April 21, 2025 • 57 mins
We tackle the title track this week with the help of old friend Lalo Fierro, who, even as a seasoned gigging bassist, maintains an uneven relationship with Claypool's bass playing, mostly due to its unpredictable nature, which is emblematic of today's track. We also consider the eternal question: Do you humor the crusty old guy's stories, or do you not engage? Plus, commentary on the recently completed drum search series (more to come?!) and killer live cuts.
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Transcript
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 (00:20):
Hello, Primates, you found Primus Tracks. Congratulations. There are so
many places of pine in Primus Tracks. If you so
desire at Primus Tracks on Instagram and threads. Primustrackspod at
gmail dot com is the email address. There's even a
Facebook page, remember Facebook, Yeah, it's called Primus Tracks and
just try to check it out. I am Josh. By
the way, the person who runs that Facebook page is
(00:40):
on the thirty ninth floor Primus Tracks Towers. It's Frankie Bearstein. Hey, Josh,
good morning Frankie. We are recording in the morning hours.
I am highly caffeinated. My energy levels are actually reaching
the thirty ninth floor.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I think for the first time.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Today we're talking about the title track.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Of Wales and Woe.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's called of Whales and Woe. We need help, Frankie,
because I don't know a lot about Wales. You don't
know a lot about woe. So we have we have
a third today. He is checking in from the Primus
Tracks field office in San Luis, Potasi. He is our
friend who has been on many episodes and I love
(01:20):
having him on. Lalo Fierro welcome back to Primus Tracks.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Thank you Frankie for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It's so great to have you back. We are on
the of Wales and Woe record. As we've made our
way through it thus far, we have everyone we've talked to,
and all the feedback has been this is a favorite
of so many people. I want to ask you, Lalo,
what do you appreciate about this record? And uh do
(01:52):
you have pleasant memories of it?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Now?
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I have a good memory result of that record.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
I remember I I was in my last twenties. In
that time, I was, I had my second child, and
I remember going to the record store in some SPOTOSI
because in that time, I don't think so.
Speaker 6 (02:15):
It's I don't know, but it was here in some
in Mexico, very hard to get the records and I
and I and I remember it.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Was a record store when you go make an order
and then just finger crows and hope a month or more.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
To get your new record.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
And I remember that, Yeah, you know Mexico what it
was no ease in that time to get a special record,
even Primus.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
It was very underground here.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
So and I remember it was a special, very special
for me because it was the.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
First solo Claypool album. In that time, I didn't know
what to expect from the cover everything.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
When I opened the the.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
The disc, it was a city, but it was beautiful because.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
The sailor, we'll call him a sailor.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
You know, my father lived and the sea and the
beaches all the time. All his house is full of
sheep's boats.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
So, oh my god, my my.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
My first thought was, my father is gonna love this album.
And yeah, and I remember hearing the first time was
kind of weird. When the life gives you the opportunity
to hear an album years after you heard, you heard
(03:53):
in perspective.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Yes and another thing, And that's happened to me.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
With this Thank you of ju I am dead with
you because here in this time it is more meaningful
for me hearing this album.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Oh wow, that's great, that's excellent. It takes you back
to that time when you first heard it and you
have a connection to your father, and you.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Know, I have a lot of changes in my life.
So the last five months I'm living.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
In the scene in the in the ocean Pacific.
Speaker 7 (04:30):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
Now you know, maybe I'm getting older, but I love
to see the sonsets in the beach.
Speaker 7 (04:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
I think it was a perfect time to hear again
this album.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Oh excellent, what a connection. That's beautiful.
Speaker 7 (04:47):
You you cannot stand still, You're always throwing.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, thank you for providing your context for this record.
I'm excited to talk about the title track with you today.
But as we offer do we have miscellaneous debris.
Speaker 7 (05:06):
Frankie Josh very exciting miscellaneous debris. Pork Soda and Sailing
Disease of Cheese are getting some much deserved attention that
they haven't had in terms of the reissue program because
it's always Frieze, all right, and we love freezeble the
(05:28):
Lord knows. I will keep ordering every variant they make,
but it's nice when they pay attention to the other
records once in a while. And this time we're getting
reissues of Saling Disease of Cheese and Pork Soda via
Brooklyn Vegan and Revolver, So you can order from either website,
(05:50):
but if you order from Brooklyn Vegan you get a
nice ten percent of your order, so I would recommend
people go there. And these are very interesting present because
Sailing the Seas of Cheese is being pressed on melt
Cheese Vinyl cool which it looks like it has some
kind of spots or yellowishes skid marks, which is really cool.
(06:12):
And the Pork Explosion varianto pork soda that just looks beautiful.
It's got all kinds of ski skid marks all over it,
and I can't wait to get my hands on both
of these.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I have to tell you, Frankie, skid marks has a
different connotation in the United States.
Speaker 7 (06:28):
Oh, I know exactly what it means, but that's what
they look like.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
So it looks like a messy person's underpants exactly. Okay,
I want to make sure you know that, yeah, because
listeners right now are going does he know what he's saying.
By the way, Brooklyn Vegan not a sponsor of Primus tracks,
but they're more than welcome to given Frankie's free pub
(06:52):
for them. You also mentioned that Frizzle and Suck on
This are continuously repressed. Of course, Lesson Prawn Song reacquired
the rights to them at the turn of the century,
and it's more difficult for those other records that they
did for Interscope because of who owns the masters. So
(07:14):
once they yeah, when they're able to get Interscope's attention,
they can do a repress or two and make some
easy money. Once again reminds me why doesn't Interscope re
release the Sausage LP or make a first ever pressing
of Hybel with the devil easy money clear I can
I can see now clear vinyl or white vinyl with
(07:38):
red skive marks.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Redskig marks is a sign of a major problem.
Speaker 7 (07:46):
You should go to your doctor exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
And also another piece of Miscellane's debris is all nine
drummer auditions have finally been posted to YouTube once a
week for nine glorious weeks, and so all of them
have been posted. You can judge for yourself who you
think best fit Primus. Given the ending of the ninth video,
(08:13):
which was Thomas Lang's audition, that we might see Gurgu
and John Hoffman's final run throughs with less I would
love to see.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I want to question for you what drummers have been
your favorite in this.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Series of I categorize the drummers by the quality of
the open jam, the quality of the Primus songs, and.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Just the overall personality and fit.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I think Gurgu's Primus performances were my favorite of all nine.
I think that the open jam with Nicky Glassbie really
resonated with me. She was incredible personality wise. I think
a lot of those auditioners would have fit in with
the band fairly well. But John Hoffman stood out because
(09:03):
he was so gracious and humble.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Have you watched them all? Lolo who?
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
I'm waiting like, uh, you know when you are waiting
for your favorite the show, And I was expecting the
Wednesday just for this reason. I I think my my
favoritely my favorite ones was too Nikki Glaspe. It was,
Oh my god, he's very she she's very funny. I
(09:33):
think she she was amazing and I think she makes
the connection.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
And the other one is is Gargo too?
Speaker 5 (09:41):
Wow? And I know that Thomas Preaching is a big
name and Thomas Lane is a big name between drummers,
But I think maybe the same that you that Nikki
and and Gargo were the best for me.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
I know they chose John and it's perfect for them, but.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, for sure that I think. I think they had
a lot of strong choices. Frankie did what stood out
to you from all nine.
Speaker 7 (10:11):
Of these unpopular opinion But I think Thomas Lank was
superf Yeah, he overplayed. He didn't let any song breathe.
He filled every single space with notes. But I dig that.
I love when when drummers do that, like when they
show off. Yeah, I think it's epic. So he probably
would have tamed down a little if he had gotten
(10:33):
the job. It reminded me of Stuart Copeland in some
in some segments.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
And it's funny that Stuart told Thomas to go crazy.
Speaker 8 (10:43):
Yeah, exactly, probably right, It's well, it's he's like, Oh,
using Thomas as a pawn to prank less is funny.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
You can go crazy when you're Stuart Copeland playing with
Les Claypool, be like or anybody, because you're Stuart, who's
gonna tell you to calm down? But exactly, But when
Thomas Lang comes into your band to audition, it's a
different dynamic and you can say, hey, bring it on
down a little bit, you know. I did note Lang's
(11:18):
audition because his tweakers in particular really channeled nineteen nineties
Tim Alexander. That really resonated with me.
Speaker 7 (11:27):
Yeah. It was also really cool to see Rory audition,
just because he's our friend and we know him, so
it was really amazing to see him jam with Less
and Lure. Yeah, I think he was also really great. Yeah, Huff,
of course, it was really great to see how the
chemistry was there in all senses, like not only with
(11:51):
the with the songs, but he also got along really
well with Less and Lure. His I think Sam Groveman
was also quite epic. I think they also got along
really well with him. Yeah, he's fantastic. So I would
say Hoffman, Growthman, Rory and Thomas Lang have been my favorites.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
They're no wrong answers.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Every second video was great.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I wonder, and Lolo, you're a working musician. I wonder
because of these audition videos, how many phone calls these
drummers are getting to audition for other bands because they
were also great.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Yeah, yeah, they have attention now, so maybe maybe they
don't get the they don't get the primus gig, they
are getting another good gigs because of this.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Audition I know. And what's very impressive.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
For me to see big names like Thomas Bridge and
Thomas Lang. You know, we have a team soccer team
here in Mexico. The name is CRUs Asoul and he's
a good team of soccer, but he always lose in
the finals. And I think, you know, maybe Thomas Langley
(13:11):
is a crusasulo drummer because he always yeah, he's always
in good auditions, but he don't get it. You know,
he was in the drink theater auditions, right. I don't
know what's happened with Thomas lang because maybe he's a
pretty guy. Maybe that's the problem.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
And I don't know, he's.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Too handsome, too handsome. So let's talk about of Wales
and Woe. The track this one checks in it three
minutes and three seconds. The credits are as follows Les
Claypool bass, vocals, guitar, drums, Mike Dylan, friend of the
Podcast on vibes, Scerrik friend of the podcast on tenor sacks,
(13:52):
and Gabby Lala, friend of the podcast on therem man Frankie, Wow,
what do you have for this?
