Les Claypool Projects Through the Years

I'm Back !

Les Claypool is one of the most talented bassists of the last two-plus decades to wield that mighty four-stringed ax. Whether it is with one of his current "solo" projects, the Frog Brigade, Bucket of Bernie Brains, Oysterhead, or his legendary band Primus, Claypool is almost always working on stretching his musical and over-all artistic boundaries even further. The man can slap a mean bass, write books, fish for sturgeon, make movies, and generally be an extremely entertaining individual. Some may argue his current musical efforts aren’t some of his best but he still puts out bits of solid, quality material in everything he does. I'll be the first to admit that I am a bit biased towards him but he is definitely one of my favorite people ever.

That being said, I'd like to take a little journey through some of the man's music videos and a few other works he has created over the years. Enjoy!

I'll start you off with THIS one. A video from Claypool's early band named Sausage. This video is so bizarre but I think it's great.


Les Claypool - Riddles Are Abound Tonight
Download Music Video Code at www.roxwel.com

Another great early video capturing Les doing two of his favorite activities, fishing and playing music, is "John the Fisherman". Additionally he looks pretty hilarious.

John The Fisherman


Next HERE is the hilarious/weird/slightly frightening "Mr. Krinkle" video from Primus. Featuring the legendary pig mask! Take notice while watching that the entire video is filmed during one continuous shot. Pretty damn cool



These next two things are both closely related. The first, Pig Hunt, a dark comic/horror movie about a 3,000 pound wild boar the kills people and terrorizes the marijuana fields of California. Les Caypool plays, "The Preacher". The Second thing, the song and video for "Boonville Stomp" which is featured one both Les's new album "Of Fungi and Foe" as well as the movie. Les busts out the bass-banjo for this one.

Les Claypool - Booneville Stomp
Download Music Video Code at www.roxwel.com

Next we have another song/video from Les's newest album. The song (Red State Girl isn’t one of my favorites but it's pretty funny and is entertaining simply because of the hilarious masks that Sam Bass (cello) and Mike Dillon (Tablas) are wearing and the faces Dillon makes.



HERE we have Les back with Primus in the hilarious video for the song "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" which finds the boys dressed up as plastic cowboy action figures.



Primus - Wynona's Big Brown Beaver (Music Video).mpg

As mentioned before, Les Claypool has also written a book. It's titled "South of the Pumphouse" and is:

A dark, clever tale of two brothers, a fishing trip, misconceptions, drugs and murder, South of the Pumphouse skillfully combines classic motifs of epic struggle and intelligent layers of imagery, reminiscent of The Old Man and the Sea, and the raw, tweaked perspective and hallucinogenic tutorial of a Hunter Thompson novel.

Another non-music but directly music related project (well it IS music in a way) is Les's film is "Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo" which is a mocumentary about a jam band trying to become successful and play at the music festival "Festeroo".

Another great Primus music video is the amazing claymation video for the song "Southbound Pachyderm" off the album "Tales from the Punchbowl".

Southbound Pachyderm


Lastly I have pretty much the quintessential Primus song everyone knows. Aside from My Name is Mud, I feel this is THE song known by both hardcore fans and people who couldn't get it out of their heads from playing too much Tony Hawk Proskater. HERE it is, "Jerry Was A Racecar Driver". (yes the beginning is weird but what do you expect?)

Primus - Jerry was a Racecar Driver

B Funkin' Ireland

I'm going to Ireland. Be back in action in 9 days.

Phil Collins Friday !

Enjoy

A Nice Song

I think that this song by a girl named Lay Low is really beautiful. So download it and then listen to it with your ears. Okay bye.

Classic Tag Teams

In honor of the recent release of the Allied Powers: Greatest Tag Teams DVD I thought I'd put together a little list of some classic wrestling tag teams. This is certainly not a complete list, nor is it really in any order of importance. These are just some teams that were either influential, groundbreaking, or just plain entertaining to watch. Let's get started!

