September 15, 2025 • 44 mins
Fungi or Foe? Both! Amanitas is another cautionary tale that has a few unexpected twists and turns. It's another tune originally intended for the Mushroom Men soundtrack repurposed for release on OFAF. Mushrooms sure are wacky!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Josh Freaky with a couple of dump shits.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello, Primates, you found Primus Tracks. Congratulations. There are so
many places to find Primus tracks. I recommend the podcast
that's what you're listening to right now. There are many
other places, such as Instagram threads. There are probably social
media sites I've never heard of that have an account
called Primus Tracks. You can look at them. You can
(00:36):
look for him. Tell me what you find. I am Josh.
I am one of the hosts of Primus Tracks. He
also is a host of Primus Tracks. Unlike me, on
the ground floor, smelling the loam, smelling the dirt, feet
in the earth, fingers coated in beautiful brown and red
tones from digging around. He's on the thirty ninth floor
(01:00):
Primus Tracks Towers. I think it's an ivory tower and
it's where he resides in all his glory. Frankie Erestein,
Hey Josh, well come back once again. Frankie. We are
now on track two of the album of Fungi and
fo from Les Claypool in the year two thousand and nine,
and we should probably start tracking these in categories. We
(01:23):
should track them as Fungi tracks, faux tracks, and if
it's neither one, I guess we have to invent a
third category. Luckily we haven't had to do that yet.
Last week were talking about mushroom Men, which clearly is
a fun guy track, and today we're talking about Amanitas,
which sounds like a fun guy track. So we're going
to continue in the Fungui box today. A couple things beforehand.
(01:47):
We do have some miscellaneous debris for your ears. For
those of you who don't listen to other podcasts or
watch YouTube shows. Congratulations by the way, on that decision
Less Claypool. You may have heard his name before. He
(02:08):
appears on the Rick Biato Show on YouTube. Rick is
a longtime musician and producer who has in depth conversations
with all kinds of musical heavies. And it was Less
his turn in the chair. Frankie, We've got a good
hour and thirty seven minutes of Rick and Less just
shooting the breeze.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Why out a treat?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I assume you've watched it more than once already once
so far, okay, anything jump out of you Because you
are a veteran of these interviews, and of course there
are a lot of go to Claypool lines and anecdotes
and stories, which plenty of them surface in this episode
with Rick. However, there were a lot of nuggets that
(02:51):
I pulled that were new to me. So how was
it for you as a veteran of the Claypool interview cycle.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
First, it was great to see Liz pull out the
PACYDRM and perform some tickets here and there. That was
really nice to see. I guess what stood out for
me the most was the possibility of Susanta three point zero.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
That's what you're taking from this?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah, I mean it's surprising that they're still considering doing
it once again.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, I have to go back and listen to how
he phrased that and what tents he used, because I
didn't know if he said we had talked about extending
it to Europe or if we are talking about extending
it to Europe. I don't know if that consideration has expired,
but I suppose it's on the table.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
That's what it sounded like to me.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Okay, Well, for our European friends who have not gotten
to see Primus for years, at this point, this may
be your best shot, so perhaps it will come to fruition.
So go check out Less on Rick Piatto's show. Go
to YouTube search for Rick Biato, be at O Les Claypool.
I'm sure it'll come right up. I would say the
(04:06):
nugget that I pulled from that Frank He was the
guy whose name now eludes me, who had produced Yes
and Emerson lacoln Palmer wanted to produce Primus, and Less
turned him down. He didn't give a year on that
because he's because he did relate that. He said to
the guy, A, you know, for Primus, we do our
own thing, So that would tell me. It would have
(04:27):
been in maybe the early to mid nineties before Interscope
pushed them to work with producers for Antipop, but perhaps
it was in the two thousands when for Animals or
Green Nagahyde or something like that, don't know. Can you
imagine Primus with all kinds of lush orchestral arrangements or
(04:49):
just weird synth weaving in and out of the tunes.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Did you also catch Lisz saying that he was taught
how to play Pelagon Ginjit correctly?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yes, Yeah, that's he's been playing a lot of his
favorite tunes wrong for years and years and years.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Did he say that it was Julius Leek who told
him how to play.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yes, yeah, he said, the Gallon Adrian Blues Band. Yeah,
and that cool. And of course the great Getty Lee
himself corrected, less On y y Z. Yeah, yeah, pretty
good stuff. But that's that's what happens when you learn
by ear. You can be playing as he noted, you
(05:30):
can play the exact same notes, but you might be
in a different position on the front board, and that
can make a difference with tonality, so on and so forth.
All right, let's talk amanitas. That is our purpose here today.
It is tracked two from your Fungi Info record from
two thousand and nine. It checks in at four minutes
(05:50):
twenty seven seconds. Your credits are as follows Frankie Les
Claypool everything, although I suppose we could credit Lapland with
some percussion. So in here we've got some electric bass
with the envelope filter. We have an upright bass, we
have all kinds of percussion and of course vocals. So
(06:12):
everything on there is courteous c Ols Claypool. This is
another fun guy track, Frankie, which means it has its
origins in the Mushroom Men video game. Yes, oh, really,
so this is another product of storyboards and visuals and drafts.
I suppose of animations and backdrops and so on and
(06:32):
so forth that would have inspired less to create this track.
For a taste of it, Frankie, let's go to the
Mushroom Men's soundtrack that's been on YouTube for Oh it
says sixteen years, so still available. Put it in the
show notes if you missed it last time. This track
is number two on the Mushroom Men's soundtrack, and it
is titled mean mister mush Womb. And I'm not saying
(06:55):
that wrong because it's spelled mush woom. I don't know
if that's a type of Frankie.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
No, it sounds too to a specific too too intentional.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
All right, let's hear what amounts to the instrumental version
of AM. Of course, you really wouldn't be able to
tell the difference because there aren't any vocals for the
first minute and a half. So I'm gonna afford to
a part where there probably would be vocals, but you're
(07:29):
not hearing any.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Goals.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Are goals sounds fully intact to me, Frankie. Yeah, Now
do you find yourself listening to these what amount of
instrumental versions, ever.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
No, I My go to is the studio album.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Okay, so you need the vocals so you can sing along,
you're not doing karaoke with the.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Version.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I can't imagine too many karaoke libraries have the Mushroom
Mit songs in them, but that'd be pretty fun, you know. Actually,
on that note, there are and I think I've mentioned
this before, there are some Primus tracks that have been karaokefied,
which means they have to be performed by other people
(08:33):
as an instrumental cover so that they can be used
in a karaoke machine at a karaoke bar legally. And
those versions of like the beaver Song that I've heard
are so far off, But you know, it's just one
of those it's a product of these guys playing such
wild stuff and out of the box stuff that somebody
(08:53):
had to sit there and approximate it, and they did
their best, but it doesn't sound any thing like it.
That poor guy that had to do lures guitar solos
for big Brown beaver Man this one, Frankie.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
We know.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
The vocals were added later, of course, because this was
originally form musher men. No vocals as I noted until
a minute and a half into the track, which is unusual.