Speaker 7 (13:58):
One? Of Wales and Whoa was premiered on June first,
two thousand and six, in San Francisco. It was on
heavy rotation throughout the entire Fancierra That's two thousand and six,
two thousand and seven, and two thousand and eight, and
it was also performed a few times by the Fungi
Band during their tour. So that's two different iterations of
(14:24):
the song. It was usually performed as per the album version,
with a little space from improvisation from some of the
band members. But essentially what we have is the studio
track translated to a live environment.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Did this one come back for the f Aubrigade twenty
three tour? It did not, So this one has not
been performed live for over fifteen years.
Speaker 7 (14:49):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Wow. But it certainly was a regular as you noted
and as I recalled, because this is of course at
the time on YouTube is starting to gain traction and
people are posting very grainy, very juttery videos of their
Less Claypool shows and fancy band shows, some pro shot
but there was there's a lot of footage out there
(15:12):
of this era, and so this track did seem to
be very common at the time. This one is unique
for a couple of reasons. On the record, we Less
is going through the Sandman mic. For one, the vocal
effect he has make it sound like some kind of
public address, you know, a giant announcement system in some
(15:33):
kind of facility. In my notes, I wrote, it has
a funky groove with this weaving guitar and saxophone, and
of course the theorem in as well, that is reminiscent
to me of the soundscape of some kind of manufacturing facility.
I always connected this track to the sausage track. Caution
should be used while operating him. Yeah, there's because there's
(15:57):
all this noise around you while you're concentrating on something important,
like the announcement of the vocals and what they're trying
to say. Let's say you're trying to focus on a
task and there's all this noise around you, and then
the subject of the song, this crusty old guy approaches
you and starts telling you stories while you're trying to
do something intricate or difficult. And to me also I
(16:20):
made the connection to caution should be used. This is
as close to a Captain Beefheart song as Claypool will
ever get.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Lollo, I see you.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Nodding in agreement. So generally I think this is more
locked in than a standard beef Heart song would be
in the sense of the foundation. The drums and bass
are in lockstep. There's a very discernible meter and rhythm
to it. Beef Heart parts all tend to do their
own thing, have their own time, signatures. There's a logic
(16:51):
to it because they eventually meet up at some point.
But there's all this stuff around the edges of this track,
which reminded me a lot of be fart as well
as the vocals. They largely ignore any kind of lyrical
rhyme and meter to go with the music. It is
essentially spoken word and so it's very cacnfidous, even for Claypool.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
General observations about this.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
One, I bring memory to me because in that year,
I remember Claypool get a new book, a new book,
Claypool Suit of pomp cast a novel.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yes, you remember, and it was in the same year.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
You know, I am a musician, I'm based player, but
it's important for me to read the lyrics.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah, so this time I have to use a.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
Lot of Google trans translator because a lot of fancy
word for me. And then I remember I buy the
novel I have readen. Yeah, oh, I'm gonna read it tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
I have to use a lot of Google's translator.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
I think right now, I don't know if he was
a good uh littor student.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
I can't see in the lyrics the grterer moment for him.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
So yeah, yeah, and he uses a lot of uncommon words,
not a lot of everyday words. Yes, so if I
was reading these lyrics in Espanol, I would pick up
on most of it. But a word like gurgle, I
don't know how to say gurgle and Espanol like I
don't know so his chin with creeping dangle. Those are
(18:42):
words that make sense in English, but you don't normally order.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Them that way.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And so there are a lot of pieces of this,
these lyrics in particular, that could be confusing.
Speaker 7 (18:54):
I would refer I would refer to these tracks. Josh
asked the tongue of the record.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Oh, yes, because we are we had the bicep. Yes,
a crutch, this tongue.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
So what the song that give the name to the album?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So yes, Oh sure, so it speaks to the album, Yes,
because these are the tales of Wilson Woe, and you
do need a tongue in order to tell tales.
Speaker 7 (19:20):
And I'm also going I'm also going to say something
very brave yet very controversial.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
This should be a new segment, very brave yet controversial.
Speaker 7 (19:30):
My Frankie, I think Wales and Woe could easily be
part of the Fisherman chronicles. It has the vibe, it
has the theme. I think it could fit very well.
I think the guy telling that the tales of Wales
and Woe at the at the bar could easily have
been a sailor or a fisherman in the past, for
(19:51):
he could still be one.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I will agree with you and disagree with you. I
think that you. I think that it could count. It's
just not fishy enough for me. A drunken sailor. Come
on now that I'll take it that far at any rate.
But this certainly has unique elements to it. I just
(20:14):
want to play the first few bars of the tune
because it just starts right away. What we get in
the first twenty odd seconds we get through much of
the tune. This one largely stays in a box for
the majority of it, so you got a taste of
(20:56):
that vocal delivery as well. So there's this really cool
pattern on the drums and bass laying the foundation. There's
the vibraphone, the saxophone, the guitar, the theram, and they're
they're all weaving around. Lala, you do have that beautiful
bass guitar there. What is going on with the bass part?
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Like bass player there is some songs that are a
mystery for us because you you can see every year
in in YouTube and you see this is the real,
real way to play Tommy the kap and this is
the right and you always see every year a new
(21:36):
a new video, and this is a this is a
special one when you know you you have this the
secret decipher. I don't know how it is, the spelling,
the precision decipher, the Claypool code.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
No, you have to restart and relearn everything. Yeah, you
you you you can see.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
It's always that something's happened to me with I heard
lest clipful because you can hear it and you say, ah,
it's not so hard because they don't band, don't band,
and you can sing it. But translate to the instrument,
it's another thing. It's another story. I know he's a
(22:20):
natural because Tommy with Hamburger Train with this one, I
have a really really problem hearing it and trying to
translate to the bass. But in this particular song, he
was thinking in B minor. The tonality started the song.
(22:40):
I was thinking, okay, the first notes of the song,
it's like a flam like Flamenco flaming esque, and I
remember to Tommy because it's just different notes.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
But okay, and then but when the song is.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Rowing, remind me of Golden Boy from the Brown album.
Oh interesting, bring me the bibe of Brown album. Instead
the drum sound remind me to the Brown album Bibe
because you can't hear they are recording in an analog system.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Okay, the baseline.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
What's happening in the baseline, you know, for me, Clay Police,
the salvad Orderly of bass players.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
He's remaining. He's remaining.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
And when you when you feel that you know everything
to him, he's invading again and he's doing another thing again.
So I checked first the album, the album basedline and
then see YouTube him playing in Bonaroo two two thousand.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
It beautiful, Oh, excellent show.
Speaker 5 (24:02):
And it's another world. Okay, something are the same, but
you you can see he's just you know. In in
Spanish play we say touch, we we say touch the bass,
we say to Carol Bajoka guitar. But in English it's played.
(24:24):
For us, play is hugard. You play soccer, you play,
but you don't play. You don't play an instruments. You
play games. But in this when you see the difference,
I think it's better to say, play guitar, play the bass,
because you are playing, you.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Are having fun. So yeah, the song start with this,
and all the notes that is between the.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
That quirky soon are the the make the baseline world
because I'm gonna do it slow. And then he never
(25:20):
plays the same way because he started adding things or
quitting things because.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Whoa, he's on and then he's then he changed the
key for me, he's like playing now in a.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
HM.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
It's similar, it's it's almost the same. He's just trusposing
the baseline. You have to play to feeling. Yeah, No,
he's a he's really a genius. He's really a genius.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
He's so you are showing us a couple of things.
One is this is a very busy bassline with a
lot of percussive and muted notes, which is a Claypool signature.
And then the other thing that I noticed is when
I hear this song on the record, we've talked about
(26:28):
staying in the box, and so I thought he was
staying in a box on the fretboard. In many of
these fills and variations, he's moving all over, and so
there's more variety than I suspected.
Speaker 7 (26:42):
I think this is one of Less's most creative baselines
in his solo catalog. It's really interesting. I can't think
of anyone else that has played something similar in one
of their songs. And it fits the it fits the
narrative of the track very well. It's very abrasive. It's
because what the song conveys is that the main character
(27:02):
is this kind of person that will get in your
way and force you to listen to him, right, And
that's what I get from the bassline. It's really in
your face. It's very abrasive.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Oh that's a good point, because there's no intro, there's
no leading up to this bassline.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
It just hits you.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
It just hits It goes straight to your you know what,
it's the it's.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
The it's the septic breath bass.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
And you know, this song for me is a perfect example.