The Bushwhackers
Luke and Butch, collectively known at The Bushwhackers were a sort of fake-Australian duo with some pretty wild and comedic antics. You of course can't forget the hilarious "Bushwhacker-walk" Check it out HERE



The Natural Disasters
Who could forget these guys? Earthquake and Typhoon made up The Natural Disasters, basically two mean fat guys. Check em out HERE and HERE





The New Age Outlaws
Oh you didn't know? Your ass better call somebodaaaay. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages. D-Generation X proudly brings to you it's (former, soon-to-be...etc) WWF TAAAAAG TEEEEAAAAM CHAMPIIIOOOONS OF THE WOOOOOORLD. The Roaddog Jesse James, The Bad Ass Billy Gun, the NEW AGE OUTLAWS. Back in the late 90s during the "Raw is War" era of the WWF, these guys, along with the rest of the DX crew were part of some of the most entertaining and memorable gimmicks, feuds, and segments in the history of the WWF. Definitely one of my (many) personal favorites.



The Hardys (Hardy Boyz)
As a tag team Matt and Jeff Hardy had some of the most innovative,exciting, and all around crazy tag-team matches ever. They took the use of tables and ladders to completely new heights. Additionally they have both gone on to have successful singles careers as well. Check out some clips of their matches HERE



The Headbangers

Next I give you....Mosh and Thrasher, collectively known as The Headbangers. These two guys were another tag team to come out of the Raw is War, late 90's era. Basically they were two "alternative" metalhead, headbanger (hence the name) fellows with some pretty damn cool tag team moves if i do say so myself. Apparatly they are ranked #2 on the list of 15 superstars who "overstayed" their welcomes in the WWF....i dunno, i thought they were pretty good. Check out a match with The Hardys HERE



The Rock `n' Sock Connection
There's no way I could have left out this one. The union of two of the greatest superstars in WWF/WWE history, The Rock and Mick Foley (Mankind) as "The Rock and Sock Connection" was pure genius. The juxtaposition of their personas made for some very entertaining matches and interviews. Check out the union HERE.



The Rock's Birthday



The Dudleys (Team 3-D)
Buh Buh Ray and D-Von Dudley are to my knowledge the most decorated tag team in all of pro wrestling history. They have held every major tag team title from every federation, including: ECW, WWF/WWE, WCW, NWA, TNA, All Japan, HUSTLE and the New Japan World Tag Team Titles. If that isn't saying enough, they tend to have some pretty amazing Tables, TLC (Tables Ladders and Chairs, and Street Fight matches. Check out a tables match HERE



Triple Threat TLC Match HERE (definitely worth watching this whole thing)



The Legion of Doom (The Road Warriors)
Aaaaaaahhhhhh WHAT A RUSH !!! No tag team list can be made without mentioning the Leigion of Doom. With their patented facepaint and shoulder pads, Hawk and Animal were one of the most dominant tag teams in the history of wrestling. They paved the way for many superstars who followed and should always be recognized as one of the best tag teams to ever do it. Check out THIS six man tag match including the Road Warriors and the Ultimate Warrior verses another classic tag team/trio Demolition. (take notice of the hilarious promos at the beginning)



Short match with a nice Doomsday Device at the end, oh yeah and Sunny is bangin'. Check it out HERE

The Lips Are Coming

Attention! The Flaming Lips are coming to Penn's Landing Festival Pier in Philadelphia on Saturday August 29th. That is all. Carry on.

Band You May Not Know....

This Week's Band/Group/Artist you may not know of is Phoenix. I personally just heard of this band about 3 weeks or so ago. They are a French (yeah yeah their French) slightly alternative/pop kind of electro type band with some pretty enjoyable music. They have been getting a huge amount of buzz due to their new album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which came out at the end of May (this year) but they have been around since 2000. Okay enough talking... Check em out !

Oh yeah and THIS video is pretty damn cool.

1901 collaboration video

Lisztomania - Phoenix

One Time Too Many - Phoenix