Does this have an unusual live history at all.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
No, it's actually quite consistent. It was performed throughout two
thousand and nine and twenty ten in promotion of the
Fung Guy and Fall record. It was performed once by
the Fancy Brigade, which was an iteration created for New
Year's Eve of twenty ten, and then it was resurrected
(09:43):
by the Frog Brigade two years ago for the Summer
of Green tour and the Fall extension. The Frog Brigade
surprisingly performed it quite faithful to the studio version, while
the Fun Guy Band the improvise and jam a little
(10:04):
towards the ending of the song, I mean the bridge
that leads up to the final verse. That's where they
sometimes explored the song, stretching it out a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
So Frobriide played it fairly straight. And that's my recollection
from the performance that I witnessed of it in twenty
twenty three. Of course it was augmented, having keyboards, guitar
and an actual drum kit on display or in the performance,
so that was certainly an augmented version. I had to
(10:39):
look back at my live history, Frankie, my own life history,
and the Fungi Band did perform Amanita's when I saw
them in two thousand and nine. I have plenty of
distinct memories from that night, but Amanita's is not one
of them. I don't know what it is about this
track now, certainly was a novelty in twenty three with
(11:00):
fro Brigade, But there's there's something about this track that
I'm just not grabbing onto it because I didn't even
remember that they had performed it. And as as you
well know, what the two of us do with our
performances is we squirrel them away. We love every single
one like their little pearls, and that one, that one
(11:22):
just got lost in the shuffle. For me, it is
interesting that Less chose to bring this one back. Was
and this was the only fun Guy of Faux track
that the Frobrigade resurrected. Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Okay, this was the one, hm the one? Indeed, did
they play it a lot in twenty three I can't recall, not.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
At every show, but consistently, Yeah, there are several performances.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
And then going back to two thousand and nine, for
one of our live tracks later. We have a performance
from January of two thousand and nine, a couple months
before the album was released, was that or around the
two they started performing it live.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
It was actually premiered at jam at a Jam Cruise
show at the beginning of January two thousand and nine.
I believe January four was the date when he was premiered. Okay,
but then he was performed again until the album was released,
(12:22):
so there's some there's a gap between that show and
the tour kicking off.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Oh interesting, So that tells me that Les wanted to
tease something, because we know he does that. Yeah, so
he was given the Jam Cruise crowd just a little taste.
Hopefully not of the actual amenitis, because you don't need
your audience rolling around on the ground having hallucinations, possibly
(12:49):
projectile vomiting. I think he'd rather they were enjoying the
music and paying attention. Yeah, not seeking medical gear. So
for me, Yeah, there's no vocals for the first minute
and a half of this track, which I think is
defying an expectation a little bit because usually you have
(13:10):
your intro, you might have a preview of the main
lick or the verse lick and then you go into
your verse, and so he actually does that. Here we
get the abab, but we don't get vocals, I think,
until the second iteration of the B. So that's very
interesting that he decided to wait a while. So that
is something that caught my attention because I was fully
(13:33):
ready for the first verse. Now, remember I haven't listened
to this song in X number of years, sixteen or something.
I was fully ready, Frankie for that first verse. When
that B part came along, or that A part came
along again, excuse me, and nothing happened in the vocal department,
and then we had to go through the cycle again,
and then there they were. So I appreciated that I
(13:55):
got a little chuckle out of that going. And I
remember thinking, I know this song has vocals. Where they
go he makes us wait for those interesting bass lick.
It certainly stays in the box. We've talked about those
those box riffs that will play, and this one has
the sound of one. It also kind of has the
(14:16):
sound of a more modern, lesser, primus less bass lick.
I'm not saying it sounds exactly like something from C
L D or exactly like the little Lord Fentanyl bass lick,
but they're in the same ballpark for me, because he's
got this shape. He plays this lick and he stays
(14:38):
in there and it's kind of got a little bounce
to it, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And it's interesting because early early on, he pretty much
reveals the hook of the song without the vocals. So
that's an interesting trick that I have heard in several
songs when you hear a rief or a hook, but
(15:06):
then it makes sense once the chorus kicks in.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, and that tells me that, of course he's not
writing pop songs, of course, but it's sneaky of him
to do that because it set up an expectation and
then he dashed it. It was a bit of a
bit of a rug pull and I like that. I
like that in I like the unexpected in my music.
(15:31):
So that is one little piece of this track that
I appreciated got a smile out of me, which is
funny because it was the absence of something that pleased me.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Also, the Enbelo filter makes the track delouche.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
It wasn't going to say anything about that, but it
is present on this track. Yes, you know, I've talked
about that. This album did not grab me in two
thousand and nine. And I think one thing that worked
against it, at least for this track was the inclusion
of the envelope filter, because by two thousand and nine,
I was burnt on it as far as listening to
(16:11):
Claypool solo stuff and the fro Brigade and some live
shows and that sort of thing, So it worked against
my enjoyment of this track at the time. Now it's
just one of the you know, it's one of those
things where I'm just ineared to it now, Frankie. It's
it's like the whining of your fifteen year old cat
who's been whining at you for fifteen years. You know,
(16:35):
that's a long time. You just get used to it,
You tune it out, it doesn't bother you anymore. So
I like that I'm comparing the envelope filter to an
old whiny cat. So any what I'm getting at is
it doesn't bother me anymore because I'm just so used
to it. It doesn't even register. I know it's there,
(16:55):
but it doesn't have the same effect. But I know
you're a you're a fan of it. Is that something
that hooked you right away when you first heard this
record in this song.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I mean, I love that it has the Imbel filter,
but no, I think what hooked me instantly with the
song is the change of tempo on the intro.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Ah okay, yeah, we do get an interesting vibe from that.
And you know what really gets me is that the
kind of the marching part, I can feel your poison.
I think that's the chorus. That part it becomes a march,
and that's probably my favorite part of the tune. But
(17:37):
it alternates. We get the march, we get the verse
excuse me, which has a much different vibe to it.
And I wasn't really tracking tempo, so there could be
a change that I was unaware of. But certainly parts
of this tune are pretty catchy. I wanted to forward
to a couple of my favorite parts here. I should
(17:59):
proably pray that's the right button where it is? That
is not my favorite part, silly, I think it's I
can't remember where it is. Hopefully it's right around here,
not the iron. So that is roughly my favorite portion
(18:58):
of the tune. There that about that thirty seconds forty seconds,
And the reason for that, Frankie, is one there's some
compelling vocal deliveries, and I would say more so than
the previous track for me, and then the embellishments with
the upright and just I don't know that march is
a bit hypnotic, and I think that plays into the
(19:20):
theme of the tune as well, with the hallucinating having
consumed Aminita's mushrooms. So it certainly that part evokes a
fair amount for me, and it captures my interest. Where
I think it loses me. Where it lost to me
back then was that it turned right around and went
(19:43):
back into the other part, whereas where that hypnotic, psychedelic
upright entered the fray, I feel like that could have
been stretched out and he really could have taken us places,
and I think that would have grabbed me more at
the time, and I think now too, I think there's
more space for that. However, this was a tune that
(20:06):
was written for a video game, and he had a
certain vision for that as opposed to a certain vision
for something on this record, if that makes sense, because
he essentially transported, brought over what he had made for
the video game and adapted it for the vocals to
that as opposed to reworking it, stretching it out whatever.
(20:29):
But I think there were opportunities for that. I don't
know if we've gotten an extensive weirdo upright solo before
or forever really that really stretches out and takes us
out into space on a record that is get we
get some of that live, which is always a treat.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
It really adds to the track. Yes, it's it's a
remarkable addition. And you know, it translated so well with
the Frogdbrigade because Sean was a leading the part with
his guitar, and since the first time I ever heard
the song, that's what immediately came to my mind. I
thought that that would sound great on my guitar. It's
(21:13):
just really evocative line. It's eerie and compelling.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, and it also just provides a different register from
the bass and then those those pounding percussion notes, and
it gives a chance to breathe, I suppose, or experience
something that might be melodic, but at least it's in
a different register. It's that upper register that you, I
don't know, I guess look for to counteract the bass.