Let's slip book is anti pop because you know in
pop songs you have a regular measures that okay, this
this thing is gone four times and then a bridge
and then uh cardus no because okay it's three times in.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
And then.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
But he don't do it in that regular to a
dread no, no, no, he he changed a lot I
don't know, I don't know how he's doing that, but.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
Wow, wow, the drums and the drums are just trying
to keep up with the bassline throughout the entire song.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Do you know the drum is maybe they just the
regular thing in this song.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Yes, keep the keep everything glued, because he's the only regular.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
It's very integrated with the bassline. I would assume the
bassline came first, created a drum pattern to match it
for a foundation, and that Yeah, that drum line is funky,
but it's not too far out there like this bassline is,
which is just very rude and in your face. How yeah,
(28:54):
how would you like to be Paulo Baldi in in
the fancy band when Less says, Okay, I have these songs.
I recorded these drum lines, and so you are learning
the drum lines of the guy that recorded them, and
he's standing there playing bass watching you. Making sure. Kudos
to you, Paulo Baldi, because you've pulled it off for years.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
I love the musical the musicality of this one. It
is abrasive. There's no discernible, as you said, Lollo verse
chorus structure, because there's yeah, yeah, there's just so it's
it's three it's a three minute jam, largely especially for
the vibraphone, theremin and guitar I'm sorry, the viabora phone
(29:38):
Frankie's favorite type of all time, and the bass and
drums are driving it. But then there's just this vocalization
on top, just a man with a bullhorn, you know,
just walking around. And that's the other The other piece
of imagery I had was a guy with a bullhorn
just saying this stuff. It is kind of like an
old drunk sailor who's in your face because they don't
(29:59):
know how to module it their voices, and so they're
telling their stories.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
At a really loud volume.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
Oh yeah, you know that kind of instead of having
a guitar or something conventional like that, you have a theremon.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I love that Gabby brings the theorem into this because
that's and that's another somewhat tenuous beef Heart connection, because
there is some theremon on some of his tunes. But
I think that was, if I remember correctly, that was
brought in by some producers to sweeten some of the
tracks on Safe as Milk or something like that. But
(30:34):
Gabby playing the theremon, and she's she's played it on
stage with Primus.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
I think at the Greek in recent years.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
So like that theremon is pretty rad And as a
little piece of news, some of our loyal Primatrons went
to Gabby's book tour. She's doing a small run of
stops at bookshops up and down the West Coast for
her new book Book, So go check out Gabby Laala's
instagram to find a link to her book. She gave
(31:05):
a talk and somebody asked a question about music, and
she said that she has recorded some stuff for the
as of now paused Claypool lenon Delirium album number three.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Oh my god, I knew that would peak your interest.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
Frankie Geeves, did you say that like during a Q
and A or.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Like that was in Portland, Oregon last weekend?
Speaker 7 (31:31):
Did you record the Thermane guitar? What did you record?
Speaker 2 (31:35):
You know, I don't recall if she mentioned what instrument was.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Well, actually, I.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
Think the special ingredient in this song is the erme
in the in the in the album version, because in
the end I was feeling like.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
A sixties horror movie. Yes, the songs are amazing for us.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Maybe I was thinking maybe in us it was The
Monsters Family or something like that. But in Mexico, the
most famous horror movies were the Santo.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
You know who is the Santo?
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Oh No, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
You have to do a Google research. The most famous
lucha or here in Mexico.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
He yeah, he lived in the sixties, but he was
very famous because he was a movies, very famous movies,
and he always fighting with main world and create strange creatures.
And that kind of sounds sounds is I feel my
(32:49):
my Chinese because that songs hard from the Santa.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
Do you agree with me?
Speaker 7 (32:56):
Frankie, Yeah, I can, I guess I see what do
you mean?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
No, a another generation, the theorement was incredibly popular to
use in films, especially science fiction and monster films. In
the nineteen sixties, maybe even the nineteen fifties. It was
fairly common. I've seen it and heard it, so I
(33:24):
understand that connection.
Speaker 7 (33:25):
I want I want to say that. Another thing that
I find really clever about the baseline is how by
just changing key in some of the verses less made
it sound more eerie and more sinister.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
He always started the baseline with and then changed to
the key.
Speaker 7 (33:49):
Exactly, and it just gets start just gets more, it
gets more ominous when he does, and when.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
The song develops, he's very high.
Speaker 5 (34:05):
It has a very interesting part when the I think
the song was born in a in a jam, but
in the end the bass and the drum has stops
and they you you can see that it's not a
jam because they have I think this is the only
part that Okay, you can do everything, you can everything
(34:29):
that you want, but.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
In that part we we have stops and that.
Speaker 7 (34:35):
Yeah, my favorite wow, and my favorite part of the song,
the muted part.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
That's even busier bass playing. It seems like, yeah, a
couple of good points that the stops start. I hadn't
mentioned that yet. Of course that's a signature of a
very odd stop start. It's not just one two three four.
And the of course that muted part is is really
rad deserves some recognition because it's not all just what
(35:03):
you know that the first twenty seconds indicates what you
get for the majority of the song, but it's not
the entire thing.
Speaker 5 (35:09):
When you think you know the song, Okay, it's gonna happen,
this is not happens. Another thing, Yeah, because the song stops. Okay,
they are doing again in the same part. No, they
do it in another measure of the bar. Okay, that's
a regular stop okay. And then he makes another primus connection.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Because I can hear the bass doing a like a
lacquer hit base partly.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Oh sure.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
Like the yea yeah you know Lockerhead yeah yeah, has
an interesting, interesting primus connections.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah, and certainly an interesting structure to this one. I
should play the last twenty odd seconds of this because
it does have a satisfying ending as well. So let's
all enjoy odd ending too, because we you have that
(36:31):
descending chromatic line and then uh, and then it ascends
and you think you're gonna get another round of it,
and it ends.
Speaker 7 (36:40):
And I also get I also get the feeling that
there are songs where Les is taking his time with
the narration and the music is reacting to the lyrics.
But with Wilson Woe, it feels like he's rushing to
get as many words in there as possible, you know,
to get the story done as quickly as possible, because
the music is going faster. Yeah, the music is not.
(37:03):
The music is not waiting for the narration to have an.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Actual rhythmic lyrical pattern over that could be tricky, and
so I'm not saying he took the easy way out.
I'm but I think what he did was really effective.
To just deliver straight ahead narration that ignores the rhythm,
as you noted Lallo in the lyrics to transition to those,
(37:26):
there's a lot of uncommon words, but they provide excellent imagery.
And so I pulled out the bowels gurgle, which is
a great one head in proximity with chin oh. That
image of leans his good ear in. I have a
friend who's deaf in one ear and she does that
all the time. If one finds their space two invaded
(37:49):
is a great piece there. And then that repetition of
try your best to calmly remain discreet, which means don't
show your discomfort. Humor this crusty, smelly guy and the
septic breathed man. That's visceral, because if you've ever smelled
septic tank or sewage in general, that's not inviting. I
(38:13):
love the internal rhyme. There aren't that many, but he
has this internal rhyme of tails of whales and woe
that really flows off the tongue, the liquored Speaking of tongues,
it's the tongue of the record, and he mentions the
man's lickored tongue sprawled in the aisle seat. He's not
just in the aisle seat. He's sprawled, so you know
that his limbs are just thrown about and he's not
(38:34):
sitting up straight. That last line, most interesting ball of
toxins you're ever apped.
Speaker 7 (38:39):
You'll ever hoped to meet.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
So there's a lot of great imagery, Lollo. Definitely keep
your Google Translate at hand, so hopefully it translates.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
Okay, the inspiration was his rampa, his father.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
What do you think was the man on the good question?
Lo Loo?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
So I think, I wrote in my notebook, I think
that most of us have been witness or been subject
to one of these people before. There's They look like
somebody that you would avoid, whether they're sitting by themselves
at the pub, on the train, at the marina, if
he's an old sailor. But if you give him a chance,
(39:23):
they'll tell you a lot of great stories.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
I wrote down.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Are they tall tales or exaggerated exploits?
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Probably? Will you be entertained?
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Definitely. His delivery is actually somewhat difficult to decipher because
of the vocal effects on the Sandman Mike, and I
think that's the connection to the subject of the song.
So this guy might be slurring his words while he
tells you these stories of wales and woe, but you'll
be entertained. But at the same time, you might be
(39:55):
repulsed by him because he smells bad, has bad breath,
and he's in your personal space. So you have to imagine,
you know, with hanging out with his father and his
grandfathers or just being out fishing. Less has met a
lot of these crusty old guys over the decades, and
some of them he's humored and listen to their stories
(40:18):
and probably told some of his own. But even when
he was gigging as a young man in the biker bars,
he probably first encountered these these kinds of guys. Personally me,
I don't mind humoring these guys sometimes, but every once
in a while, I just because I want to get
a story, I want to hear what they have to say.
But I also feel like I get trapped. I sympathize
(40:40):
with this old, crusty guy because we made eye contact
or I walked by him, and this might be his
only social outlet. Is just to tell stories. But the
only problem is it's one sided, if that makes sense, Lollo'.
It's not a conversation. He is just dumping information on me,
and I have to take it.
Speaker 7 (41:01):
You know, a champion of days gone by and tales
of greatness conveys the idea that this guy used to
be very important, or at least used to be very respective.
