October 13, 2025 • 36 mins
This week, we tackle a track that could easily appear on a Tom Waits record, most notably Real Gone, which Les Claypool actually guested on. There's something about the percussive backbeat and dirty upright that screams Waits, but Les puts his own spin on it with tripped-out high register upright and clean vocals. Josh and Frankie agree that this is one of the more memorable tracks from the record so far, and the lyrical story, while a variation on the standard Claypool lyrical themes, are engaging and delightful because of how the story is told.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Josh freaky.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
What a couple of dump shits.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Hello, Primates, You've found Primus Tracks. Congratulations. There are many
places to find Primus Tracks. The best places right here
on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome. If you want the social media.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Version of Primus Tracks, Instagram and threads are your friends,
and there's an email address Primus Tracks pod at gmail
dot com. There's actually one more social media friend and
that's Facebook. There's a Primus Tracks page there.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I am Josh.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I am one of the hosts of Primus Tracks. He
hosts Primus Tracks from the thirty ninth floor of Primus
Tracks Towers in Mexico City. Luxurious accommodations for him as
he looks out over the smog field skies of Mexico City.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's Frankie Bearstein.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Hey, Josh, Welcome back Frankie. Today we are talking about
you can't tell Eryl anything, anything, anything whatsoever. Believe me,
I've tried this one. Frankie is track six from the record.
So as we finish this episode, we will be halfway
through a Fungui and foe.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Wow, it just keeps reading.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It feels like that.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Before we get into today's track, Frankie, we have miscellaneous debris.
And I hear we have a special birthday.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Boy, Primus Tracks Towers wishes to congratulate Liz Claypole on
his birthday.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Of course that'll be a belated birthday when.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It is your belated birthday.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yes, if I recall correctly, he the man himself is
the Colonel.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Is sixty two. Indeed, Wow, still plunking away at the
base after all those years.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Good for him, amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, here's the sixty two. More.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Speaking of the birthday, boy, he wrote a little song
called you Can't Tell Errol Anything, Track six from your
Fungui and Fox record from two thousand and nine. This
track checks in at three minutes and fifty five seconds.
Your credit servis follows Frankie Les clay Toole, who I
think is related to Less Claypool basses, vocals and percussion,
(02:31):
and Mike Dee on viaberaphone.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
And that's it. These two guys created this track.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Now we've been cataloging throughout this record which tracks are
related to the Funguy element that is the mushroomn video
game and the Faux element which is the Pig Hunt film.
This is our second track in which the song has
no affiliation, and so this one must have been a
separate composition for the record. What do we know about
(02:59):
this one, Frankie.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It was performed a first share of times between two
thousand and nine and twenty ten. And actually there's a
video on YouTube. I think I told you about this before.
There's a YouTube video where Madis Yahu joined Let's Clipple
on stage for this song.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Oh this is the one, Okay, I've always been I've
always wondered if Matisyahu picked that particular track because it
was his favorite, or if less felt that was a
particular song that would benefit from his contribution.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
It seems like a pretty lively number, so I wonder
if that's the occasion for it, that there's their space
for somebody to lay down some vocals over it.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yes, and at the time when that took place, I
think Matis Yaho was not out of place with the
overall five of the Fung Guy ensemble and the song.
I think, as I told you on the previous episode
or a couple of episodes back, he has changed quite
a bit, not only of his image, but his music
(04:01):
has also changed quite a lot. I'm not sure if
you're familiar with his output.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Well, when he was tooling around with the Fun Guy Band,
he certainly had the dirty hip hop vibe to him
from what I recall, And then, as you suggested, he's
now in his mad Men mode. I don't know what
his music sound like, sounds like excuse me with that
shift in image?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Have you heard it? Have you heard his music since
he made this change?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, I've heard. I've heard a few songs from his
later albums, and I think his output is okay. I
think it's all right for an artist to evolve, but
I think Youth will. I think Youth will always hold
up as his best record.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Is he what was he doing now? Light jazz?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
The last song I heard was kind of adult contemporary pop.
No oh, yeah, pop, orientive.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Music, fastinating. He certainly has gone on some kind of journey.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
But I think, yeah, I think he's still exploring reggae
and you know, those kinds of genres. But he has
certainly changed, which which is fine. The thing about Errol,
which I think is interesting, is that, unlike other Fungui
songs which were completely dropped from the set list except
for Amanitas, as we mentioned that, one came back. But
(05:23):
the thing with Errol is that after twenty ten it
made a few surprise appearances here and there, so believe
it or not, it got performed in twenty eleven at
the Hop Monk.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Tavern twenty eleven. Who was performing.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Then Clayton, Jay Lane, Mike Dillon, Skerrick Bradhauser on Bowser saxophone. Yes,
two saxophones on that show.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Oh, very cool, and.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
They performed Errol. And then do you recall the first
ever Bastar Jazz performance that took place at the San
Francisco Civic Center.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I don't off the top of my head, but was
that with Stanton?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So yeah, that was Stanton Moore, Mike Dylan's Kerrick and
Gaby Lala was a guest on one track. You know
the thing about Bastard Jazz, we know that it's improvisational,
there's no set list in the strict sense of the word.
But they did jam a bit on Errol during that performance.
So that goes back to twenty seventeen and the last
(06:27):
performance to date, I mean, not the whole song, but
it was teased again by Bastard Jazz at NAPA in
twenty twenty two, which means that yeah, which means that
Errol has remained relatively fresh in Less's mind in recent years.
There's definitely something about this song in particular that he enjoys.
(06:48):
But I have something very surprising to share with you.
Primus twenty seventeen the festival Pier in Philadelphia. Of course,
Errol was not on the set list, was rehearsed prior
to the show, and that's a very interesting rehearsal they
went through. So bear in mind this is Primus, right, yeah,
(07:09):
but they went through Heart of the sun Rise. Why wise,
mister Wright, you can't tell Errol anything? And then a
few Primus numbers.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
What the world were they doing in twenty seventeen. That's nuts, uh, fascinating.
That's the first I've heard of that soundcheck lineup.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Wow, that's wild begs. It begs the question of how
they jammed it out or performed it or what have you.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
It is worth pointing out that it might be difficult
to identify this because of the treatment of the instrument
on the song. But Errol is actually an upright number.