(21:44):
So that's I think it comes in as a relief
of sorts. I would imagine of course, Sambass is the
one taking that on with the Fung Guy Band in
twenty nine and ten. For that part vocal deliveries too.
One of my favorite things that Claypool does is just
doing those voices right, So the the iry of your dowry, Yeah, yeah,
(22:06):
that sort of thing. Great, love it like that gives
that gives his songs so much personality as opposed to
a straight ahead delivery. Now, sometimes the straight ahead delivery
is appropriate, but I think in this situation where somebody
has consumed a mushroom and they're seeing things and it's
hurting their head, they're gonna hear voices too, so why
(22:26):
not trip it out a bit? So there's there's some
good stuff he's going between the bullet mic and the
clean and then even just that line, ug and velle
your borson is unusual, I think for a Claypool vocal line,
we don't get well, first of all, we don't get
a lot of first person at all throughout his lyrics,
(22:49):
so that is unexpected. Again, and it's almost as poppy
of vocal hook as you overhear from him, because that
is it's a simple line and it's something that a
lot of different artists might choose to use as a
hook as opposed to something like it's just a matter
(23:10):
of opinion, which is that's a claypool thing, right, Not
too many people are going to come up with that
for their focal look so or mister krinkle, you know,
or whatever? Right, So that one is a bit more
I'm not. That one just feels like a bit more
common phrasing, but for him it's unusual. So once again
(23:34):
it's a bit of a surprise. So I am finding
a few things in here, Frankie that are capturing my interest. Now,
big picture for you? Where where does this sit on
the record for you? Because we're it's the second track.
It's only the second song we've talked about. You know,
you said mushroom Men ranks pretty high for you. Are
(23:54):
we ascending on the record right now? When we get
to the second track.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
This is easy top five material. Prime by twenty nine
is my favorite at the moment, but I think, yeah,
Amanitas is definitely my second favorite on the album, and
it's one it's the one that I've returned to the most.
It just fits so well with the rest of the catalog.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Was that true before the Frogagade brought it back in
twenty three.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yes, it always stands out for me. I just love
the baseline and the tempo and the overall atmosphere that
it evokes with the instrumentation and the lyrics.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, for sure. And we should talk about those lyrics
because they certainly mark some continuity between Mushroom Men and
Amanitas the two tracks, because Amanitas are mentioned, of course
in the first track on the record, and now the
second track on the record is titled Amanitas for Crying
Out Loud, So I think that continuity. You know, he's
(24:54):
nodding to the source of these tunes, which is that
Mushroom Men video game, but he's also, you know, taking
his own I think it's taking his own path with this.
And so Amanitas, for those unaware, have psychoactive properties, which
is the basis for this tune. If you haven't read
(25:14):
the lyrics, and they're they're all over creation, Frankie. There
are European and Asian varieties, there's North American varieties. What
they all have in common is that big, bulbous top
that's usually a bright color with white white adornments. I
don't even know what to call them. They just look
(25:36):
like giant snowflakes kind of on the you know, on
the outside of this, on the outside of the bell there,
and don't eat them, please, nobody, do not eat them.
I was reading about them because I remember hearing about
them being killer mushrooms. But they're not actually killer mushrooms.
I think if a small child what I read is
(25:59):
a small child ingests a massive amount of them, it
could kill a small child, But an adult such as
myself can ingest a whole bunch of them and just
get really sick and see a lot of weird stuff
and then feel really lousy for a long time. Which
if I want to get really sick, see a lot
(26:19):
of weird stuff and feel lousy for a long time,
I'll just go down to my local pub. It's a
lot easier than running around the woods looking for those things.
So what's interesting about the lyrics to me, Frankie is
that he seems to be hinting that somebody who could
not help themselves and took a bite of these mushrooms
(26:42):
is being humbled by the experience. And usually when somebody's
being humbled it's due to their own hubris. In this case,
the person's being humbled by their lack of self control.
The line being when Aminiitus came, he could not abstain
and he took a juicy bite, and so this guy
cannot help himself, and he is going to be humbled
(27:03):
by that lack of self control. I really like the
couple He found that he could see the forest beyond
the trees. That is, first of all. I mean, we're
talking about mushrooms running around in the woods. We talked
about it with mushroom men. This is a very natural setting,
dark forest type setting, and the instrumentation I think holds
(27:27):
holds with that. Now have you heard the expression see
the forest through the trees.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Frankie, I heard the expression see the forest before the trees.
So for the trees.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, so he can't you know, he can't see the
forest for the trees. Is often used to describe somebody
who can't see the big picture and they get caught
up in the small details, so they can't see the
entire forest because they're looking at these two little trees
of really no consequence or very little consequence. So that
metaphor can't see the forest for the trees. Trees is
(28:01):
being extended here by Claypool and the lyrics. He found
that he could see the forest beyond the trees, and
so he's like seeing into another dimension, right, which really
tracks with the hallucinogenic properties of or psychoacrive properties of
these mushrooms. She squeezed his head real tight. And these
(28:21):
are these are all the things that are happening to him.
She squeezed his head real tight. She'd sucked him dry
of all his power. I'm skipping around to the lyrics.
Of course, she'll knock you. She'll knock the ivory off
for your tower. I really like that play on words too.
The ivory tower metaphor has been used for ages, you know,
to indicate somebody who believes they're above someone, socially, socioeconomically,
(28:44):
you name it. And so I love the idea. She'll
knock the ivory off your tower once again. You will
be humbled by this experience.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I've always found it curious that the verse is an
observation in third person, but the line about the poison
is recited directly at the character.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yes, and that has caught my attention too, because it's
all in third person. He knew he'd changed his luck.
He was barely alive. She'd sucked him dry of all
his power and then So it's very interesting. It's as
if we're getting a narrator. We're getting a narration shift
to the first person, which you'll see in you know,
(29:30):
novels and other media where the perspective shifts. Very interesting
that it shifts between verson and hook or chorus here.
The other thing that is curious to me is that
the mushroom is presented with the feminine pronouns she yeah,
(29:50):
that she is doing this to this guy. So I've
always found that interesting. I think it's I think it's
a way of differentiating I don't think there's any code
of messages there, but if one wanted to do the
lake work, they could make some conclusions that I would
probably say are erroneous. But you know, he's doing something
(30:12):
he shouldn't be doing, and he's paying for it. But
it is interesting to personify the mushrooms as she, you know,
squeezing his head and so on and so forth, making
him pay for what he did. Last verse, Frankie, now
with your trousers full of spores. I he has used
(30:33):
the word trousers over the years, and the word trousers.
There was a writer for the Simpsons in Futurama whose
name is eluding me right now, ken something, and on
one of the DVD commentaries, he said the word underpants
is seventeen percent funnier than underwear, and that always stuck
(30:55):
with me, and I got to having to say in
the word underpants instead of underwear. Turns out these I
haven't done an empirical study, but I think he's right.
And I'm saying this because I've started using the word
trousers over the past couple of decades as opposed to pants.
Trousers is a certain percentage funnier than pants as well,
(31:16):
So when I see the word trousers, I get a
little giggle. Now, with your trousers full of spores, you
get down on all fours to search the ground like
hungry oxen. Really interesting, first of a couplet there, because
to fearless fungus friends some alliteration, your kinship has no
end till they pump you full of toxin. So you
(31:42):
something is going on with these mushrooms. But it's really interesting.