Maybe that's why, even though nowadays he's just this drunk
guy at the bar, that's why you should still listen
to his stories because he was great at one point.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
I extract a bit of self aggrandizement in the subtext
of that, meaning, this guy will tell you all the
great accomplishments and how strong and fantastic he was, and
what a champion he was. But he's the one telling it,
so you don't know if he's exaggerating and how much
(41:43):
he's exaggerating. There are plenty of stories I will tell
from my younger days that I'm exaggerating. The details we
do that we tend to, especially with memory, We tend
to distort memory over time. The stories we like to
tell just tend to get bigger and larger, and like
like the fish stories stories, the fish story indeed, there's
(42:08):
all these different elements to it, and I think Less
is hinting at a lot of those in the lyrics here,
and that's to yes.
Speaker 7 (42:14):
But also, but also with the title of Wales and Woe,
it conveys a great sense of regret. I think the
the imagery of the whales in this song, it's kind
of a symbol of something that was chased and never obtained.
Wales are elusive, whales are really difficult to catch, right
(42:37):
So the guy might have a lot of tales of
uh where he's the champion, or a lot of tales
of success, but Wales and Woe conveys that there's also
a lot of regret and a lot of missed opportunities.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Right absolutely.
Speaker 7 (42:52):
I also want I also want to mention that this
song reminds me a lot of Port of Amsterdam, which
is a song by Jack's Brill and was translated from
French to English and popularized by David Bowie. Let me
read an extract for you so you can hear what
I mean. In the Port of Amsterdam, where the sailors
(43:13):
all meet, there's a sailor who eats only fish heads
and tails, and he'll show you his teeth that have
rotted too soon, and he yells to the cook with
his arms opened wide, bring me more fish, throw it
down by my side. He wants to belch, but he's
too full to try, so he stands up and laughs,
and he SIPs up his fly.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
That's the guy, definitely, yes, right, yes, okay, So of
Wales and Woe is the sequel to Port of Amsterdam. Yeah,
that's the Bowie connection. Yeah, I just I just he's
not here, but I can see so rolling his eyes
right now. Yeah, I see that connection. And there are
(43:58):
plenty of songs with characters who are regaling stories of
their past, possibly lionizing themselves or making themselves out to
be bigger than they were. But yeah, I think this
is a universal thing. I just know that I've I've
been subject to people like this in bars and on
trains and whatnot, and they're pretty entertaining. But I need
(44:20):
to I need an out. I can't listen to it
all day long, you know. So I certainly I've certainly
met guys like this.
Speaker 7 (44:28):
I think I think in twenty years from now, when
we look back on your seat, if we'll be telling
people that Terry Kreenberg pulled up in a limo and
when he met us, he said, we're here because of
you guys. You two guys brought bean pulled back.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Yes, he handed us each two hundred thousand dollars exactly.
Put feather BoA's on us. We were let's do this.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
We have talked quite a bit about this track, but
I think it's time for Primates Takes. If you would
like your take read right here on the podcast, all
you have to do is go to Patreon dot com
Ford slash Primus tracks. The universal constant over there when
you're supporting Josh and Frankie is Primates takes. I put
the thread up, you put your thoughts up. He is
(45:17):
Brooks Delight and he is going to lead off our
Primates takes with this. Frankie, I'd wish I could say
something about the track as a whole, but that baseline
captures my full attention. Every time you.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
Have a kindred spirit there Lollo.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Ryan Rashan says, I feel like this should have left
as an instrumental without the spoken word vocal. The affected
vocal takes away from all the awesome instrumentation going on.
At least he gives space at the end of the
track for Everything to Shine interesting take hot take Eric
(45:56):
in Australia says the rambling narrative, vocal style and theremon
So will completely sell this track for me. Theremon Over
sitar another hot take, It's getting here Uh. Anthony del
pret Go Bills says, the vocal stylings of this track
really draw me in very much. Has the Claypool narrator vibe,
(46:18):
Gotta love the theoremon here by Gabby as well, and
the baseline that kind of plods and farts along matches
the lyrical content perfectly showing just how the main character's
best years are already behind him. Lollo, when you were
learning this bassline, did you picture plods and fartscause? Okay,
(46:42):
I don't know what.
Speaker 5 (46:43):
I mean, but I always when when I heard Clay
I always think all that's squeaky party.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Yeah, so plods and farts are plenty good. Our last
prime matron zach Em says, for some reason, this track
feels to me like instrumentation aside, it would have a
happy home on the Holy Mackerel record Maybe like a
distant cousin to Elsea. Branni Fortnite because well yeah else
(47:12):
Branni fortnite has largely a rhythmic narration as well.
Speaker 7 (47:17):
All right, Zach, we will we will allow it this time.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Yes, oh yeah, just want Zach.
Speaker 3 (47:23):
Thank you all.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
Primetron's four yr takes, some of them hot takes. We're
gonna hear about it next.
Speaker 7 (47:31):
Warming Here live cuts from a GM vehicle, Live cuts
from the GEM vehicle, Live cuts.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
From What's going on here.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
We have four live cuts today, lollow, get comfortable. Our
first live cut is from the Roxy in Boston, Massachusetts,
two thousand and six.
Speaker 7 (47:53):
Classic show.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
You've referenced the Roxy two thousand and six a few
times already, haven't you.
Speaker 7 (47:58):
Fraand Grid gig Yeah, a good one.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
Yeah, Oh that's satisfying.
Speaker 7 (48:43):
Gabby went all out on that one.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
I'm currently looking up theremin prices because I really want one.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
What did you hear in that, Lola?
Speaker 5 (48:55):
The baseline is intact. I just feel that the drummer
playing the ring lose more copperland more loose. He's just
running fun because that's you know, like shuffle. The base
is the same and as the ferryming went crazy.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
Yeah, that was a delight to borrow Frankie's term. Our
next live cut is from Frankie's Whales Live Sessions, the
fictional box set that will be released in twenty thirty six.
Here's some ski Rack.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
That's strump there.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Oh yeah, so Ski Rack's doing some cool stuff. It's
not the greatest recording for it, but you can certainly
hear what he's doing. It's so base forward that I
was hearing a lot of those variations lolo, and I
think you did too.
Speaker 4 (50:30):
Yeah, he's Claypool is doing like a question and answer himself.
Speaker 5 (50:41):
You know, I have a problem with Claypool because in
my mind he's always okay.
Speaker 4 (50:55):
I can't imagine maybe he's doing these maybe maybe I.
Speaker 5 (50:58):
Remember when I get the book of the Notes of
Selling in the Seas of Cheese, the solo, the solo
from Jerry, the notation was like.
Speaker 4 (51:13):
Something, oh yeah, and when I see the how how
he did that?
Speaker 3 (51:19):
He just he just was the right hand, yeah, with
distortion over.
Speaker 4 (51:29):
But in the in the book notation he knows is
yeah he's natural. So yeah, he's a problem with that.
When you want to analyze, no, you have to feel first.
Speaker 3 (51:43):
Yeah, he's not sharing his secrets.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
And whoever whoever transcribed the guitar and bass parts for
that book, there there have been a lot of complaints
over the years about those tablature books, so you're not alone.
Our third life cut is from the legendary and I
say legendary because we did an LSD on a two
thousand and eight Bonnaroo performance. Here's a special rendition of
(52:08):
Wales and will with merv on song Urban.
Speaker 7 (52:17):
Ladies and Gentlemen. We've unleashed vins and pieces of the
German steam.
Speaker 2 (52:24):
But right now the full erection that is burburban Stein.
Speaker 3 (52:31):
Is about to throb into your face. I give you,
I feel like we've played this before.
Speaker 2 (53:23):
That is the perfect replacement for the missing Theremin and
Saw family.
Speaker 3 (53:28):
It's family and when.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
You always save a place at the table for the Saw.
So when let's put together that lineup for Bonnaru, it
must have just been immediate that, hey, bring the Saw,
You're gonna play it during Wales. There's a reason we
did an episode on that one, I think, Frankie. Our
final cut is from the NPR World Cafe appearance NPR
back in two thousand and six, Less appeared on World Cafe.
(53:55):
Just do a search for World Cafe less Claypool.
Speaker 3 (53:57):
It's still there.
Speaker 2 (53:58):
Really great sound quality on the one Wales and Woe
was one of the tunes they played. Funky the Girl.
Speaker 7 (54:31):
Will be more of these days.
Speaker 2 (54:32):
The scene.
Speaker 4 (54:34):
Becomes more and more cautious about the waves on.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
The ground, the posture of his father's had of showing
the destination. I love how much space is in this intro.
Uh and in this recording you can really hear everything clearly. Now, Frankie,
you want us to listen to this performance at the
three minute mark, but you did not indicate what we're
getting into. So I am going to steel myself for greatness.
(55:07):
You're ever apt to me, You're.
Speaker 3 (55:19):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's great.
Speaker 2 (55:38):
I remember listening to this shortly after it aired on
World Cafe and great stuff. Really driving it there, Lollo
on that muted part, the muted that's that sounds like
(56:01):
a really good just exercise for your fingers too, and
your and your coordination. Thanks for those, Frankie, excellent life cuts.
So I guess I can say this of Whales and Woe.
There's no need to remain discreete because you've been tracked.
Next time, Frankie, this is when I become a brill
(56:24):
cream man.
Speaker 7 (56:25):
I hope we don't end up with then X podcast.
Speaker 2 (56:32):
Well that's of Whales and Woe the track, Lollo, thank
you so much for bringing your base and talking to
us today.