Had you noticed that before?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
So there's the tripped out, upright solo, but also the
low register.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yes, I was looking at I was looking at live
performances on YouTube, and and he's playing the upright bass
on this song.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Oh okay, Yeah, he's certainly running it through some dirty
stuff to get that get that tone.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I thought it was.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
The upright initially for that low register bassline. As I
was listening to this track in preparation for the first
time in sixteen years Frankie, I was struck by that
low register bas tone from that upright and it reminded
me of Elephant Ghost, which certainly has a similar sound
to it.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And it's it's thumping, and.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
It's low register and it's dirty, which I love that
from that upright.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
And there's there's a motif throughout the song, right. I
don't know if it's the upright or which particular instrument
is doing that particular noise that he's prevalent throughout the song.
Do you know which one I'm referring to?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
It's probably the upright in the upper register, because there's
a lot of bird call sounds and then that dripped
out lick. Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot
of upright sounds on this one, and he's laying on
the effects thick, so they're they're echoee, they're meandering, they're
hanging in the air, so to speak.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Can you sample a bit of the track for the listeners?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I would be happy to.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Actually, you know, this record, Frankie received a lot of
comparisons to Tom Waits at the time of release and
in subsequent years. You know, I don't know if that
was completely warranted in my re listen until this track.
This track, to me sounds like it could fit on
the Real Gone release from Tom Waits. Really, all that's
(09:45):
missing is Casey Waits messing around on a turntable, and
you've you're pretty close to approximating a track from Real Gone.
The percussion loop, that dirty instrumentation, and of course are
nefarious subject the lyrics in Errol and this is interestingly Frankie.
(10:07):
First of all, I had no memory of this track,
and I really enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
I think things pick up very well with this song
after search. George Martin.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah, Interestingly, the two tracks that we've sampled so far
on the record that are not affiliated with video games
or movies are the two that I'm holding up as
the best of the record so far. And You're right,
it does bring. It does bring a bit of a
bounce and a hop after George Martin and lyrically Frankie.
(10:43):
It's a companion piece to George Martin to me because
in George Martin, Less's attempting to follow the seemingly contradictory
advice that he's receiving from influential adults in his life mom, dad, teacher, doctor,
whereas Errol won't.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Listen to anyone.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So we have that irony here with the pairing of
these two tracks. I find this track one that I
believe I'm gonna come back to more so than the
others that we've listened to on this record so far.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
What is it? So, what is it about this particular
number that you find engaging.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
I think it's it's a bit more up tempo, and
I just think having that percussion and really low register
upright as a foundation that keeps moving is really useful.
Because you know, we've talked about some of these other
tracks feeling sparse and not moving ahead, and Less even
(11:43):
said this music oozed from him, So some of these
tracks are oozing. This one moves a bit more than
molasses uphill on a cold day. This is This one
moves a bit, and I appreciate the vocal delivery and
the tripped out upper register upright solo slash lick that
he played.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
There's there's a lot to.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Like about this one, and it just comes together for
me as well, and so much like Red State Girl,
which felt like a more cohesive song as opposed to
the ones that were written for video game and movie.
So I wonder if it's just the way that they
were conceived and constructed differs. And what I mean by
(12:23):
that is Red State Girl and in this track Errol
as opposed to the movie tracks and video game tracks.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Because I guess he had to maybe he had to
put in a little more effort to create songs from
scratch as opposed to the others where he just wrote
lyrics for instrumentation which have already been recorded with right.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
There's something too that, yeah, And so perhaps, you know,
perhaps forcing those lyrics into those instrumentals was a different
kind of task and just writing, you know, writing a
song and having some lyrics in mind, perchance for this
one was more natural.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I'm this is all conjecture.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
You know, we have an idea of the primus unless
Claypable songwriting process, you know, and it's it's it's a
bit different than constructing something piece by piece and putting
it together for something else, you know, some kind of
other release.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I wanted to play a.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Portion of the tune that I really enjoyed because the
vocal delivery, that's another thing I really like Frankie. The
vocal delivery is really loose, but Less is hitting his marks.
And what I mean by that is he hitting the
end of the bars, which is not unusual for him,
but he unlocks his vocals from the rhythm of the
song more often than not, and that provides that sense
(13:44):
of flow here.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
It is trained anything. As long as he's paid, you
gotta project.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
He's quick to your age.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You just don't bitch about the service or crypty the grain.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
As you can't tell you anything. Narrow knows anything.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
So yeah, that that high pitch thing, I think is
from the upright uh. And then that last iteration of
you can't tell ero anything is really breathy and lower
register for Less. And that's not a voice voiceing that
you hear all the time from him. So there's there's
some things that are out there and newish, and that's
(14:27):
mixing with just that backbeat of a sort from that
percussion and vibraphone, excuse me, viabra phone. Yeah, so that
that is what's really coming together for me. There there
was even I don't know if you catch it in
that verse, there's even a bit of a voice crack
yes from us, which is always great. What he artificially
(14:51):
makes his voice crack.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
The high pitch noise coming out of the upright is
what immediately grabbed me the first time I heard this song.
It makes it very distinctive, I think.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Yeah, it reminded me of when he brings out the
upright on stage, and of course he always comes out
doing the swinging the thing around with the mask on,
you know, and kind of dueling with the bow. But
then he always goes above the nut and does those
really high pitched noises and just kind of gets us
ready for the use of the upright. But he's always
(15:23):
making those squeally, squeaky, squawky noises.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Do you remember how they came up with a coda
for Vernon the Company Man during the Fancy tour?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah, I think we sampled that live right.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yes, And the same thing happened with Errol. They created
a coda for the song for the live performances where
the instrumentation becomes more lively. The drums kick it up
a notch. I mean, it maintains the essence of the song,
but it's more upbeat. You'll hear it when we sample
the live cut.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Oh interesting, because this one is pretty chill, as much
of this record is, but it it flows and I
just think, once again that constant percussion certainly gives it
that feeling of movement, and so I appreciate that in
(16:14):
this one. I want to move ahead to listen to
that tripped out upright section here.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
So there's he's doing that trilling on the upright.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Really really great stuff there. That's a lot of fun
for me. It's just under four minutes and it's just
it's a head bopper. So I'm really interested to hear
that life cut in which they kick it up a notch,
because this is one I can just bop my head
along too for four minutes and be pretty happy with it.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
And something that I find while listening to this song
is that it is very evocative in terms of its
character and imagery. Whereas George Martin kind of takes you
out of the record because it's a real person and
less he's describing real life events. The cool thing about
(17:36):
Errol is that it goes back into that sort of
fantasy world that was prevalent throughout the record since the
first song. It's back to characters. And what I find
really cool is that the illustrations made by Travis Louis,
I think they perfectly encapsulate the essence of those characters.