It reminds me of the story of the Scorpion and
the Dog, where the scorpion says, hey, dog, give me
a ride. Across the river, and Dog's like, all right,
you're not gonna sting me if I do this right,
and Scorpions says, no, of course not. And then once
I get across the river, the scorpion stings the dog.
Dog says, why'd you do that? Scorpion says, it's in
(32:05):
my nature. Couldn't help it. And so I think I
see something analogous here with fearless fungus friends. First of all,
fearless fungus friends sounds like fearless flying frogs. But the
fearless fungus friends, they're your friends until they pump you
full of toxin when you get down on the ground.
(32:26):
So they're your friends when you're standing up right, but
when you get down on the ground, not so much.
I suppose reveal their true nature. Now is that what
he was going for? I have no idea, but that
is where my mind goes. What are you getting from
these lyrics, Frankie, Aside from a tale of humility based
(32:48):
on somebody not helping themselves around delicious looking mushrooms, I.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Think the lyrics are doing a gray job honoring the
foh portion of the album's title.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Oh interesting, Yeah, because this is a you know this
is a fungi song because that's where it came from.
But we have faux type lyrics. Please continue.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Yeah, I mean with with Liz, we have tragic figures
throughout his catalog, right. We have some some very curious
characters here and there, not necessarily tragic, but certainly unusual
or atypical. But here we have our villain Amanitas.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
A villain that doesn't move, It just sits there on
the ground, and beckons I suppose, uh yeah, that's a
that's an interesting idea that it is fungi and fo
in this track, so we should we should have a
fourth category. Then we've got Fungi FO unknown, which will
probably be renamed. And that we have a fungi and
(33:53):
FO category, you had to go and make it even
more complicated. I appreciate that. It's time for Prime AIDS takes.
If you want your take on the track, that's up
for discussion included right here on the podcast. All you
have to do is go to Patreon, dot com ho
or slash prime as tracks. There are a lot of
(34:14):
tears of support over there, but the universal constant is
Prime Aids takes. We have a few today, Frankie are
versus from Ethan from Kentucky, a new entrant into the
prime Matron Ranks, who says this is one of my
favorites on the album. The bass and the way Lesson
narrates in this song really sticks out to me. Still
not my favorite album, but I'm starting to come around.
Frankie Brooks till I breaks it down as follows a
(34:37):
fun little journey that I really don't take very often.
I like it, I sing along, but I just don't
visit much. Work deep now. Eric and Australia, who once
again has turned into the happiest guy on the block,
says a pretty simple base dirge getting down in the
odoriferous loam, and our pal John Shreef says this turn
(34:59):
from the build up Mushroommn is like after peaking and
coming down when Amanitas came. It left his brain feeling
a tad bit sour. To me, is like psilocybin with
gin whilst dehydrating yourself like you mean it. This is
a song that resonates, sounds like John Shreeve has had
some fun over the years. Live cuts from a Jam Vehicle,
(35:20):
Live cuts from the Jam Vehicle, Live cuts from What's
Going on here. I'll tell you what's going on here.
Disembodied voice of my friend Tim Sooyer. It's live cuts
of Amanitas. Frankie has given us three live cuts today,
all of which are available by the way on Toasterland.
You can go check these out, as opposed to them
(35:40):
being from his secret box sets with no metadata, in
which I received thousands of complaints. First live track Frankie
is the aforementioned jam Cruise seven January fourth, two thousand
and nine. Fung Gui band on a cruise ship Up.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Incredible drum sound big.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Oh my, this pulses. Wow, this is uh, this feels
much more driving than what's on the record, Frankie. Interesting
is that something that I think the Frogger game was
(37:11):
doing that too. It certainly had a pulse to it
that yeah, superseded what's on the record. Did Did you
find that that helped endear the song even more to you?
Because I've like, I'm starting to feel little little more
of that pulse, that tempo, and you know that instrumentation
absolutely okay.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
But the thing about the lap renditions, great as they are,
is that the there's certainly a compelling percussion. But what
I really like about the studio cut is that if
you listen closely, there's some relatively complex high hat work
(37:49):
there in the hooks. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
I'm not sure if that's a high head or Visus
playing around with some kind of like one of those
foot sympole things like he has for do It to Twang.
I can't really tell. I think I think it's just
one of those, or maybe tambourine or something.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
But but it adds a great touch to the song
for sure.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Oh yeah, I agree. It just adds that different register,
so you can you can feel things ratcheting up a
little bit. Let's go to May twenty third, two thousand
and nine, Chilicota, Illinois for summer camp. I think we
were here for mushroom men. Well we're back summer camp. Rip.
Let's hear some cello, all right, so we're stretching out here. Mean,
(39:03):
Sam always got really cool uh sound on his cello.
Sounded great. I'm gonna move forward a bit so we
can also sample via braaphone. Oh, they brought it down.
(39:34):
This is great. It's like he's doing a melotron impersonation.
H I always appreciate Mike Dylan. Mike Dylan, we salute you.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
So did you hear what I meant with them taking
the song places after the second hook?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah, you bet. That cello outing as well as viaboraphone
and then and then less kind of just dropping, you know,
dropping him down in volume as well as really simplifying
his baseline to slow things down for Mike was very cool. Yeah,
this is a seven minute rendition, so they're they're stretching
it out here. I got one more and this is
(40:40):
Pompino Beach, Frankie May thirtieth, Pompino Beach, Florida. This one
is about six minutes, so this is of course you
gotta start with that. You know what I think I'm
(41:38):
equating this to in my mind is it's like with
this March part, because I was saying, like that that
first part, that box riff very reminiscent of some more
recent Lesson Brimus tracks, or at least from two thousand
and nine onward. But then this part, this b part, uh,
just makes me think of gold and Ticket. So just
(42:03):
like kind of that bounce from Golden Ticket is I'm
hearing that here. So I'm not saying they're identical, but
certainly reminiscent for me. And that's okay, interesting live cuts, Frankie.
This one, like I said, no real memory of it
from two thousand and nine, and I think I forgot
(42:25):
to say that. When they played it in twenty three, Frankie,
I couldn't place it. I knew it was a Fung
Guy track, but I couldn't remember the name. And I
overheard somebody nearby me saying Amanitas, and that's what prompted
me to remember. So it had been so long at
that point, I couldn't even remember the name of the track.
(42:46):
So gotten it twice now and I might have to
revisit some of these to listen to these live cuts.
I think the life cuts is where I am going
to find more rewarding listens. You see how they took
it out. Final thoughts on this one.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
I was real I caught it at Westbury. They did
perform this one right before my eyes, and just after
they had wished happy birthday to one of the crew
members and then Less launched into Amanitas, which told me
that it's someone's favorite somewhere behind the scenes. And the
(43:25):
studio version, I think it's just immaculate. And that's something
that I returned to very often when I'm listening to
two random songs here and there. So I think Amanitas
is one of the strongest on the album, and I'm
glad the video game exists if it's what had to
had to happen in order for these songs to exist.
(43:49):
Further down the line.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Yeah, I remember these these first two songs were part
of the effort to build a cachet with his kids.