Speaker 4 (56:39):
Having me really always is a pleasure, and.
Speaker 2 (56:44):
I love having you on Man, and I appreciate your
friendship and your willingness to do it later days with
a
Speaker 4 (57:00):
Dotard said
It's Josh Freaky with a couple of dump shits.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello, Primates, you found Primus Tracks. Congratulations. There are so
many places of pine in Primus Tracks. If you so
desire at Primus Tracks on Instagram and threads. Primustrackspod at
gmail dot com is the email address. There's even a
Facebook page, remember Facebook, Yeah, it's called Primus Tracks and
just try to check it out. I am Josh. By
the way, the person who runs that Facebook page is
(00:40):
on the thirty ninth floor Primus Tracks Towers. It's Frankie Bearstein. Hey, Josh,
good morning Frankie. We are recording in the morning hours.
I am highly caffeinated. My energy levels are actually reaching
the thirty ninth floor.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I think for the first time.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Today we're talking about the title track.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Of Wales and Woe.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's called of Whales and Woe. We need help, Frankie,
because I don't know a lot about Wales. You don't
know a lot about woe. So we have we have
a third today. He is checking in from the Primus
Tracks field office in San Luis, Potasi. He is our
friend who has been on many episodes and I love
(01:20):
having him on. Lalo Fierro welcome back to Primus Tracks.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Thank you Frankie for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It's so great to have you back. We are on
the of Wales and Woe record. As we've made our
way through it thus far, we have everyone we've talked to,
and all the feedback has been this is a favorite
of so many people. I want to ask you, Lalo,
what do you appreciate about this record? And uh do
(01:52):
you have pleasant memories of it?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Now?
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I have a good memory result of that record.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
I remember I I was in my last twenties. In
that time, I was, I had my second child, and
I remember going to the record store in some SPOTOSI
because in that time, I don't think so.
Speaker 6 (02:15):
It's I don't know, but it was here in some
in Mexico, very hard to get the records and I
and I and I remember it.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Was a record store when you go make an order
and then just finger crows and hope a month or more.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
To get your new record.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
And I remember that, Yeah, you know Mexico what it
was no ease in that time to get a special record,
even Primus.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
It was very underground here.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
So and I remember it was a special, very special
for me because it was the.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
First solo Claypool album. In that time, I didn't know
what to expect from the cover everything.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
When I opened the the.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
The disc, it was a city, but it was beautiful because.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
The sailor, we'll call him a sailor.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
You know, my father lived and the sea and the
beaches all the time. All his house is full of
sheep's boats.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
So, oh my god, my my.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
My first thought was, my father is gonna love this album.
And yeah, and I remember hearing the first time was
kind of weird. When the life gives you the opportunity
to hear an album years after you heard, you heard
(03:53):
in perspective.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Yes and another thing, And that's happened to me.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
With this Thank you of ju I am dead with
you because here in this time it is more meaningful
for me hearing this album.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Oh wow, that's great, that's excellent. It takes you back
to that time when you first heard it and you
have a connection to your father, and you.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Know, I have a lot of changes in my life.
So the last five months I'm living.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
In the scene in the in the ocean Pacific.
Speaker 7 (04:30):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
Now you know, maybe I'm getting older, but I love
to see the sonsets in the beach.
Speaker 7 (04:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
I think it was a perfect time to hear again
this album.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Oh excellent, what a connection. That's beautiful.
Speaker 7 (04:47):
You you cannot stand still, You're always throwing.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, thank you for providing your context for this record.
I'm excited to talk about the title track with you today.
But as we offer do we have miscellaneous debris.
Speaker 7 (05:06):
Frankie Josh very exciting miscellaneous debris. Pork Soda and Sailing
Disease of Cheese are getting some much deserved attention that
they haven't had in terms of the reissue program because
it's always Frieze, all right, and we love freezeble the
(05:28):
Lord knows. I will keep ordering every variant they make,
but it's nice when they pay attention to the other
records once in a while. And this time we're getting
reissues of Saling Disease of Cheese and Pork Soda via
Brooklyn Vegan and Revolver, So you can order from either website,
(05:50):
but if you order from Brooklyn Vegan you get a
nice ten percent of your order, so I would recommend
people go there. And these are very interesting present because
Sailing the Seas of Cheese is being pressed on melt
Cheese Vinyl cool which it looks like it has some
kind of spots or yellowishes skid marks, which is really cool.
(06:12):
And the Pork Explosion varianto pork soda that just looks beautiful.
It's got all kinds of ski skid marks all over it,
and I can't wait to get my hands on both
of these.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I have to tell you, Frankie, skid marks has a
different connotation in the United States.
Speaker 7 (06:28):
Oh, I know exactly what it means, but that's what
they look like.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
So it looks like a messy person's underpants exactly. Okay,
I want to make sure you know that, yeah, because
listeners right now are going does he know what he's saying.
By the way, Brooklyn Vegan not a sponsor of Primus tracks,
but they're more than welcome to given Frankie's free pub
(06:52):
for them. You also mentioned that Frizzle and Suck on
This are continuously repressed. Of course, Lesson Prawn Song reacquired
the rights to them at the turn of the century,
and it's more difficult for those other records that they
did for Interscope because of who owns the masters. So
(07:14):
once they yeah, when they're able to get Interscope's attention,
they can do a repress or two and make some
easy money. Once again reminds me why doesn't Interscope re
release the Sausage LP or make a first ever pressing
of Hybel with the devil easy money clear I can
I can see now clear vinyl or white vinyl with
(07:38):
red skive marks.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Redskig marks is a sign of a major problem.
Speaker 7 (07:46):
You should go to your doctor exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
And also another piece of Miscellane's debris is all nine
drummer auditions have finally been posted to YouTube once a
week for nine glorious weeks, and so all of them
have been posted. You can judge for yourself who you
think best fit Primus. Given the ending of the ninth video,
(08:13):
which was Thomas Lang's audition, that we might see Gurgu
and John Hoffman's final run throughs with less I would
love to see.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I want to question for you what drummers have been
your favorite in this.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Series of I categorize the drummers by the quality of
the open jam, the quality of the Primus songs, and.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Just the overall personality and fit.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I think Gurgu's Primus performances were my favorite of all nine.
I think that the open jam with Nicky Glassbie really
resonated with me. She was incredible personality wise. I think
a lot of those auditioners would have fit in with
the band fairly well. But John Hoffman stood out because
(09:03):
he was so gracious and humble.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Have you watched them all? Lolo who?
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
I'm waiting like, uh, you know when you are waiting
for your favorite the show, And I was expecting the
Wednesday just for this reason. I I think my my
favoritely my favorite ones was too Nikki Glaspe. It was,
Oh my god, he's very she she's very funny. I
(09:33):
think she she was amazing and I think she makes
the connection.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
And the other one is is Gargo too?
Speaker 5 (09:41):
Wow? And I know that Thomas Preaching is a big
name and Thomas Lane is a big name between drummers,
But I think maybe the same that you that Nikki
and and Gargo were the best for me.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
I know they chose John and it's perfect for them, but.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, for sure that I think. I think they had
a lot of strong choices. Frankie did what stood out
to you from all nine.
Speaker 7 (10:11):
Of these unpopular opinion But I think Thomas Lank was
superf Yeah, he overplayed. He didn't let any song breathe.
He filled every single space with notes. But I dig that.
I love when when drummers do that, like when they
show off. Yeah, I think it's epic. So he probably
would have tamed down a little if he had gotten
(10:33):
the job. It reminded me of Stuart Copeland in some
in some segments.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
And it's funny that Stuart told Thomas to go crazy.
Speaker 8 (10:43):
Yeah, exactly, probably right, It's well, it's he's like, Oh,
using Thomas as a pawn to prank less is funny.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
You can go crazy when you're Stuart Copeland playing with
Les Claypool, be like or anybody, because you're Stuart, who's
gonna tell you to calm down? But exactly, But when
Thomas Lang comes into your band to audition, it's a
different dynamic and you can say, hey, bring it on
down a little bit, you know. I did note Lang's
(11:18):
audition because his tweakers in particular really channeled nineteen nineties
Tim Alexander. That really resonated with me.
Speaker 7 (11:27):
Yeah. It was also really cool to see Rory audition,
just because he's our friend and we know him, so
it was really amazing to see him jam with Less
and Lure. Yeah, I think he was also really great. Yeah, Huff,
of course, it was really great to see how the
chemistry was there in all senses, like not only with
(11:51):
the with the songs, but he also got along really
well with Less and Lure. His I think Sam Groveman
was also quite epic. I think they also got along
really well with him. Yeah, he's fantastic. So I would
say Hoffman, Growthman, Rory and Thomas Lang have been my favorites.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
They're no wrong answers.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Every second video was great.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I wonder, and Lolo, you're a working musician. I wonder
because of these audition videos, how many phone calls these
drummers are getting to audition for other bands because they
were also great.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Yeah, yeah, they have attention now, so maybe maybe they
don't get the they don't get the primus gig, they
are getting another good gigs because of this.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Audition I know. And what's very impressive.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
For me to see big names like Thomas Bridge and
Thomas Lang. You know, we have a team soccer team
here in Mexico. The name is CRUs Asoul and he's
a good team of soccer, but he always lose in
the finals. And I think, you know, maybe Thomas Langley
(13:11):
is a crusasulo drummer because he always yeah, he's always
in good auditions, but he don't get it. You know,
he was in the drink theater auditions, right. I don't
know what's happened with Thomas lang because maybe he's a
pretty guy. Maybe that's the problem.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
And I don't know, he's.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Too handsome, too handsome. So let's talk about of Wales
and Woe. The track this one checks in it three
minutes and three seconds. The credits are as follows Les
Claypool bass, vocals, guitar, drums, Mike Dylan, friend of the
Podcast on vibes, Scerrik friend of the podcast on tenor sacks,
(13:52):
and Gabby Lala, friend of the podcast on therem man Frankie, Wow,
what do you have for this?