So I don't know if you have seen a piece
(17:58):
by Travis Louis where he did like a ton of
characters on a single frame. It's a sequence where you
can see like over twenty characters lined up on a
single piece. Yeah, and all of them are very dapper,
wearing suits, and they have bow ties and their hair
(18:18):
is flipped back. But the thing about those characters is
that you could pick any random one and it could
be Eryl, it could be the guy from brid Sted Girl.
I mean, it could be anyone from this record. So
the artwork goes perfectly well with the music.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
I think you make a good point that and I'm
building on that that there's an element of fantasy and
surrealism to the artwork as well as to some of
the music and lyrics. And then to pull us out
of that with George Martin, to tell kind of a
straight ahead autobiographical moment in time is somewhat jarring. Suppose
(19:00):
and then this this character, even though Errol is is
a very brown character, and I think you know where
I'm going with that. It does put us back into
more along the realm of fantasy fiction and so on,
as opposed to just, you know, a straight ahead retelling
(19:22):
of something.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
And I think I agree with you on that. The
other thing, it doesn't pull me out.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
It's just an association I've always made with the name
of this track as I think of Errol Flynn. Are
you familiar with Aerol Flynn? He is one of the
biggest stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was
a massive movie star in that time period. Films he
was in god what year it was, in the thirties,
(19:47):
he was in Robin Hood. He was in a lot
of those adventure movies of the time. I know, I
know him from the Robin Hood film, with which I
saw years and years ago. But he was just probably
the biggest action star of his day. As you can imagine,
he got pretty rich, but was terrible with his money,
and he was an addict, you name it.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
He was probably addicted to it.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I always make that association because I think, oh, big
movie star, tons of money doing drugs. I don't think
he's going to listen to too many people either, And
we know.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
That list is a huge cinema fanatic, and he has
quoted some classic films as ranking among his favorites. So
you might be onto something.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Oh, I'm sure he's seen a lot of Errol Flynn
films over the years. Those show up, I'm sure on
Turner classic movies or what have you.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So what's your take on these lyrics?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Well, as far as the lyrics go, some of this
is standard fair by now, and that is by no
means a negative. We have an unsavory character with a
fatal flaw. In this case, it's always being right, or
I suppose his hard headedness.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
At the least.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I appreciate that. At the outset he is allegedly smart.
You know that Less in his lyrics says Errol's a
smart kid. And then it comes back around, of course,
with an ironic twist. He's allegedly smart, but not smart
enough to know what he doesn't know. Because he knows everything,
you know, he can do that project without actually learning
(21:23):
how to build whatever it is you're building. He can
fix whatever it is that needs fixing without ever having
fixed it before. He knows the vision for the prog
rock band. I think that's my favorite verse in the
whole thing. He knows right and nobody else knows anything.
He's He's always right, and it reminds me and I'm
(21:43):
going to take everybody back to high school humanities, probably
with a quote attributed to Socrates by Plato, which is,
I know that I'd own nothing, and all Socrates was
saying there was I am this much wiser than everybody
else because I know about my own ignorance and they don't,
(22:04):
and that is a mark of wisdom. Clearly Eryl does
not have that mark of wisdom, so he slips up
running weed. He does subpar work on those projects, not
that he would ever admit to it, of course, And
he got in arguments with his bandmates over the direction
of the band, and then took his pa and went home,
which I'm sure less those guys who have done that
(22:25):
over the years, and then brings back Errol the smart
boy at the end and confirms that he wouldn't listen
for shit.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
So there's a lot of great.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
That's something that I found very peculiar about the lyrics.
The verses are quite extensive, but the chorus is so simple.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Lines, and that's not unusual for less Claypool lyrics.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
It is not unusual, and it's very effective as well.
It's a great chorus. I think you can tell Errol
anything because Errol knows everything. It flows quite well.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, yeah, it's an easy rhyme with thing, thing, anything, everything,
but it works very well. You're absolutely right, you can't
tell him anything because he already knows everything.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
The end, there's a and there's a parallel between this
character and the character in the last song that closes
the record, Roscoe. We'll get to that when we speak
about the song, but essentially both characters could could be
the same in terms of their attitude towards life.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
I don't remember Roscoe.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Oh those great Yeah, you'll you'll get there. We'll get
to that one, yes, but remember Errol and Roscoe. You
know the another two piece puff.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Another line that jumped out of me from these lyrics
is twenty pounds past the limit, twenty miles over the speed.
I think that's really nice, nicely written, nicely phrased, and
for some reason it sounds like something Doctor Seuss might write.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I didn't go hunting down my old Doctor SEUs books
to find whatever book had a similar syntax to it.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
But that's where my mind went.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Maybe it's maybe it's because of Les's background, but Errol
said he was the jack of all trades, work on
damn near anything, just as long as he's paid. It
sounds like carpentry to me.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
That would be on the menu for him, absolutely. You know,
there's the elongated portion of that is jack of all trades,
master of none, and I think that applies to Errol.
You know, he can sort of do it, but he's
certainly no expert. Whatever it might be, electrical, carpentry, plumbing.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
And if you take, if you take a glimpse at
the last verse, Errol claims his business was fully legit,
soar up and down, he'd never get beat. Great rhyme, yep,
but now incarceration has forced him to quit. This is
another classic example of Les delivering a lesson right in
(24:58):
his songs. Yeah, kind of reminds me of Golden Boys.
Reminds me of other songs where he sets up the
background for the character and then near the end of
the song that that character gets served.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Sounds like Errol wasn't licensed and bonded if he's going
to jail over his shoddy work, So he didn't he
didn't do the leg work there, didn't do is didn't
do the things that would be useful for covering himself
in those events. Once again, we're treading similar ground and
that is just fine. There's there's always another wrinkle to it.