So we're here in that product right now. Uh I
guess uh, I guess that's it for Amanita's Uh So
I'll say this, Uh, Frankie, stay out of the forest
(44:12):
because the Amanitas have been tracked. Next time, Frankie, we're
gonna meet a Red State.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Girl self for crea self proclaimed bonafide.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
He's bona fide, primates primetrons people have ever. Thank you
all so much for listening. We'll see you next time,
whether it's fungi or foe later days will a mas
It's Josh Freaky with a couple of dump shits.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello, Primates, you found Primus Tracks. Congratulations. There are so
many places to find Primus tracks. I recommend the podcast
that's what you're listening to right now. There are many
other places, such as Instagram threads. There are probably social
media sites I've never heard of that have an account
called Primus Tracks. You can look at them. You can
(00:36):
look for him. Tell me what you find. I am Josh.
I am one of the hosts of Primus Tracks. He
also is a host of Primus Tracks. Unlike me, on
the ground floor, smelling the loam, smelling the dirt, feet
in the earth, fingers coated in beautiful brown and red
tones from digging around. He's on the thirty ninth floor
(01:00):
Primus Tracks Towers. I think it's an ivory tower and
it's where he resides in all his glory. Frankie Erestein,
Hey Josh, well come back once again. Frankie. We are
now on track two of the album of Fungi and
fo from Les Claypool in the year two thousand and nine,
and we should probably start tracking these in categories. We
(01:23):
should track them as Fungi tracks, faux tracks, and if
it's neither one, I guess we have to invent a
third category. Luckily we haven't had to do that yet.
Last week were talking about mushroom Men, which clearly is
a fun guy track, and today we're talking about Amanitas,
which sounds like a fun guy track. So we're going
to continue in the Fungui box today. A couple things beforehand.
(01:47):
We do have some miscellaneous debris for your ears. For
those of you who don't listen to other podcasts or
watch YouTube shows. Congratulations by the way, on that decision
Less Claypool. You may have heard his name before. He
(02:08):
appears on the Rick Biato Show on YouTube. Rick is
a longtime musician and producer who has in depth conversations
with all kinds of musical heavies. And it was Less
his turn in the chair. Frankie, We've got a good
hour and thirty seven minutes of Rick and Less just
shooting the breeze.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Why out a treat?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I assume you've watched it more than once already once
so far, okay, anything jump out of you Because you
are a veteran of these interviews, and of course there
are a lot of go to Claypool lines and anecdotes
and stories, which plenty of them surface in this episode
with Rick. However, there were a lot of nuggets that
(02:51):
I pulled that were new to me. So how was
it for you as a veteran of the Claypool interview cycle.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
First, it was great to see Liz pull out the
PACYDRM and perform some tickets here and there. That was
really nice to see. I guess what stood out for
me the most was the possibility of Susanta three point zero.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
That's what you're taking from this?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah, I mean it's surprising that they're still considering doing
it once again.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, I have to go back and listen to how
he phrased that and what tents he used, because I
didn't know if he said we had talked about extending
it to Europe or if we are talking about extending
it to Europe. I don't know if that consideration has expired,
but I suppose it's on the table.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
That's what it sounded like to me.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Okay, Well, for our European friends who have not gotten
to see Primus for years, at this point, this may
be your best shot, so perhaps it will come to fruition.
So go check out Less on Rick Piatto's show. Go
to YouTube search for Rick Biato, be at O Les Claypool.
I'm sure it'll come right up. I would say the
(04:06):
nugget that I pulled from that Frank He was the
guy whose name now eludes me, who had produced Yes
and Emerson lacoln Palmer wanted to produce Primus, and Less
turned him down. He didn't give a year on that
because he's because he did relate that. He said to
the guy, A, you know, for Primus, we do our
own thing, So that would tell me. It would have
(04:27):
been in maybe the early to mid nineties before Interscope
pushed them to work with producers for Antipop, but perhaps
it was in the two thousands when for Animals or
Green Nagahyde or something like that, don't know. Can you
imagine Primus with all kinds of lush orchestral arrangements or
(04:49):
just weird synth weaving in and out of the tunes.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Did you also catch Lisz saying that he was taught
how to play Pelagon Ginjit correctly?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yes, Yeah, that's he's been playing a lot of his
favorite tunes wrong for years and years and years.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Did he say that it was Julius Leek who told
him how to play.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yes, yeah, he said, the Gallon Adrian Blues Band. Yeah,
and that cool. And of course the great Getty Lee
himself corrected, less On y y Z. Yeah, yeah, pretty
good stuff. But that's that's what happens when you learn
by ear. You can be playing as he noted, you
(05:30):
can play the exact same notes, but you might be
in a different position on the front board, and that
can make a difference with tonality, so on and so forth.
All right, let's talk amanitas. That is our purpose here today.
It is tracked two from your Fungi Info record from
two thousand and nine. It checks in at four minutes
(05:50):
twenty seven seconds. Your credits are as follows Frankie Les
Claypool everything, although I suppose we could credit Lapland with
some percussion. So in here we've got some electric bass
with the envelope filter. We have an upright bass, we
have all kinds of percussion and of course vocals. So
(06:12):
everything on there is courteous c Ols Claypool. This is
another fun guy track, Frankie, which means it has its
origins in the Mushroom Men video game. Yes, oh, really,
so this is another product of storyboards and visuals and drafts.
I suppose of animations and backdrops and so on and
(06:32):
so forth that would have inspired less to create this track.
For a taste of it, Frankie, let's go to the
Mushroom Men's soundtrack that's been on YouTube for Oh it
says sixteen years, so still available. Put it in the
show notes if you missed it last time. This track
is number two on the Mushroom Men's soundtrack, and it
is titled mean mister mush Womb. And I'm not saying
(06:55):
that wrong because it's spelled mush woom. I don't know
if that's a type of Frankie.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
No, it sounds too to a specific too too intentional.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
All right, let's hear what amounts to the instrumental version
of AM. Of course, you really wouldn't be able to
tell the difference because there aren't any vocals for the
first minute and a half. So I'm gonna afford to
a part where there probably would be vocals, but you're
(07:29):
not hearing any.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Goals.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Are goals sounds fully intact to me, Frankie. Yeah, Now
do you find yourself listening to these what amount of
instrumental versions, ever.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
No, I My go to is the studio album.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Okay, so you need the vocals so you can sing along,
you're not doing karaoke with the.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Version.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I can't imagine too many karaoke libraries have the Mushroom
Mit songs in them, but that'd be pretty fun, you know. Actually,
on that note, there are and I think I've mentioned
this before, there are some Primus tracks that have been karaokefied,
which means they have to be performed by other people
(08:33):
as an instrumental cover so that they can be used
in a karaoke machine at a karaoke bar legally. And
those versions of like the beaver Song that I've heard
are so far off, But you know, it's just one
of those it's a product of these guys playing such
wild stuff and out of the box stuff that somebody
(08:53):
had to sit there and approximate it, and they did
their best, but it doesn't sound any thing like it.
That poor guy that had to do lures guitar solos
for big Brown beaver Man this one, Frankie.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
We know.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
The vocals were added later, of course, because this was
originally form musher men. No vocals as I noted until
a minute and a half into the track, which is unusual.