Speaker 7 (13:58):
One? Of Wales and Whoa was premiered on June first,
two thousand and six, in San Francisco. It was on
heavy rotation throughout the entire Fancierra That's two thousand and six,
two thousand and seven, and two thousand and eight, and
it was also performed a few times by the Fungi
Band during their tour. So that's two different iterations of
(14:24):
the song. It was usually performed as per the album version,
with a little space from improvisation from some of the
band members. But essentially what we have is the studio
track translated to a live environment.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Did this one come back for the f Aubrigade twenty
three tour? It did not, So this one has not
been performed live for over fifteen years.
Speaker 7 (14:49):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Wow. But it certainly was a regular as you noted
and as I recalled, because this is of course at
the time on YouTube is starting to gain traction and
people are posting very grainy, very juttery videos of their
Less Claypool shows and fancy band shows, some pro shot
but there was there's a lot of footage out there
(15:12):
of this era, and so this track did seem to
be very common at the time. This one is unique
for a couple of reasons. On the record, we Less
is going through the Sandman mic. For one, the vocal
effect he has make it sound like some kind of
public address, you know, a giant announcement system in some
(15:33):
kind of facility. In my notes, I wrote, it has
a funky groove with this weaving guitar and saxophone, and
of course the theorem in as well, that is reminiscent
to me of the soundscape of some kind of manufacturing facility.
I always connected this track to the sausage track. Caution
should be used while operating him. Yeah, there's because there's
(15:57):
all this noise around you while you're concentrating on something important,
like the announcement of the vocals and what they're trying
to say. Let's say you're trying to focus on a
task and there's all this noise around you, and then
the subject of the song, this crusty old guy approaches
you and starts telling you stories while you're trying to
do something intricate or difficult. And to me also I
(16:20):
made the connection to caution should be used. This is
as close to a Captain Beefheart song as Claypool will
ever get.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Lollo, I see you.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Nodding in agreement. So generally I think this is more
locked in than a standard beef Heart song would be
in the sense of the foundation. The drums and bass
are in lockstep. There's a very discernible meter and rhythm
to it. Beef Heart parts all tend to do their
own thing, have their own time, signatures. There's a logic
(16:51):
to it because they eventually meet up at some point.
But there's all this stuff around the edges of this track,
which reminded me a lot of be fart as well
as the vocals. They largely ignore any kind of lyrical
rhyme and meter to go with the music. It is
essentially spoken word and so it's very cacnfidous, even for Claypool.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
General observations about this.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
One, I bring memory to me because in that year,
I remember Claypool get a new book, a new book,
Claypool Suit of pomp cast a novel.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yes, you remember, and it was in the same year.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
You know, I am a musician, I'm based player, but
it's important for me to read the lyrics.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah, so this time I have to use a.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
Lot of Google trans translator because a lot of fancy
word for me. And then I remember I buy the
novel I have readen. Yeah, oh, I'm gonna read it tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
I have to use a lot of Google's translator.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
I think right now, I don't know if he was
a good uh littor student.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
I can't see in the lyrics the grterer moment for him.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
So yeah, yeah, and he uses a lot of uncommon words,
not a lot of everyday words. Yes, so if I
was reading these lyrics in Espanol, I would pick up
on most of it. But a word like gurgle, I
don't know how to say gurgle and Espanol like I
don't know so his chin with creeping dangle. Those are
(18:42):
words that make sense in English, but you don't normally order.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Them that way.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And so there are a lot of pieces of this,
these lyrics in particular, that could be confusing.
Speaker 7 (18:54):
I would refer I would refer to these tracks. Josh
asked the tongue of the record.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Oh, yes, because we are we had the bicep. Yes,
a crutch, this tongue.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
So what the song that give the name to the album?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So yes, Oh sure, so it speaks to the album, Yes,
because these are the tales of Wilson Woe, and you
do need a tongue in order to tell tales.
Speaker 7 (19:20):
And I'm also going I'm also going to say something
very brave yet very controversial.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
This should be a new segment, very brave yet controversial.
Speaker 7 (19:30):
My Frankie, I think Wales and Woe could easily be
part of the Fisherman chronicles. It has the vibe, it
has the theme. I think it could fit very well.
I think the guy telling that the tales of Wales
and Woe at the at the bar could easily have
been a sailor or a fisherman in the past, for
(19:51):
he could still be one.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I will agree with you and disagree with you. I
think that you. I think that it could count. It's
just not fishy enough for me. A drunken sailor. Come
on now that I'll take it that far at any rate.
But this certainly has unique elements to it. I just
(20:14):
want to play the first few bars of the tune
because it just starts right away. What we get in
the first twenty odd seconds we get through much of
the tune. This one largely stays in a box for
the majority of it, so you got a taste of
(20:56):
that vocal delivery as well. So there's this really cool
pattern on the drums and bass laying the foundation. There's
the vibraphone, the saxophone, the guitar, the theram, and they're
they're all weaving around. Lala, you do have that beautiful
bass guitar there. What is going on with the bass part?
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Like bass player there is some songs that are a
mystery for us because you you can see every year
in in YouTube and you see this is the real,
real way to play Tommy the kap and this is
the right and you always see every year a new
(21:36):
a new video, and this is a this is a
special one when you know you you have this the
secret decipher. I don't know how it is, the spelling,
the precision decipher, the Claypool code.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
No, you have to restart and relearn everything. Yeah, you
you you you can see.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
It's always that something's happened to me with I heard
lest clipful because you can hear it and you say, ah,
it's not so hard because they don't band, don't band,
and you can sing it. But translate to the instrument,
it's another thing. It's another story. I know he's a
(22:20):
natural because Tommy with Hamburger Train with this one, I
have a really really problem hearing it and trying to
translate to the bass. But in this particular song, he
was thinking in B minor. The tonality started the song.
(22:40):
I was thinking, okay, the first notes of the song,
it's like a flam like Flamenco flaming esque, and I
remember to Tommy because it's just different notes.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
But okay, and then but when the song is.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Rowing, remind me of Golden Boy from the Brown album.
Oh interesting, bring me the bibe of Brown album. Instead
the drum sound remind me to the Brown album Bibe
because you can't hear they are recording in an analog system.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Okay, the baseline.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
What's happening in the baseline, you know, for me, Clay Police,
the salvad Orderly of bass players.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
He's remaining. He's remaining.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
And when you when you feel that you know everything
to him, he's invading again and he's doing another thing again.
So I checked first the album, the album basedline and
then see YouTube him playing in Bonaroo two two thousand.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
It beautiful, Oh, excellent show.
Speaker 5 (24:02):
And it's another world. Okay, something are the same, but
you you can see he's just you know. In in
Spanish play we say touch, we we say touch the bass,
we say to Carol Bajoka guitar. But in English it's played.
(24:24):
For us, play is hugard. You play soccer, you play,
but you don't play. You don't play an instruments. You
play games. But in this when you see the difference,
I think it's better to say, play guitar, play the bass,
because you are playing, you.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Are having fun. So yeah, the song start with this,
and all the notes that is between the.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
That quirky soon are the the make the baseline world
because I'm gonna do it slow. And then he never
(25:20):
plays the same way because he started adding things or
quitting things because.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Whoa, he's on and then he's then he changed the
key for me, he's like playing now in a.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
HM.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
It's similar, it's it's almost the same. He's just trusposing
the baseline. You have to play to feeling. Yeah, No,
he's a he's really a genius. He's really a genius.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
He's so you are showing us a couple of things.
One is this is a very busy bassline with a
lot of percussive and muted notes, which is a Claypool signature.
And then the other thing that I noticed is when
I hear this song on the record, we've talked about
(26:28):
staying in the box, and so I thought he was
staying in a box on the fretboard. In many of
these fills and variations, he's moving all over, and so
there's more variety than I suspected.
Speaker 7 (26:42):
I think this is one of Less's most creative baselines
in his solo catalog. It's really interesting. I can't think
of anyone else that has played something similar in one
of their songs. And it fits the it fits the
narrative of the track very well. It's very abrasive. It's
because what the song conveys is that the main character
(27:02):
is this kind of person that will get in your
way and force you to listen to him, right, And
that's what I get from the bassline. It's really in
your face. It's very abrasive.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Oh that's a good point, because there's no intro, there's
no leading up to this bassline.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
It just hits you.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
It just hits It goes straight to your you know what,
it's the it's.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
The it's the septic breath bass.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
And you know, this song for me is a perfect example.