(25:32):
There's always something else you can mine from this kind
of person character, character trait, and you can tell you know,
and that's kind of you know, take any author, write,
any popular author. They've told the in large part, they've
told the same story in every book, but they are
(25:54):
they're changing the names, they're changing the plot points, they're
changing locations, what have you. You can boil it down. It's
more or less the same story, but it's still entertaining
because they know how to tell it. And that's I
think one of Less's greatest strengths.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yes, and you know, it's it's interesting because the proc
rock band and the weave. Of course it hints to
something contemporary, right, something modern. But yeah, I think it's
because of the instrumentation, the imagery of the records and
the overall five of the album that I don't envision
(26:30):
er or Less anyone modern.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Oh interesting, So are you're couching him in eighteen ninety seven?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
The prog rock band part was interesting to me too,
because it not that it was jarring, but because of
the As you know, the instrumentation is certainly not proggy
and this this guy's got a PA and a prog band.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Good for him?
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Other than State Girl and Boonville, which had music videos
produced for them, and of course Days stood out enough
for List to re record them for the Forefoot Check album, yea.
Other than those two and Amanitas, of course, which he
considered strong enough to also be performed by the Frog Brigade,
(27:21):
the rest of the record has pretty much been relented
to obscurity. So what do you think is about Errol
in particular that lingered in Less's mind and compelled him
to keep performing the track a few times after this
album cycle was considered finished.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
I do wonder if it's the lyrical content that's stuck
in his head. Maybe he really likes the rhythm and
meter of it, and it just rattles around in there
and every once in a while.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
He just wants to spit it out on stage. That's
what I think. I could be completely wrong.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
That the percussion pattern is not complicated, and so you
can hear that percussion pattern, you know, on different gear.
So if somebody's playing a drum kit, they can play
a similar pattern. And maybe that sparks the memory for
him too, that.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
He might also enjoy performing it on the upright right.
Maybe a fun song for him to play.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Could be that too.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
We know he loves his upright and we love it too.
We've talked about it enough, Frankie. Yes, those beautiful tones
not from an upright base could only mean one thing. Frankie,
it's time for Primeates Takes. If you want your take
(28:40):
on the track upper discussion.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Read right here on the podcast.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
All you have to do is go to Patreon dot
com forward slash Primus tracks. This is the universal constant
over there, no matter what tier level or whatever the
hell that is they call it over there. Our pal
Johnny Pirona, who created the the Mates Take song that
you're hearing right now, says Errol is a fantastic track.
(29:05):
I put it on at band practice years ago, and
the drummer said that it sounded like the background track
in a movie scene where people are cutting up Heroin in.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
A dimly lit room.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
There's a cool version on YouTube of them doing this
with Madus Yahoo. That's worth six to seven minutes of
your time. There you go, So Johnny knows of the
Madus Yahoo cut. Interesting that Johnny, Johnny's bandmate that is
made the comparison to a movie scene, because we've got
a handful of songs on this record that are straight
(29:39):
out of movie scenes. Ethan from Kentucky says, really big
fan of Errol. This one has even made it to
my daily playlist. The only thing I feel this song
is missing is a six slide whistle solo that'll be
on the thirtieth anniversary remix. That Frankie is overseeing Eric
in Australia, who has been and bright, Bubbly and Sonny
(30:01):
up to this point, says, contrasting with my less favorite
tracks on the album, Errol is an absolute cracker, haunting
in tone, lyrically and vocally dark as the inside of
a juice bottle, bong stashed inside a tackle box, breathy
and ethereal, a foe of imposing lackadaisical disdain. Well, that
(30:23):
was poetic. Thanks Eric Goodness. Eric's volume of poetry will
be out next year. And John Shreeve sums it up
this way. Errol doesn't really require comment.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Right shots fired.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Live cutsman, a GEM vehicle, Live cuts fan the Gem vehicle,
Live cutsman, what's going on here?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
I'll tell you what's going on here. It's live cuts.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
If you can't tell Errol anything, and believe me, I've tried.
We have two live cuts today, Frankie. One is from
two thousand and nine at Summer Camp. The other is
twenty ten at an undisclosed location. Must be from Frankie's
box set. Let's go to Summer Camp first, and I
(31:12):
would imagine that the Summer Camp recording is available on
toaster correct direct excellent.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
And are you going to comment on the envelope delight
underneath that?
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Absolutely heavenly.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Let's move ahead in summer Camp and hear some viabraophone.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Hm.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
This actually sounds somewhat chill live and it's this one
feels about the same tempo as an album recording, so
it's pretty nice and laid back there in that live setting.
Let's move forward to our mystery show in twenty ten,
and hear the intro.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
To that one I heard of.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Yeehaw, Frankie's given the stink eye to those people that
are talking about spot. That sounds nice and dirty for
(33:42):
your special treat. Let's hear how they rounded this one
out live. I foresee a trip hop remix of Errol.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So what do you think about this quota?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
I like it.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
I like that they incorporate the kit and make it
a bit louder.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
I think it, at least on this recording, it sounds
like there's a bit of a limitation to how you
can really raise the dynamic with the instruments that are
at hand to.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Match the energy of that drum kit.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
But I think, you know, I recall from see them
in two thousand and nine that wasn't an issue, So
I think it's just a product of the of that recording.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
But it sounds good. I like that lively ending.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
And the upright sounds fantastic.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I do say it does.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Perhaps, I mean it could be that we have heard
I mean, there are great songs. I'm not complaining they're great,
but perhaps it could be that we've heard Gillie's and
Crinkle and this song so many times that when we
hear a different upright number, we tend to get very excited.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Absolutely that upright comes out. It sparks the guessing game
when the upright comes out as well, and so you
have a pretty good idea of what's coming. If you're
at a Primas show, if you're at a less Claypool show,
you probably have a decent guess. But it's always exciting
to see the first note that he bows because you
(35:57):
know very soon after what you're about to get, and
it's a it matches. You know that that release matches
the anticipation, and so it's a it's a joy. Yeah,
well I can say, Errol, I'm telling you this, you've
been tracked. Next time, Frankie, we've vented side A of
your Fung Guy and Foe Vinyl.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Release to flip the record.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
So we're flipping it over and then we're going to
take a bite out of life. Excellent, delicious, dare I say,
Steamy Primates, Prime Matrons, people of ever. Thank you all
so much for listening and for your support. If there's
an Errol in your life, don't bother. Let them learn
the hard way.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Later days with the mace
It's Josh freaky.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
What a couple of dump shits.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Hello, Primates, You've found Primus Tracks. Congratulations. There are many
places to find Primus Tracks. The best places right here
on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome. If you want the social media.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Version of Primus Tracks, Instagram and threads are your friends,
and there's an email address Primus Tracks pod at gmail
dot com. There's actually one more social media friend and
that's Facebook. There's a Primus Tracks page there.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I am Josh.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I am one of the hosts of Primus Tracks. He
hosts Primus Tracks from the thirty ninth floor of Primus
Tracks Towers in Mexico City. Luxurious accommodations for him as
he looks out over the smog field skies of Mexico City.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's Frankie Bearstein.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Hey, Josh, Welcome back Frankie. Today we are talking about
you can't tell Eryl anything, anything, anything whatsoever. Believe me,
I've tried this one. Frankie is track six from the record.