Does this have an unusual live history at all.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
No, it's actually quite consistent. It was performed throughout two
thousand and nine and twenty ten in promotion of the
Fung Guy and Fall record. It was performed once by
the Fancy Brigade, which was an iteration created for New
Year's Eve of twenty ten, and then it was resurrected
(09:43):
by the Frog Brigade two years ago for the Summer
of Green tour and the Fall extension. The Frog Brigade
surprisingly performed it quite faithful to the studio version, while
the Fun Guy Band the improvise and jam a little
(10:04):
towards the ending of the song, I mean the bridge
that leads up to the final verse. That's where they
sometimes explored the song, stretching it out a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
So Frobriide played it fairly straight. And that's my recollection
from the performance that I witnessed of it in twenty
twenty three. Of course it was augmented, having keyboards, guitar
and an actual drum kit on display or in the performance,
so that was certainly an augmented version. I had to
(10:39):
look back at my live history, Frankie, my own life history,
and the Fungi Band did perform Amanita's when I saw
them in two thousand and nine. I have plenty of
distinct memories from that night, but Amanita's is not one
of them. I don't know what it is about this
track now, certainly was a novelty in twenty three with
(11:00):
fro Brigade, But there's there's something about this track that
I'm just not grabbing onto it because I didn't even
remember that they had performed it. And as as you
well know, what the two of us do with our
performances is we squirrel them away. We love every single
one like their little pearls, and that one, that one
(11:22):
just got lost in the shuffle. For me, it is
interesting that Less chose to bring this one back. Was
and this was the only fun Guy of Faux track
that the Frobrigade resurrected. Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Okay, this was the one, hm the one? Indeed, did
they play it a lot in twenty three I can't recall, not.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
At every show, but consistently, Yeah, there are several performances.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
And then going back to two thousand and nine, for
one of our live tracks later. We have a performance
from January of two thousand and nine, a couple months
before the album was released, was that or around the
two they started performing it live.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
It was actually premiered at jam at a Jam Cruise
show at the beginning of January two thousand and nine.
I believe January four was the date when he was premiered. Okay,
but then he was performed again until the album was released,
(12:22):
so there's some there's a gap between that show and
the tour kicking off.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Oh interesting, So that tells me that Les wanted to
tease something, because we know he does that. Yeah, so
he was given the Jam Cruise crowd just a little taste.
Hopefully not of the actual amenitis, because you don't need
your audience rolling around on the ground having hallucinations, possibly
(12:49):
projectile vomiting. I think he'd rather they were enjoying the
music and paying attention. Yeah, not seeking medical gear. So
for me, Yeah, there's no vocals for the first minute
and a half of this track, which I think is
defying an expectation a little bit because usually you have
(13:10):
your intro, you might have a preview of the main
lick or the verse lick and then you go into
your verse, and so he actually does that. Here we
get the abab, but we don't get vocals, I think,
until the second iteration of the B. So that's very
interesting that he decided to wait a while. So that
is something that caught my attention because I was fully
(13:33):
ready for the first verse. Now, remember I haven't listened
to this song in X number of years, sixteen or something.
I was fully ready, Frankie for that first verse. When
that B part came along, or that A part came
along again, excuse me, and nothing happened in the vocal department,
and then we had to go through the cycle again,
and then there they were. So I appreciated that I
(13:55):
got a little chuckle out of that going. And I
remember thinking, I know this song has vocals. Where they
go he makes us wait for those interesting bass lick.
It certainly stays in the box. We've talked about those
those box riffs that will play, and this one has
the sound of one. It also kind of has the
(14:16):
sound of a more modern, lesser, primus less bass lick.
I'm not saying it sounds exactly like something from C
L D or exactly like the little Lord Fentanyl bass lick,
but they're in the same ballpark for me, because he's
got this shape. He plays this lick and he stays
(14:38):
in there and it's kind of got a little bounce
to it, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And it's interesting because early early on, he pretty much
reveals the hook of the song without the vocals. So
that's an interesting trick that I have heard in several
songs when you hear a rief or a hook, but
(15:06):
then it makes sense once the chorus kicks in.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, and that tells me that, of course he's not
writing pop songs, of course, but it's sneaky of him
to do that because it set up an expectation and
then he dashed it. It was a bit of a
bit of a rug pull and I like that. I
like that in I like the unexpected in my music.
(15:31):
So that is one little piece of this track that
I appreciated got a smile out of me, which is
funny because it was the absence of something that pleased me.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Also, the Enbelo filter makes the track delouche.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
It wasn't going to say anything about that, but it
is present on this track. Yes, you know, I've talked
about that. This album did not grab me in two
thousand and nine. And I think one thing that worked
against it, at least for this track was the inclusion
of the envelope filter, because by two thousand and nine,
I was burnt on it as far as listening to
(16:11):
Claypool solo stuff and the fro Brigade and some live
shows and that sort of thing, So it worked against
my enjoyment of this track at the time. Now it's
just one of the you know, it's one of those
things where I'm just ineared to it now, Frankie. It's
it's like the whining of your fifteen year old cat
who's been whining at you for fifteen years. You know,
(16:35):
that's a long time. You just get used to it,
You tune it out, it doesn't bother you anymore. So
I like that I'm comparing the envelope filter to an
old whiny cat. So any what I'm getting at is
it doesn't bother me anymore because I'm just so used
to it. It doesn't even register. I know it's there,
(16:55):
but it doesn't have the same effect. But I know
you're a you're a fan of it. Is that something
that hooked you right away when you first heard this
record in this song.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I mean, I love that it has the Imbel filter,
but no, I think what hooked me instantly with the
song is the change of tempo on the intro.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Ah okay, yeah, we do get an interesting vibe from that.
And you know what really gets me is that the
kind of the marching part, I can feel your poison.
I think that's the chorus. That part it becomes a march,
and that's probably my favorite part of the tune. But
(17:37):
it alternates. We get the march, we get the verse
excuse me, which has a much different vibe to it.
And I wasn't really tracking tempo, so there could be
a change that I was unaware of. But certainly parts
of this tune are pretty catchy. I wanted to forward
to a couple of my favorite parts here. I should
(17:59):
proably pray that's the right button where it is? That
is not my favorite part, silly, I think it's I
can't remember where it is. Hopefully it's right around here,
not the iron. So that is roughly my favorite portion
(18:58):
of the tune. There that about that thirty seconds forty seconds,
And the reason for that, Frankie, is one there's some
compelling vocal deliveries, and I would say more so than
the previous track for me, and then the embellishments with
the upright and just I don't know that march is
a bit hypnotic, and I think that plays into the
(19:20):
theme of the tune as well, with the hallucinating having
consumed Aminita's mushrooms. So it certainly that part evokes a
fair amount for me, and it captures my interest. Where
I think it loses me. Where it lost to me
back then was that it turned right around and went
(19:43):
back into the other part, whereas where that hypnotic, psychedelic
upright entered the fray, I feel like that could have
been stretched out and he really could have taken us places,
and I think that would have grabbed me more at
the time, and I think now too, I think there's
more space for that. However, this was a tune that
(20:06):
was written for a video game, and he had a
certain vision for that as opposed to a certain vision
for something on this record, if that makes sense, because
he essentially transported, brought over what he had made for
the video game and adapted it for the vocals to
that as opposed to reworking it, stretching it out whatever.
(20:29):
But I think there were opportunities for that. I don't
know if we've gotten an extensive weirdo upright solo before
or forever really that really stretches out and takes us
out into space on a record that is get we
get some of that live, which is always a treat.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
It really adds to the track. Yes, it's it's a
remarkable addition. And you know, it translated so well with
the Frogdbrigade because Sean was a leading the part with
his guitar, and since the first time I ever heard
the song, that's what immediately came to my mind. I
thought that that would sound great on my guitar. It's
(21:13):
just really evocative line. It's eerie and compelling.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, and it also just provides a different register from
the bass and then those those pounding percussion notes, and
it gives a chance to breathe, I suppose, or experience
something that might be melodic, but at least it's in
a different register. It's that upper register that you, I
don't know, I guess look for to counteract the bass.