Let's slip book is anti pop because you know in
pop songs you have a regular measures that okay, this
this thing is gone four times and then a bridge
and then uh cardus no because okay it's three times in.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
And then.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
But he don't do it in that regular to a
dread no, no, no, he he changed a lot I
don't know, I don't know how he's doing that, but.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
Wow, wow, the drums and the drums are just trying
to keep up with the bassline throughout the entire song.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Do you know the drum is maybe they just the
regular thing in this song.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Yes, keep the keep everything glued, because he's the only regular.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
It's very integrated with the bassline. I would assume the
bassline came first, created a drum pattern to match it
for a foundation, and that Yeah, that drum line is funky,
but it's not too far out there like this bassline is,
which is just very rude and in your face. How yeah,
(28:54):
how would you like to be Paulo Baldi in in
the fancy band when Less says, Okay, I have these songs.
I recorded these drum lines, and so you are learning
the drum lines of the guy that recorded them, and
he's standing there playing bass watching you. Making sure. Kudos
to you, Paulo Baldi, because you've pulled it off for years.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
I love the musical the musicality of this one. It
is abrasive. There's no discernible, as you said, Lollo verse
chorus structure, because there's yeah, yeah, there's just so it's
it's three it's a three minute jam, largely especially for
the vibraphone, theremin and guitar I'm sorry, the viabora phone
(29:38):
Frankie's favorite type of all time, and the bass and
drums are driving it. But then there's just this vocalization
on top, just a man with a bullhorn, you know,
just walking around. And that's the other The other piece
of imagery I had was a guy with a bullhorn
just saying this stuff. It is kind of like an
old drunk sailor who's in your face because they don't
(29:59):
know how to module it their voices, and so they're
telling their stories.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
At a really loud volume.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
Oh yeah, you know that kind of instead of having
a guitar or something conventional like that, you have a theremon.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I love that Gabby brings the theorem into this because
that's and that's another somewhat tenuous beef Heart connection, because
there is some theremon on some of his tunes. But
I think that was, if I remember correctly, that was
brought in by some producers to sweeten some of the
tracks on Safe as Milk or something like that. But
(30:34):
Gabby playing the theremon, and she's she's played it on
stage with Primus.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
I think at the Greek in recent years.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
So like that theremon is pretty rad And as a
little piece of news, some of our loyal Primatrons went
to Gabby's book tour. She's doing a small run of
stops at bookshops up and down the West Coast for
her new book Book, So go check out Gabby Laala's
instagram to find a link to her book. She gave
(31:05):
a talk and somebody asked a question about music, and
she said that she has recorded some stuff for the
as of now paused Claypool lenon Delirium album number three.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Oh my god, I knew that would peak your interest.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
Frankie Geeves, did you say that like during a Q
and A or.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Like that was in Portland, Oregon last weekend?
Speaker 7 (31:31):
Did you record the Thermane guitar? What did you record?
Speaker 2 (31:35):
You know, I don't recall if she mentioned what instrument was.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Well, actually, I.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
Think the special ingredient in this song is the erme
in the in the in the album version, because in
the end I was feeling like.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
A sixties horror movie. Yes, the songs are amazing for us.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Maybe I was thinking maybe in us it was The
Monsters Family or something like that. But in Mexico, the
most famous horror movies were the Santo.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
You know who is the Santo?
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Oh No, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
You have to do a Google research. The most famous
lucha or here in Mexico.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
He yeah, he lived in the sixties, but he was
very famous because he was a movies, very famous movies,
and he always fighting with main world and create strange creatures.
And that kind of sounds sounds is I feel my
(32:49):
my Chinese because that songs hard from the Santa.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
Do you agree with me?
Speaker 7 (32:56):
Frankie, Yeah, I can, I guess I see what do
you mean?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
No, a another generation, the theorement was incredibly popular to
use in films, especially science fiction and monster films. In
the nineteen sixties, maybe even the nineteen fifties. It was
fairly common. I've seen it and heard it, so I
(33:24):
understand that connection.
Speaker 7 (33:25):
I want I want to say that. Another thing that
I find really clever about the baseline is how by
just changing key in some of the verses less made
it sound more eerie and more sinister.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
He always started the baseline with and then changed to
the key.
Speaker 7 (33:49):
Exactly, and it just gets start just gets more, it
gets more ominous when he does, and when.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
The song develops, he's very high.
Speaker 5 (34:05):
It has a very interesting part when the I think
the song was born in a in a jam, but
in the end the bass and the drum has stops
and they you you can see that it's not a
jam because they have I think this is the only
part that Okay, you can do everything, you can everything
(34:29):
that you want, but.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
In that part we we have stops and that.
Speaker 7 (34:35):
Yeah, my favorite wow, and my favorite part of the song,
the muted part.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
That's even busier bass playing. It seems like, yeah, a
couple of good points that the stops start. I hadn't
mentioned that yet. Of course that's a signature of a
very odd stop start. It's not just one two three four.
And the of course that muted part is is really
rad deserves some recognition because it's not all just what
(35:03):
you know that the first twenty seconds indicates what you
get for the majority of the song, but it's not
the entire thing.
Speaker 5 (35:09):
When you think you know the song, Okay, it's gonna happen,
this is not happens. Another thing, Yeah, because the song stops. Okay,
they are doing again in the same part. No, they
do it in another measure of the bar. Okay, that's
a regular stop okay. And then he makes another primus connection.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Because I can hear the bass doing a like a
lacquer hit base partly.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Oh sure.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
Like the yea yeah you know Lockerhead yeah yeah, has
an interesting, interesting primus connections.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah, and certainly an interesting structure to this one. I
should play the last twenty odd seconds of this because
it does have a satisfying ending as well. So let's
all enjoy odd ending too, because we you have that
(36:31):
descending chromatic line and then uh, and then it ascends
and you think you're gonna get another round of it,
and it ends.
Speaker 7 (36:40):
And I also get I also get the feeling that
there are songs where Les is taking his time with
the narration and the music is reacting to the lyrics.
But with Wilson Woe, it feels like he's rushing to
get as many words in there as possible, you know,
to get the story done as quickly as possible, because
the music is going faster. Yeah, the music is not.
(37:03):
The music is not waiting for the narration to have an.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Actual rhythmic lyrical pattern over that could be tricky, and
so I'm not saying he took the easy way out.
I'm but I think what he did was really effective.
To just deliver straight ahead narration that ignores the rhythm,
as you noted Lallo in the lyrics to transition to those,
(37:26):
there's a lot of uncommon words, but they provide excellent imagery.
And so I pulled out the bowels gurgle, which is
a great one head in proximity with chin oh. That
image of leans his good ear in. I have a
friend who's deaf in one ear and she does that
all the time. If one finds their space two invaded
(37:49):
is a great piece there. And then that repetition of
try your best to calmly remain discreet, which means don't
show your discomfort. Humor this crusty, smelly guy and the
septic breathed man. That's visceral, because if you've ever smelled
septic tank or sewage in general, that's not inviting. I
(38:13):
love the internal rhyme. There aren't that many, but he
has this internal rhyme of tails of whales and woe
that really flows off the tongue, the liquored Speaking of tongues,
it's the tongue of the record, and he mentions the
man's lickored tongue sprawled in the aisle seat. He's not
just in the aisle seat. He's sprawled, so you know
that his limbs are just thrown about and he's not
(38:34):
sitting up straight. That last line, most interesting ball of
toxins you're ever apped.
Speaker 7 (38:39):
You'll ever hoped to meet.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
So there's a lot of great imagery, Lollo. Definitely keep
your Google Translate at hand, so hopefully it translates.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
Okay, the inspiration was his rampa, his father.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
What do you think was the man on the good question?
Lo Loo?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
So I think, I wrote in my notebook, I think
that most of us have been witness or been subject
to one of these people before. There's They look like
somebody that you would avoid, whether they're sitting by themselves
at the pub, on the train, at the marina, if
he's an old sailor. But if you give him a chance,
(39:23):
they'll tell you a lot of great stories.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
I wrote down.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Are they tall tales or exaggerated exploits?
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Probably? Will you be entertained?
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Definitely. His delivery is actually somewhat difficult to decipher because
of the vocal effects on the Sandman Mike, and I
think that's the connection to the subject of the song.
So this guy might be slurring his words while he
tells you these stories of wales and woe, but you'll
be entertained. But at the same time, you might be
(39:55):
repulsed by him because he smells bad, has bad breath,
and he's in your personal space. So you have to imagine,
you know, with hanging out with his father and his
grandfathers or just being out fishing. Less has met a
lot of these crusty old guys over the decades, and
some of them he's humored and listen to their stories
(40:18):
and probably told some of his own. But even when
he was gigging as a young man in the biker bars,
he probably first encountered these these kinds of guys. Personally me,
I don't mind humoring these guys sometimes, but every once
in a while, I just because I want to get
a story, I want to hear what they have to say.
But I also feel like I get trapped. I sympathize
(40:40):
with this old, crusty guy because we made eye contact
or I walked by him, and this might be his
only social outlet. Is just to tell stories. But the
only problem is it's one sided, if that makes sense, Lollo'.
It's not a conversation. He is just dumping information on me,
and I have to take it.
Speaker 7 (41:01):
You know, a champion of days gone by and tales
of greatness conveys the idea that this guy used to
be very important, or at least used to be very respective.
Maybe that's why, even though nowadays he's just this drunk
guy at the bar, that's why you should still listen
to his stories because he was great at one point.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
I extract a bit of self aggrandizement in the subtext
of that, meaning, this guy will tell you all the
great accomplishments and how strong and fantastic he was, and
what a champion he was. But he's the one telling it,
so you don't know if he's exaggerating and how much
(41:43):
he's exaggerating. There are plenty of stories I will tell
from my younger days that I'm exaggerating. The details we
do that we tend to, especially with memory, We tend
to distort memory over time. The stories we like to
tell just tend to get bigger and larger, and like
like the fish stories stories, the fish story indeed, there's
(42:08):
all these different elements to it, and I think Less
is hinting at a lot of those in the lyrics here,
and that's to yes.