So as we finish this episode, we will be halfway
through a Fungui and foe.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Wow, it just keeps reading.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It feels like that.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Before we get into today's track, Frankie, we have miscellaneous debris.
And I hear we have a special birthday.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Boy, Primus Tracks Towers wishes to congratulate Liz Claypole on
his birthday.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Of course that'll be a belated birthday when.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It is your belated birthday.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yes, if I recall correctly, he the man himself is
the Colonel.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Is sixty two. Indeed, Wow, still plunking away at the
base after all those years.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Good for him, amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, here's the sixty two. More.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Speaking of the birthday, boy, he wrote a little song
called you Can't Tell Errol Anything, Track six from your
Fungui and Fox record from two thousand and nine. This
track checks in at three minutes and fifty five seconds.
Your credit servis follows Frankie Les clay Toole, who I
think is related to Less Claypool basses, vocals and percussion,
(02:31):
and Mike Dee on viaberaphone.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
And that's it. These two guys created this track.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Now we've been cataloging throughout this record which tracks are
related to the Funguy element that is the mushroomn video
game and the Faux element which is the Pig Hunt film.
This is our second track in which the song has
no affiliation, and so this one must have been a
separate composition for the record. What do we know about
(02:59):
this one, Frankie.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It was performed a first share of times between two
thousand and nine and twenty ten. And actually there's a
video on YouTube. I think I told you about this before.
There's a YouTube video where Madis Yahu joined Let's Clipple
on stage for this song.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Oh this is the one, Okay, I've always been I've
always wondered if Matisyahu picked that particular track because it
was his favorite, or if less felt that was a
particular song that would benefit from his contribution.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
It seems like a pretty lively number, so I wonder
if that's the occasion for it, that there's their space
for somebody to lay down some vocals over it.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yes, and at the time when that took place, I
think Matis Yaho was not out of place with the
overall five of the Fung Guy ensemble and the song.
I think, as I told you on the previous episode
or a couple of episodes back, he has changed quite
a bit, not only of his image, but his music
(04:01):
has also changed quite a lot. I'm not sure if
you're familiar with his output.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Well, when he was tooling around with the Fun Guy Band,
he certainly had the dirty hip hop vibe to him
from what I recall, And then, as you suggested, he's
now in his mad Men mode. I don't know what
his music sound like, sounds like excuse me with that
shift in image?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Have you heard it? Have you heard his music since
he made this change?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, I've heard. I've heard a few songs from his
later albums, and I think his output is okay. I
think it's all right for an artist to evolve, but
I think Youth will. I think Youth will always hold
up as his best record.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Is he what was he doing now? Light jazz?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
The last song I heard was kind of adult contemporary pop.
No oh, yeah, pop, orientive.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Music, fastinating. He certainly has gone on some kind of journey.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
But I think, yeah, I think he's still exploring reggae
and you know, those kinds of genres. But he has
certainly changed, which which is fine. The thing about Errol,
which I think is interesting, is that, unlike other Fungui
songs which were completely dropped from the set list except
for Amanitas, as we mentioned that, one came back. But
(05:23):
the thing with Errol is that after twenty ten it
made a few surprise appearances here and there, so believe
it or not, it got performed in twenty eleven at
the Hop Monk.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Tavern twenty eleven. Who was performing.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Then Clayton, Jay Lane, Mike Dillon, Skerrick Bradhauser on Bowser saxophone. Yes,
two saxophones on that show.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Oh, very cool, and.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
They performed Errol. And then do you recall the first
ever Bastar Jazz performance that took place at the San
Francisco Civic Center.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I don't off the top of my head, but was
that with Stanton?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So yeah, that was Stanton Moore, Mike Dylan's Kerrick and
Gaby Lala was a guest on one track. You know
the thing about Bastard Jazz, we know that it's improvisational,
there's no set list in the strict sense of the word.
But they did jam a bit on Errol during that performance.
So that goes back to twenty seventeen and the last
(06:27):
performance to date, I mean, not the whole song, but
it was teased again by Bastard Jazz at NAPA in
twenty twenty two, which means that yeah, which means that
Errol has remained relatively fresh in Less's mind in recent years.
There's definitely something about this song in particular that he enjoys.
(06:48):
But I have something very surprising to share with you.
Primus twenty seventeen the festival Pier in Philadelphia. Of course,
Errol was not on the set list, was rehearsed prior
to the show, and that's a very interesting rehearsal they
went through. So bear in mind this is Primus, right, yeah,
(07:09):
but they went through Heart of the sun Rise. Why wise,
mister Wright, you can't tell Errol anything? And then a
few Primus numbers.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
What the world were they doing in twenty seventeen. That's nuts, uh, fascinating.
That's the first I've heard of that soundcheck lineup.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Wow, that's wild begs. It begs the question of how
they jammed it out or performed it or what have you.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
It is worth pointing out that it might be difficult
to identify this because of the treatment of the instrument
on the song. But Errol is actually an upright number.