(21:44):
So that's I think it comes in as a relief
of sorts. I would imagine of course, Sambass is the
one taking that on with the Fung Guy Band in
twenty nine and ten. For that part vocal deliveries too.
One of my favorite things that Claypool does is just
doing those voices right, So the the iry of your dowry, Yeah, yeah,
(22:06):
that sort of thing. Great, love it like that gives
that gives his songs so much personality as opposed to
a straight ahead delivery. Now, sometimes the straight ahead delivery
is appropriate, but I think in this situation where somebody
has consumed a mushroom and they're seeing things and it's
hurting their head, they're gonna hear voices too, so why
(22:26):
not trip it out a bit? So there's there's some
good stuff he's going between the bullet mic and the
clean and then even just that line, ug and velle
your borson is unusual, I think for a Claypool vocal line,
we don't get well, first of all, we don't get
a lot of first person at all throughout his lyrics,
(22:49):
so that is unexpected. Again, and it's almost as poppy
of vocal hook as you overhear from him, because that
is it's a simple line and it's something that a
lot of different artists might choose to use as a
hook as opposed to something like it's just a matter
(23:10):
of opinion, which is that's a claypool thing, right, Not
too many people are going to come up with that
for their focal look so or mister krinkle, you know,
or whatever? Right, So that one is a bit more
I'm not. That one just feels like a bit more
common phrasing, but for him it's unusual. So once again
(23:34):
it's a bit of a surprise. So I am finding
a few things in here, Frankie that are capturing my interest. Now,
big picture for you? Where where does this sit on
the record for you? Because we're it's the second track.
It's only the second song we've talked about. You know,
you said mushroom Men ranks pretty high for you. Are
(23:54):
we ascending on the record right now? When we get
to the second track.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
This is easy top five material. Prime by twenty nine
is my favorite at the moment, but I think, yeah,
Amanitas is definitely my second favorite on the album, and
it's one it's the one that I've returned to the most.
It just fits so well with the rest of the catalog.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Was that true before the Frogagade brought it back in
twenty three.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yes, it always stands out for me. I just love
the baseline and the tempo and the overall atmosphere that
it evokes with the instrumentation and the lyrics.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, for sure. And we should talk about those lyrics
because they certainly mark some continuity between Mushroom Men and
Amanitas the two tracks, because Amanitas are mentioned, of course
in the first track on the record, and now the
second track on the record is titled Amanitas for Crying
Out Loud, So I think that continuity. You know, he's
(24:54):
nodding to the source of these tunes, which is that
Mushroom Men video game, but he's also, you know, taking
his own I think it's taking his own path with this.
And so Amanitas, for those unaware, have psychoactive properties, which
is the basis for this tune. If you haven't read
(25:14):
the lyrics, and they're they're all over creation, Frankie. There
are European and Asian varieties, there's North American varieties. What
they all have in common is that big, bulbous top
that's usually a bright color with white white adornments. I
don't even know what to call them. They just look
(25:36):
like giant snowflakes kind of on the you know, on
the outside of this, on the outside of the bell there,
and don't eat them, please, nobody, do not eat them.
I was reading about them because I remember hearing about
them being killer mushrooms. But they're not actually killer mushrooms.
I think if a small child what I read is
(25:59):
a small child ingests a massive amount of them, it
could kill a small child, But an adult such as
myself can ingest a whole bunch of them and just
get really sick and see a lot of weird stuff
and then feel really lousy for a long time. Which
if I want to get really sick, see a lot
(26:19):
of weird stuff and feel lousy for a long time,
I'll just go down to my local pub. It's a
lot easier than running around the woods looking for those things.
So what's interesting about the lyrics to me, Frankie is
that he seems to be hinting that somebody who could
not help themselves and took a bite of these mushrooms
(26:42):
is being humbled by the experience. And usually when somebody's
being humbled it's due to their own hubris. In this case,
the person's being humbled by their lack of self control.
The line being when Aminiitus came, he could not abstain
and he took a juicy bite, and so this guy
cannot help himself, and he is going to be humbled
(27:03):
by that lack of self control. I really like the
couple He found that he could see the forest beyond
the trees. That is, first of all. I mean, we're
talking about mushrooms running around in the woods. We talked
about it with mushroom men. This is a very natural setting,
dark forest type setting, and the instrumentation I think holds
(27:27):
holds with that. Now have you heard the expression see
the forest through the trees.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Frankie, I heard the expression see the forest before the trees.
So for the trees.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, so he can't you know, he can't see the
forest for the trees. Is often used to describe somebody
who can't see the big picture and they get caught
up in the small details, so they can't see the
entire forest because they're looking at these two little trees
of really no consequence or very little consequence. So that
metaphor can't see the forest for the trees. Trees is
(28:01):
being extended here by Claypool and the lyrics. He found
that he could see the forest beyond the trees, and
so he's like seeing into another dimension, right, which really
tracks with the hallucinogenic properties of or psychoacrive properties of
these mushrooms. She squeezed his head real tight. And these
(28:21):
are these are all the things that are happening to him.
She squeezed his head real tight. She'd sucked him dry
of all his power. I'm skipping around to the lyrics.
Of course, she'll knock you. She'll knock the ivory off
for your tower. I really like that play on words too.
The ivory tower metaphor has been used for ages, you know,
to indicate somebody who believes they're above someone, socially, socioeconomically,
(28:44):
you name it. And so I love the idea. She'll
knock the ivory off your tower once again. You will
be humbled by this experience.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I've always found it curious that the verse is an
observation in third person, but the line about the poison
is recited directly at the character.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yes, and that has caught my attention too, because it's
all in third person. He knew he'd changed his luck.
He was barely alive. She'd sucked him dry of all
his power and then So it's very interesting. It's as
if we're getting a narrator. We're getting a narration shift
to the first person, which you'll see in you know,
(29:30):
novels and other media where the perspective shifts. Very interesting
that it shifts between verson and hook or chorus here.
The other thing that is curious to me is that
the mushroom is presented with the feminine pronouns she yeah,
(29:50):
that she is doing this to this guy. So I've
always found that interesting. I think it's I think it's
a way of differentiating I don't think there's any code
of messages there, but if one wanted to do the
lake work, they could make some conclusions that I would
probably say are erroneous. But you know, he's doing something
(30:12):
he shouldn't be doing, and he's paying for it. But
it is interesting to personify the mushrooms as she, you know,
squeezing his head and so on and so forth, making
him pay for what he did. Last verse, Frankie, now
with your trousers full of spores. I he has used
(30:33):
the word trousers over the years, and the word trousers.
There was a writer for the Simpsons in Futurama whose
name is eluding me right now, ken something, and on
one of the DVD commentaries, he said the word underpants
is seventeen percent funnier than underwear, and that always stuck
(30:55):
with me, and I got to having to say in
the word underpants instead of underwear. Turns out these I
haven't done an empirical study, but I think he's right.
And I'm saying this because I've started using the word
trousers over the past couple of decades as opposed to pants.
Trousers is a certain percentage funnier than pants as well,
(31:16):
So when I see the word trousers, I get a
little giggle. Now, with your trousers full of spores, you
get down on all fours to search the ground like
hungry oxen. Really interesting, first of a couplet there, because
to fearless fungus friends some alliteration, your kinship has no
end till they pump you full of toxin. So you
(31:42):
something is going on with these mushrooms. But it's really interesting.