Speaker 7 (42:14):
But also, but also with the title of Wales and Woe,
it conveys a great sense of regret. I think the
the imagery of the whales in this song, it's kind
of a symbol of something that was chased and never obtained.
Wales are elusive, whales are really difficult to catch, right
(42:37):
So the guy might have a lot of tales of
uh where he's the champion, or a lot of tales
of success, but Wales and Woe conveys that there's also
a lot of regret and a lot of missed opportunities.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Right absolutely.
Speaker 7 (42:52):
I also want I also want to mention that this
song reminds me a lot of Port of Amsterdam, which
is a song by Jack's Brill and was translated from
French to English and popularized by David Bowie. Let me
read an extract for you so you can hear what
I mean. In the Port of Amsterdam, where the sailors
(43:13):
all meet, there's a sailor who eats only fish heads
and tails, and he'll show you his teeth that have
rotted too soon, and he yells to the cook with
his arms opened wide, bring me more fish, throw it
down by my side. He wants to belch, but he's
too full to try, so he stands up and laughs,
and he SIPs up his fly.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
That's the guy, definitely, yes, right, yes, okay, So of
Wales and Woe is the sequel to Port of Amsterdam. Yeah,
that's the Bowie connection. Yeah, I just I just he's
not here, but I can see so rolling his eyes
right now. Yeah, I see that connection. And there are
(43:58):
plenty of songs with characters who are regaling stories of
their past, possibly lionizing themselves or making themselves out to
be bigger than they were. But yeah, I think this
is a universal thing. I just know that I've I've
been subject to people like this in bars and on
trains and whatnot, and they're pretty entertaining. But I need
(44:20):
to I need an out. I can't listen to it
all day long, you know. So I certainly I've certainly
met guys like this.
Speaker 7 (44:28):
I think I think in twenty years from now, when
we look back on your seat, if we'll be telling
people that Terry Kreenberg pulled up in a limo and
when he met us, he said, we're here because of
you guys. You two guys brought bean pulled back.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Yes, he handed us each two hundred thousand dollars exactly.
Put feather BoA's on us. We were let's do this.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
We have talked quite a bit about this track, but
I think it's time for Primates Takes. If you would
like your take read right here on the podcast, all
you have to do is go to Patreon dot com
Ford slash Primus tracks. The universal constant over there when
you're supporting Josh and Frankie is Primates takes. I put
the thread up, you put your thoughts up. He is
(45:17):
Brooks Delight and he is going to lead off our
Primates takes with this. Frankie, I'd wish I could say
something about the track as a whole, but that baseline
captures my full attention. Every time you.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
Have a kindred spirit there Lollo.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Ryan Rashan says, I feel like this should have left
as an instrumental without the spoken word vocal. The affected
vocal takes away from all the awesome instrumentation going on.
At least he gives space at the end of the
track for Everything to Shine interesting take hot take Eric
(45:56):
in Australia says the rambling narrative, vocal style and theremon
So will completely sell this track for me. Theremon Over
sitar another hot take, It's getting here Uh. Anthony del
pret Go Bills says, the vocal stylings of this track
really draw me in very much. Has the Claypool narrator vibe,
(46:18):
Gotta love the theoremon here by Gabby as well, and
the baseline that kind of plods and farts along matches
the lyrical content perfectly showing just how the main character's
best years are already behind him. Lollo, when you were
learning this bassline, did you picture plods and fartscause? Okay,
(46:42):
I don't know what.
Speaker 5 (46:43):
I mean, but I always when when I heard Clay
I always think all that's squeaky party.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Yeah, so plods and farts are plenty good. Our last
prime matron zach Em says, for some reason, this track
feels to me like instrumentation aside, it would have a
happy home on the Holy Mackerel record Maybe like a
distant cousin to Elsea. Branni Fortnite because well yeah else
(47:12):
Branni fortnite has largely a rhythmic narration as well.
Speaker 7 (47:17):
All right, Zach, we will we will allow it this time.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Yes, oh yeah, just want Zach.
Speaker 3 (47:23):
Thank you all.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
Primetron's four yr takes, some of them hot takes. We're
gonna hear about it next.
Speaker 7 (47:31):
Warming Here live cuts from a GM vehicle, Live cuts
from the GEM vehicle, Live cuts.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
From What's going on here.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
We have four live cuts today, lollow, get comfortable. Our
first live cut is from the Roxy in Boston, Massachusetts,
two thousand and six.
Speaker 7 (47:53):
Classic show.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
You've referenced the Roxy two thousand and six a few
times already, haven't you.
Speaker 7 (47:58):
Fraand Grid gig Yeah, a good one.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
Yeah, Oh that's satisfying.
Speaker 7 (48:43):
Gabby went all out on that one.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
I'm currently looking up theremin prices because I really want one.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
What did you hear in that, Lola?
Speaker 5 (48:55):
The baseline is intact. I just feel that the drummer
playing the ring lose more copperland more loose. He's just
running fun because that's you know, like shuffle. The base
is the same and as the ferryming went crazy.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
Yeah, that was a delight to borrow Frankie's term. Our
next live cut is from Frankie's Whales Live Sessions, the
fictional box set that will be released in twenty thirty six.
Here's some ski Rack.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
That's strump there.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Oh yeah, so Ski Rack's doing some cool stuff. It's
not the greatest recording for it, but you can certainly
hear what he's doing. It's so base forward that I
was hearing a lot of those variations lolo, and I
think you did too.
Speaker 4 (50:30):
Yeah, he's Claypool is doing like a question and answer himself.
Speaker 5 (50:41):
You know, I have a problem with Claypool because in
my mind he's always okay.
Speaker 4 (50:55):
I can't imagine maybe he's doing these maybe maybe I.
Speaker 5 (50:58):
Remember when I get the book of the Notes of
Selling in the Seas of Cheese, the solo, the solo
from Jerry, the notation was like.
Speaker 4 (51:13):
Something, oh yeah, and when I see the how how
he did that?
Speaker 3 (51:19):
He just he just was the right hand, yeah, with
distortion over.
Speaker 4 (51:29):
But in the in the book notation he knows is
yeah he's natural. So yeah, he's a problem with that.
When you want to analyze, no, you have to feel first.
Speaker 3 (51:43):
Yeah, he's not sharing his secrets.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
And whoever whoever transcribed the guitar and bass parts for
that book, there there have been a lot of complaints
over the years about those tablature books, so you're not alone.
Our third life cut is from the legendary and I
say legendary because we did an LSD on a two
thousand and eight Bonnaroo performance. Here's a special rendition of
(52:08):
Wales and will with merv on song Urban.
Speaker 7 (52:17):
Ladies and Gentlemen. We've unleashed vins and pieces of the
German steam.
Speaker 2 (52:24):
But right now the full erection that is burburban Stein.
Speaker 3 (52:31):
Is about to throb into your face. I give you,
I feel like we've played this before.
Speaker 2 (53:23):
That is the perfect replacement for the missing Theremin and
Saw family.
Speaker 3 (53:28):
It's family and when.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
You always save a place at the table for the Saw.
So when let's put together that lineup for Bonnaru, it
must have just been immediate that, hey, bring the Saw,
You're gonna play it during Wales. There's a reason we
did an episode on that one, I think, Frankie. Our
final cut is from the NPR World Cafe appearance NPR
back in two thousand and six, Less appeared on World Cafe.
(53:55):
Just do a search for World Cafe less Claypool.
Speaker 3 (53:57):
It's still there.
Speaker 2 (53:58):
Really great sound quality on the one Wales and Woe
was one of the tunes they played. Funky the Girl.
Speaker 7 (54:31):
Will be more of these days.
Speaker 2 (54:32):
The scene.
Speaker 4 (54:34):
Becomes more and more cautious about the waves on.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
The ground, the posture of his father's had of showing
the destination. I love how much space is in this intro.
Uh and in this recording you can really hear everything clearly. Now, Frankie,
you want us to listen to this performance at the
three minute mark, but you did not indicate what we're
getting into. So I am going to steel myself for greatness.
(55:07):
You're ever apt to me, You're.
Speaker 3 (55:19):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's great.
Speaker 2 (55:38):
I remember listening to this shortly after it aired on
World Cafe and great stuff. Really driving it there, Lollo
on that muted part, the muted that's that sounds like
(56:01):
a really good just exercise for your fingers too, and
your and your coordination. Thanks for those, Frankie, excellent life cuts.
So I guess I can say this of Whales and Woe.
There's no need to remain discreete because you've been tracked.
Next time, Frankie, this is when I become a brill
(56:24):
cream man.
Speaker 7 (56:25):
I hope we don't end up with then X podcast.
Speaker 2 (56:32):
Well that's of Whales and Woe the track, Lollo, thank
you so much for bringing your base and talking to
us today.
Speaker 4 (56:39):
Having me really always is a pleasure, and.
Speaker 2 (56:44):
I love having you on Man, and I appreciate your
friendship and your willingness to do it later days with
a
Speaker 4 (57:00):
Dotard said
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