Had you noticed that before?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
So there's the tripped out, upright solo, but also the
low register.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yes, I was looking at I was looking at live
performances on YouTube, and and he's playing the upright bass
on this song.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Oh okay, Yeah, he's certainly running it through some dirty
stuff to get that get that tone.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I thought it was.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
The upright initially for that low register bassline. As I
was listening to this track in preparation for the first
time in sixteen years Frankie, I was struck by that
low register bas tone from that upright and it reminded
me of Elephant Ghost, which certainly has a similar sound
to it.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And it's it's thumping, and.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
It's low register and it's dirty, which I love that
from that upright.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
And there's there's a motif throughout the song, right. I
don't know if it's the upright or which particular instrument
is doing that particular noise that he's prevalent throughout the song.
Do you know which one I'm referring to?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
It's probably the upright in the upper register, because there's
a lot of bird call sounds and then that dripped
out lick. Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot
of upright sounds on this one, and he's laying on
the effects thick, so they're they're echoee, they're meandering, they're
hanging in the air, so to speak.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Can you sample a bit of the track for the listeners?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I would be happy to.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Actually, you know, this record, Frankie received a lot of
comparisons to Tom Waits at the time of release and
in subsequent years. You know, I don't know if that
was completely warranted in my re listen until this track.
This track, to me sounds like it could fit on
the Real Gone release from Tom Waits. Really, all that's
(09:45):
missing is Casey Waits messing around on a turntable, and
you've you're pretty close to approximating a track from Real Gone.
The percussion loop, that dirty instrumentation, and of course are
nefarious subject the lyrics in Errol and this is interestingly Frankie.
(10:07):
First of all, I had no memory of this track,
and I really enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
I think things pick up very well with this song
after search. George Martin.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah, Interestingly, the two tracks that we've sampled so far
on the record that are not affiliated with video games
or movies are the two that I'm holding up as
the best of the record so far. And You're right,
it does bring. It does bring a bit of a
bounce and a hop after George Martin and lyrically Frankie.
(10:43):
It's a companion piece to George Martin to me because
in George Martin, Less's attempting to follow the seemingly contradictory
advice that he's receiving from influential adults in his life mom, dad, teacher, doctor,
whereas Errol won't.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Listen to anyone.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So we have that irony here with the pairing of
these two tracks. I find this track one that I
believe I'm gonna come back to more so than the
others that we've listened to on this record so far.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
What is it? So, what is it about this particular
number that you find engaging.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
I think it's it's a bit more up tempo, and
I just think having that percussion and really low register
upright as a foundation that keeps moving is really useful.
Because you know, we've talked about some of these other
tracks feeling sparse and not moving ahead, and Less even
(11:43):
said this music oozed from him, So some of these
tracks are oozing. This one moves a bit more than
molasses uphill on a cold day. This is This one
moves a bit, and I appreciate the vocal delivery and
the tripped out upper register upright solo slash lick that
he played.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
There's there's a lot to.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Like about this one, and it just comes together for
me as well, and so much like Red State Girl,
which felt like a more cohesive song as opposed to
the ones that were written for video game and movie.
So I wonder if it's just the way that they
were conceived and constructed differs. And what I mean by
(12:23):
that is Red State Girl and in this track Errol
as opposed to the movie tracks and video game tracks.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Because I guess he had to maybe he had to
put in a little more effort to create songs from
scratch as opposed to the others where he just wrote
lyrics for instrumentation which have already been recorded with right.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
There's something too that, yeah, And so perhaps, you know,
perhaps forcing those lyrics into those instrumentals was a different
kind of task and just writing, you know, writing a
song and having some lyrics in mind, perchance for this
one was more natural.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I'm this is all conjecture.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
You know, we have an idea of the primus unless
Claypable songwriting process, you know, and it's it's it's a
bit different than constructing something piece by piece and putting
it together for something else, you know, some kind of
other release.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I wanted to play a.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Portion of the tune that I really enjoyed because the
vocal delivery, that's another thing I really like Frankie. The
vocal delivery is really loose, but Less is hitting his marks.
And what I mean by that is he hitting the
end of the bars, which is not unusual for him,
but he unlocks his vocals from the rhythm of the
song more often than not, and that provides that sense
(13:44):
of flow here.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
It is trained anything. As long as he's paid, you
gotta project.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
He's quick to your age.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You just don't bitch about the service or crypty the grain.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
As you can't tell you anything. Narrow knows anything.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
So yeah, that that high pitch thing, I think is
from the upright uh. And then that last iteration of
you can't tell ero anything is really breathy and lower
register for Less. And that's not a voice voiceing that
you hear all the time from him. So there's there's
some things that are out there and newish, and that's
(14:27):
mixing with just that backbeat of a sort from that
percussion and vibraphone, excuse me, viabra phone. Yeah, so that
that is what's really coming together for me. There there
was even I don't know if you catch it in
that verse, there's even a bit of a voice crack
yes from us, which is always great. What he artificially
(14:51):
makes his voice crack.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
The high pitch noise coming out of the upright is
what immediately grabbed me the first time I heard this song.
It makes it very distinctive, I think.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Yeah, it reminded me of when he brings out the
upright on stage, and of course he always comes out
doing the swinging the thing around with the mask on,
you know, and kind of dueling with the bow. But
then he always goes above the nut and does those
really high pitched noises and just kind of gets us
ready for the use of the upright. But he's always
(15:23):
making those squeally, squeaky, squawky noises.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Do you remember how they came up with a coda
for Vernon the Company Man during the Fancy tour?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah, I think we sampled that live right.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yes, And the same thing happened with Errol. They created
a coda for the song for the live performances where
the instrumentation becomes more lively. The drums kick it up
a notch. I mean, it maintains the essence of the song,
but it's more upbeat. You'll hear it when we sample
the live cut.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Oh interesting, because this one is pretty chill, as much
of this record is, but it it flows and I
just think, once again that constant percussion certainly gives it
that feeling of movement, and so I appreciate that in
(16:14):
this one. I want to move ahead to listen to
that tripped out upright section here.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
So there's he's doing that trilling on the upright.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Really really great stuff there. That's a lot of fun
for me. It's just under four minutes and it's just
it's a head bopper. So I'm really interested to hear
that life cut in which they kick it up a notch,
because this is one I can just bop my head
along too for four minutes and be pretty happy with it.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
And something that I find while listening to this song
is that it is very evocative in terms of its
character and imagery. Whereas George Martin kind of takes you
out of the record because it's a real person and
less he's describing real life events. The cool thing about
(17:36):
Errol is that it goes back into that sort of
fantasy world that was prevalent throughout the record since the
first song. It's back to characters. And what I find
really cool is that the illustrations made by Travis Louis,
I think they perfectly encapsulate the essence of those characters.
