Primus

In 12 years since the demented funk-metal band Primus released 1999's <i>Antipop</i>, frontman Les Claypool has kept busy as a lauded player in the jam-rock scene, sharing stages with Trey Anastasio, Gov't Mule, Matisyahu and Buckethead, while recording his own typically off-kilter albums with assorted ensembles. He toured off and on with Primus, too, but expressed no interest in recording a new album until the band's original drummer, Jay Lane, rejoined the group in 2010. Lane shares some of Claypool's jam-scene tieshe'd been a member of the post-Grateful Dead group Furthur, with Phil Lesh and Bob Weirbut more than anything his return helped Primus reconnect with its roots. The band's latest album, 2011's <I>Green Naugahyde</i>, is a callback to the band's strangest, earliest recordings.