Gathering of the Vibes Festival Piece Grateful Dead Back Together : April 02, 2012

The 17th annual Gathering of the Vibes Festival will bring the surviving members of the Grateful Dead back together – in a manner of speaking. Three of the four livi [...]

Primus Packs the Calendar with Spring Tour Dates : March 06, 2012

Primus has announced that it will travel throughout North America this spring to support its most recent album, Green Naugahyde. The 26-date tour will kick off May 4 i [...]

Primus Releases First New Album in 11 Years, Tour Planned : July 19, 2011

Lovers of the slap-bass rejoiced last month when the alt-rock band Primus announced a September 13 release date for “Green Naugahyde” via Prawn Song/ATO. Those looki [...]

primus Biography

The American rock band Primus is based out of San Francisco, California. Current band members include Les Claypool (vocalist, bassist), Larry “Ler” LaLonde (guitarist) and Jay Lane (drummer). Originally Primus was established in 1984 by guitarist Todd Huth and Claypool. Lane later joined them, although by the latter part of 1988 both Huth and Lane left the band.

Primus, now featuring Tim “Herb” Alexander on drums and LaLonde, the band released their debut album in 1989 called “Suck on This.” They followed up with four additional albums, including “Frizzle Fry” in 1990, “Sailing the Seas of Cheese” in 1991, “Pork Soda” in 1993 and “Tales from the Punchbowl” in 1995. In 1996, Alexander left Primus. Bryan “Brain” Mantia replaced him. Primus recorded the original “South Park” television show theme song as well as two additional albums, 1997's “Brown Album” and 1999's “Antipop.” In 2000, Primus went on hiatus.

LaLonde and Claypool reunited in 2003 with Alexander. They released the EP/DVD “Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People” and then sporadically toured through 2009. Lane rejoined the band in 2010 to replace Alexander. In 2011, Primus released “Green Naugahyde,” their eighth album.

Primus is known for their quirky irreverent approach to music. Some of the band's albums have been released on Claypool's record label Prawn Song. The name of the label parodies the Swan Song label of Led Zeppelin's.