So I don't know if you have seen a piece
(17:58):
by Travis Louis where he did like a ton of
characters on a single frame. It's a sequence where you
can see like over twenty characters lined up on a
single piece. Yeah, and all of them are very dapper,
wearing suits, and they have bow ties and their hair
(18:18):
is flipped back. But the thing about those characters is
that you could pick any random one and it could
be Eryl, it could be the guy from brid Sted Girl.
I mean, it could be anyone from this record. So
the artwork goes perfectly well with the music.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
I think you make a good point that and I'm
building on that that there's an element of fantasy and
surrealism to the artwork as well as to some of
the music and lyrics. And then to pull us out
of that with George Martin, to tell kind of a
straight ahead autobiographical moment in time is somewhat jarring. Suppose
(19:00):
and then this this character, even though Errol is is
a very brown character, and I think you know where
I'm going with that. It does put us back into
more along the realm of fantasy fiction and so on,
as opposed to just, you know, a straight ahead retelling
(19:22):
of something.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
And I think I agree with you on that. The
other thing, it doesn't pull me out.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
It's just an association I've always made with the name
of this track as I think of Errol Flynn. Are
you familiar with Aerol Flynn? He is one of the
biggest stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was
a massive movie star in that time period. Films he
was in god what year it was, in the thirties,
(19:47):
he was in Robin Hood. He was in a lot
of those adventure movies of the time. I know, I
know him from the Robin Hood film, with which I
saw years and years ago. But he was just probably
the biggest action star of his day. As you can imagine,
he got pretty rich, but was terrible with his money,
and he was an addict, you name it.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
He was probably addicted to it.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I always make that association because I think, oh, big
movie star, tons of money doing drugs. I don't think
he's going to listen to too many people either, And
we know.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
That list is a huge cinema fanatic, and he has
quoted some classic films as ranking among his favorites. So
you might be onto something.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Oh, I'm sure he's seen a lot of Errol Flynn
films over the years. Those show up, I'm sure on
Turner classic movies or what have you.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So what's your take on these lyrics?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Well, as far as the lyrics go, some of this
is standard fair by now, and that is by no
means a negative. We have an unsavory character with a
fatal flaw. In this case, it's always being right, or
I suppose his hard headedness.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
At the least.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I appreciate that. At the outset he is allegedly smart.
You know that Less in his lyrics says Errol's a
smart kid. And then it comes back around, of course,
with an ironic twist. He's allegedly smart, but not smart
enough to know what he doesn't know. Because he knows everything,
you know, he can do that project without actually learning
(21:23):
how to build whatever it is you're building. He can
fix whatever it is that needs fixing without ever having
fixed it before. He knows the vision for the prog
rock band. I think that's my favorite verse in the
whole thing. He knows right and nobody else knows anything.
He's He's always right, and it reminds me and I'm
(21:43):
going to take everybody back to high school humanities, probably
with a quote attributed to Socrates by Plato, which is,
I know that I'd own nothing, and all Socrates was
saying there was I am this much wiser than everybody
else because I know about my own ignorance and they don't,
(22:04):
and that is a mark of wisdom. Clearly Eryl does
not have that mark of wisdom, so he slips up
running weed. He does subpar work on those projects, not
that he would ever admit to it, of course, And
he got in arguments with his bandmates over the direction
of the band, and then took his pa and went home,
which I'm sure less those guys who have done that
(22:25):
over the years, and then brings back Errol the smart
boy at the end and confirms that he wouldn't listen
for shit.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
So there's a lot of great.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
That's something that I found very peculiar about the lyrics.
The verses are quite extensive, but the chorus is so simple.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Lines, and that's not unusual for less Claypool lyrics.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
It is not unusual, and it's very effective as well.
It's a great chorus. I think you can tell Errol
anything because Errol knows everything. It flows quite well.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, yeah, it's an easy rhyme with thing, thing, anything, everything,
but it works very well. You're absolutely right, you can't
tell him anything because he already knows everything.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
The end, there's a and there's a parallel between this
character and the character in the last song that closes
the record, Roscoe. We'll get to that when we speak
about the song, but essentially both characters could could be
the same in terms of their attitude towards life.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
I don't remember Roscoe.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Oh those great Yeah, you'll you'll get there. We'll get
to that one, yes, but remember Errol and Roscoe. You
know the another two piece puff.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Another line that jumped out of me from these lyrics
is twenty pounds past the limit, twenty miles over the speed.
I think that's really nice, nicely written, nicely phrased, and
for some reason it sounds like something Doctor Seuss might write.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I didn't go hunting down my old Doctor SEUs books
to find whatever book had a similar syntax to it.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
But that's where my mind went.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Maybe it's maybe it's because of Les's background, but Errol
said he was the jack of all trades, work on
damn near anything, just as long as he's paid. It
sounds like carpentry to me.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
That would be on the menu for him, absolutely. You know,
there's the elongated portion of that is jack of all trades,
master of none, and I think that applies to Errol.
You know, he can sort of do it, but he's
certainly no expert. Whatever it might be, electrical, carpentry, plumbing.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
And if you take, if you take a glimpse at
the last verse, Errol claims his business was fully legit,
soar up and down, he'd never get beat. Great rhyme, yep,
but now incarceration has forced him to quit. This is
another classic example of Les delivering a lesson right in
(24:58):
his songs. Yeah, kind of reminds me of Golden Boys.
Reminds me of other songs where he sets up the
background for the character and then near the end of
the song that that character gets served.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Sounds like Errol wasn't licensed and bonded if he's going
to jail over his shoddy work, So he didn't he
didn't do the leg work there, didn't do is didn't
do the things that would be useful for covering himself
in those events. Once again, we're treading similar ground and
that is just fine. There's there's always another wrinkle to it.