It reminds me of the story of the Scorpion and
the Dog, where the scorpion says, hey, dog, give me
a ride. Across the river, and Dog's like, all right,
you're not gonna sting me if I do this right,
and Scorpions says, no, of course not. And then once
I get across the river, the scorpion stings the dog.
Dog says, why'd you do that? Scorpion says, it's in
(32:05):
my nature. Couldn't help it. And so I think I
see something analogous here with fearless fungus friends. First of all,
fearless fungus friends sounds like fearless flying frogs. But the
fearless fungus friends, they're your friends until they pump you
full of toxin when you get down on the ground.
(32:26):
So they're your friends when you're standing up right, but
when you get down on the ground, not so much.
I suppose reveal their true nature. Now is that what
he was going for? I have no idea, but that
is where my mind goes. What are you getting from
these lyrics, Frankie, Aside from a tale of humility based
(32:48):
on somebody not helping themselves around delicious looking mushrooms, I.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Think the lyrics are doing a gray job honoring the
foh portion of the album's title.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Oh interesting, Yeah, because this is a you know this
is a fungi song because that's where it came from.
But we have faux type lyrics. Please continue.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Yeah, I mean with with Liz, we have tragic figures
throughout his catalog, right. We have some some very curious
characters here and there, not necessarily tragic, but certainly unusual
or atypical. But here we have our villain Amanitas.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
A villain that doesn't move, It just sits there on
the ground, and beckons I suppose, uh yeah, that's a
that's an interesting idea that it is fungi and fo
in this track, so we should we should have a
fourth category. Then we've got Fungi FO unknown, which will
probably be renamed. And that we have a fungi and
(33:53):
FO category, you had to go and make it even
more complicated. I appreciate that. It's time for Prime AIDS takes.
If you want your take on the track, that's up
for discussion included right here on the podcast. All you
have to do is go to Patreon, dot com ho
or slash prime as tracks. There are a lot of
(34:14):
tears of support over there, but the universal constant is
Prime Aids takes. We have a few today, Frankie are
versus from Ethan from Kentucky, a new entrant into the
prime Matron Ranks, who says this is one of my
favorites on the album. The bass and the way Lesson
narrates in this song really sticks out to me. Still
not my favorite album, but I'm starting to come around.
Frankie Brooks till I breaks it down as follows a
(34:37):
fun little journey that I really don't take very often.
I like it, I sing along, but I just don't
visit much. Work deep now. Eric and Australia, who once
again has turned into the happiest guy on the block,
says a pretty simple base dirge getting down in the
odoriferous loam, and our pal John Shreef says this turn
(34:59):
from the build up Mushroommn is like after peaking and
coming down when Amanitas came. It left his brain feeling
a tad bit sour. To me, is like psilocybin with
gin whilst dehydrating yourself like you mean it. This is
a song that resonates, sounds like John Shreeve has had
some fun over the years. Live cuts from a Jam Vehicle,
(35:20):
Live cuts from the Jam Vehicle, Live cuts from What's
Going on here. I'll tell you what's going on here.
Disembodied voice of my friend Tim Sooyer. It's live cuts
of Amanitas. Frankie has given us three live cuts today,
all of which are available by the way on Toasterland.
You can go check these out, as opposed to them
(35:40):
being from his secret box sets with no metadata, in
which I received thousands of complaints. First live track Frankie
is the aforementioned jam Cruise seven January fourth, two thousand
and nine. Fung Gui band on a cruise ship Up.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Incredible drum sound big.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Oh my, this pulses. Wow, this is uh, this feels
much more driving than what's on the record, Frankie. Interesting
is that something that I think the Frogger game was
(37:11):
doing that too. It certainly had a pulse to it
that yeah, superseded what's on the record. Did Did you
find that that helped endear the song even more to you?
Because I've like, I'm starting to feel little little more
of that pulse, that tempo, and you know that instrumentation
absolutely okay.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
But the thing about the lap renditions, great as they are,
is that the there's certainly a compelling percussion. But what
I really like about the studio cut is that if
you listen closely, there's some relatively complex high hat work
(37:49):
there in the hooks. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
I'm not sure if that's a high head or Visus
playing around with some kind of like one of those
foot sympole things like he has for do It to Twang.
I can't really tell. I think I think it's just
one of those, or maybe tambourine or something.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
But but it adds a great touch to the song
for sure.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Oh yeah, I agree. It just adds that different register,
so you can you can feel things ratcheting up a
little bit. Let's go to May twenty third, two thousand
and nine, Chilicota, Illinois for summer camp. I think we
were here for mushroom men. Well we're back summer camp. Rip.
Let's hear some cello, all right, so we're stretching out here. Mean,
(39:03):
Sam always got really cool uh sound on his cello.
Sounded great. I'm gonna move forward a bit so we
can also sample via braaphone. Oh, they brought it down.
(39:34):
This is great. It's like he's doing a melotron impersonation.
H I always appreciate Mike Dylan. Mike Dylan, we salute you.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
So did you hear what I meant with them taking
the song places after the second hook?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah, you bet. That cello outing as well as viaboraphone
and then and then less kind of just dropping, you know,
dropping him down in volume as well as really simplifying
his baseline to slow things down for Mike was very cool. Yeah,
this is a seven minute rendition, so they're they're stretching
it out here. I got one more and this is
(40:40):
Pompino Beach, Frankie May thirtieth, Pompino Beach, Florida. This one
is about six minutes, so this is of course you
gotta start with that. You know what I think I'm
(41:38):
equating this to in my mind is it's like with
this March part, because I was saying, like that that
first part, that box riff very reminiscent of some more
recent Lesson Brimus tracks, or at least from two thousand
and nine onward. But then this part, this b part, uh,
just makes me think of gold and Ticket. So just
(42:03):
like kind of that bounce from Golden Ticket is I'm
hearing that here. So I'm not saying they're identical, but
certainly reminiscent for me. And that's okay, interesting live cuts, Frankie.
This one, like I said, no real memory of it
from two thousand and nine, and I think I forgot
(42:25):
to say that. When they played it in twenty three, Frankie,
I couldn't place it. I knew it was a Fung
Guy track, but I couldn't remember the name. And I
overheard somebody nearby me saying Amanitas, and that's what prompted
me to remember. So it had been so long at
that point, I couldn't even remember the name of the track.
(42:46):
So gotten it twice now and I might have to
revisit some of these to listen to these live cuts.
I think the life cuts is where I am going
to find more rewarding listens. You see how they took
it out. Final thoughts on this one.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
I was real I caught it at Westbury. They did
perform this one right before my eyes, and just after
they had wished happy birthday to one of the crew
members and then Less launched into Amanitas, which told me
that it's someone's favorite somewhere behind the scenes. And the
(43:25):
studio version, I think it's just immaculate. And that's something
that I returned to very often when I'm listening to
two random songs here and there. So I think Amanitas
is one of the strongest on the album, and I'm
glad the video game exists if it's what had to
had to happen in order for these songs to exist.
(43:49):
Further down the line.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Yeah, I remember these these first two songs were part
of the effort to build a cachet with his kids.
So we're here in that product right now. Uh I
guess uh, I guess that's it for Amanita's Uh So
I'll say this, Uh, Frankie, stay out of the forest
(44:12):
because the Amanitas have been tracked. Next time, Frankie, we're
gonna meet a Red State.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Girl self for crea self proclaimed bonafide.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
He's bona fide, primates primetrons people have ever. Thank you
all so much for listening. We'll see you next time,
whether it's fungi or foe later days will a mas
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