to me and mainly because it is my tastes. So you get to cater to your tastes. But also I think a lot of these people are drawn to us because we allow them to be themselves. They come into our world because we are attracted to their creative style or sense and they are allowed to be themselves within our world. I think it’s exciting and important for a creative person to not only work on someone else’s thing, but also have input and be able to nurture their own sense of creativity as opposed to just trying to please the boss.

You’re playing indoors tonight then at Offshore in Torquay next week, you seem to like playing outdoors?

I like playing anywhere except for smoky dingy little clubs. I like festivals. I get to meet and make and see a lot of old friends.

How is it different playing indoors to outdoors, is there any adjustment required?

I think you are pretty much adjusting all the time. Each environment is different. I’ve been doing this now for around 11 years and it’s kind of hard to throw me a curve ball. I don’t think I’m any different to anyone else. I think variety is the spice of life. If I was playing a bunch of clubs and theatres I would say damn it , I wish I was playing a few festivals. But when I do a summer’s worth of outdoor gigs I want to go where the lights are shining and I can hide behind the smoke. You know what I mean? It’s like eating sushi every night ... great for a little while (laughter).

What have you got happening in a visual sense on stage this time?

Unfortunately when we come to Australia we can’t really bring all the toys. It’s just not financially feasible. If we were Metallica or something we could do that. But we’re not so there are a lot of tricks and gadgets that we use at home that we don’t bring overseas, and it’s not just Australia, it’s the same in Europe as well.

You almost were Metallica..

I don’t think I was.

You auditioned though?

Yeh but I was not in the running.

Do you think it would have worked out if you did get the gig?

I have no idea. It would have been fun, but I’m having fun now. The only difference would be that it would be fun, and I would have a lot more money (Les’ manic laughter is still ringing in my ears!).

CLAYPOOL’S GEAR: MAIN BASSES • Carl Thompson 6 string fretless with EMG pickup. Nicknamed the Rainbow Bass, it is a 36" scale bass guitar. The body contains strips of walnut, curly maple, paduak, purple heart, ebony and cocobolo. The strings are threaded through the back of a rear extension (near the strap pin) and stretched over a one-piece, hand made wooden bridge anchored by Schaller tuning machines. The basic part of the neck is made of quartersawn hardrock maple. The serial number 2-5-91 (the day the bass was finished), was also Carl Thompson’s birthday. • Carl Thompson 4 string fretted with black Kahler tremelo Also: • Carl Thompson 4 string fretted. Also maple but without the tremelo. Used as a back up. • Carl Thompson 6 string fretted. Thompson claims it is the first fretless 6 string ever made. Carl added frets and sold it to Les. • 2 Fender Jazz 4 strings. Red one and cream one. • Kay acoustic upright which he bought for $300 in a pawn shop. Signed by Tom Waits and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. • Eko (fiddle bass) copy of Beatle Hofner bass. Reassembled in the early 90s from parts from around1965. • Tune 6 string fretless which he used before acquiring the Carl Thompsons. • Dan Maloney 4 string fretted bass banjo. Dan is an old high school buddy of Les. • Dan Maloney electric standup. Actually made by Zeta Systems. • Rickenbacker 4001 (white), a gift from Alex Lifeson of Rush. • Five string Steinberger upright. STRINGS; Les prefers the sound of light gauge strings and has been known to use two A strings and two G strings tuned to E-A-D-G. LIVE RIG: • Gallien Kruger MB450E 1x12 Combo amp (speaker off) • ADA MP-2 Guitar MIDI pre-amp • Digital Music MIDI Ground Control foot pedal • Mesa Boogie bass 400 plus power amp • Mesa Boogie "Powerhouse" cabinet (2) custom covered with brown glitter tuck and roll. • Furman PL plus power conditioner and light module • Samson UR-5D Dual VHF synthesised diversity wireless receiver • Lexicon guitar pre-amp • Boss TU12 tuner • Whirlwind A/B box.