(25:32):
There's always something else you can mine from this kind
of person character, character trait, and you can tell you know,
and that's kind of you know, take any author, write,
any popular author. They've told the in large part, they've
told the same story in every book, but they are
(25:54):
they're changing the names, they're changing the plot points, they're
changing locations, what have you. You can boil it down. It's
more or less the same story, but it's still entertaining
because they know how to tell it. And that's I
think one of Less's greatest strengths.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yes, and you know, it's it's interesting because the proc
rock band and the weave. Of course it hints to
something contemporary, right, something modern. But yeah, I think it's
because of the instrumentation, the imagery of the records and
the overall five of the album that I don't envision
(26:30):
er or Less anyone modern.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Oh interesting, So are you're couching him in eighteen ninety seven?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
The prog rock band part was interesting to me too,
because it not that it was jarring, but because of
the As you know, the instrumentation is certainly not proggy
and this this guy's got a PA and a prog band.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Good for him?
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Other than State Girl and Boonville, which had music videos
produced for them, and of course Days stood out enough
for List to re record them for the Forefoot Check album, yea.
Other than those two and Amanitas, of course, which he
considered strong enough to also be performed by the Frog Brigade,
(27:21):
the rest of the record has pretty much been relented
to obscurity. So what do you think is about Errol
in particular that lingered in Less's mind and compelled him
to keep performing the track a few times after this
album cycle was considered finished.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
I do wonder if it's the lyrical content that's stuck
in his head. Maybe he really likes the rhythm and
meter of it, and it just rattles around in there
and every once in a while.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
He just wants to spit it out on stage. That's
what I think. I could be completely wrong.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
That the percussion pattern is not complicated, and so you
can hear that percussion pattern, you know, on different gear.
So if somebody's playing a drum kit, they can play
a similar pattern. And maybe that sparks the memory for
him too, that.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
He might also enjoy performing it on the upright right.
Maybe a fun song for him to play.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Could be that too.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
We know he loves his upright and we love it too.
We've talked about it enough, Frankie. Yes, those beautiful tones
not from an upright base could only mean one thing. Frankie,
it's time for Primeates Takes. If you want your take
(28:40):
on the track upper discussion.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Read right here on the podcast.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
All you have to do is go to Patreon dot
com forward slash Primus tracks. This is the universal constant
over there, no matter what tier level or whatever the
hell that is they call it over there. Our pal
Johnny Pirona, who created the the Mates Take song that
you're hearing right now, says Errol is a fantastic track.
(29:05):
I put it on at band practice years ago, and
the drummer said that it sounded like the background track
in a movie scene where people are cutting up Heroin in.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
A dimly lit room.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
There's a cool version on YouTube of them doing this
with Madus Yahoo. That's worth six to seven minutes of
your time. There you go, So Johnny knows of the
Madus Yahoo cut. Interesting that Johnny, Johnny's bandmate that is
made the comparison to a movie scene, because we've got
a handful of songs on this record that are straight
(29:39):
out of movie scenes. Ethan from Kentucky says, really big
fan of Errol. This one has even made it to
my daily playlist. The only thing I feel this song
is missing is a six slide whistle solo that'll be
on the thirtieth anniversary remix. That Frankie is overseeing Eric
in Australia, who has been and bright, Bubbly and Sonny
(30:01):
up to this point, says, contrasting with my less favorite
tracks on the album, Errol is an absolute cracker, haunting
in tone, lyrically and vocally dark as the inside of
a juice bottle, bong stashed inside a tackle box, breathy
and ethereal, a foe of imposing lackadaisical disdain. Well, that
(30:23):
was poetic. Thanks Eric Goodness. Eric's volume of poetry will
be out next year. And John Shreeve sums it up
this way. Errol doesn't really require comment.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Right shots fired.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Live cutsman, a GEM vehicle, Live cuts fan the Gem vehicle,
Live cutsman, what's going on here?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
I'll tell you what's going on here. It's live cuts.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
If you can't tell Errol anything, and believe me, I've tried.
We have two live cuts today, Frankie. One is from
two thousand and nine at Summer Camp. The other is
twenty ten at an undisclosed location. Must be from Frankie's
box set. Let's go to Summer Camp first, and I
(31:12):
would imagine that the Summer Camp recording is available on
toaster correct direct excellent.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
And are you going to comment on the envelope delight
underneath that?
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Absolutely heavenly.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Let's move ahead in summer Camp and hear some viabraophone.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Hm.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
This actually sounds somewhat chill live and it's this one
feels about the same tempo as an album recording, so
it's pretty nice and laid back there in that live setting.
Let's move forward to our mystery show in twenty ten,
and hear the intro.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
To that one I heard of.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Yeehaw, Frankie's given the stink eye to those people that
are talking about spot. That sounds nice and dirty for
(33:42):
your special treat. Let's hear how they rounded this one
out live. I foresee a trip hop remix of Errol.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So what do you think about this quota?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
I like it.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
I like that they incorporate the kit and make it
a bit louder.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
I think it, at least on this recording, it sounds
like there's a bit of a limitation to how you
can really raise the dynamic with the instruments that are
at hand to.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Match the energy of that drum kit.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
But I think, you know, I recall from see them
in two thousand and nine that wasn't an issue, So
I think it's just a product of the of that recording.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
But it sounds good. I like that lively ending.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
And the upright sounds fantastic.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I do say it does.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Perhaps, I mean it could be that we have heard
I mean, there are great songs. I'm not complaining they're great,
but perhaps it could be that we've heard Gillie's and
Crinkle and this song so many times that when we
hear a different upright number, we tend to get very excited.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Absolutely that upright comes out. It sparks the guessing game
when the upright comes out as well, and so you
have a pretty good idea of what's coming. If you're
at a Primas show, if you're at a less Claypool show,
you probably have a decent guess. But it's always exciting
to see the first note that he bows because you
(35:57):
know very soon after what you're about to get, and
it's a it matches. You know that that release matches
the anticipation, and so it's a it's a joy. Yeah,
well I can say, Errol, I'm telling you this, you've
been tracked. Next time, Frankie, we've vented side A of
your Fung Guy and Foe Vinyl.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Release to flip the record.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
So we're flipping it over and then we're going to
take a bite out of life. Excellent, delicious, dare I say,
Steamy Primates, Prime Matrons, people of ever. Thank you all
so much for listening and for your support. If there's
an Errol in your life, don't bother. Let them learn
the hard way.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Later days with the mace
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