A reimagining of the music from the classic film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Primus’ latest album Primus & the Chocolate Factory isn’t the first time Primus or its frontman bassist/singer Les Claypool have decided to remake outside material in their own offbeat musical image. Over the years, either with Primus or in any number of his other projects, Claypool has reworked a variety of familiar songs. And in 2000, Claypool and his side band, The Les Claypool Frog Brigade, recorded a concert performance of the Pink Floyd album Animals, releasing it on the album Live Frogs Set 2.
But Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory seems like the most natural musical work yet for Claypool to reimagine. The personality of the film certainly shares characteristics with how Claypool has always viewed Primus and his own musical interests.
“There’s always been this sort of twisted fairytale element to Primus and the lyrics, because I was exposed to so much; I was exposed not only to a lot of these old musicals, but country music in general,” Claypool explained in a phone interview. Old country in particular, Claypool says, tends to have “more lore-ish lyrics, telling stories and having different colorful characters within these stories, Jerry Reed being an early hero of mine with ‘Amos Moses.’
“Even when I would listen to The Beatles,” Claypool says, “my favorite songs were the ones that I’d listen to the lyrics to try and figure out what the hell they were talking about, whether it was ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ or ‘Octopus’ Garden’ or ‘I Am The Walrus’ or whatever the hell, these things that had these colorful characters within them…. That’s what Primus, I think, has always reflected, this sort of colorful fantasy world that’s a little bit twisted.”
For the album, Claypool, guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde and drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander were joined by multi-instrumentalist Mike Dillon and string player Sam Bass from Claypool’s side band, The Fungi Ensemble. Like most Primus material, it’s dark and playful in equal doses.
“Candy Man,” the cheerful hit single originally sung by Sammy Davis Jr., takes a sinister turn as Claypool adapts a creepy vocal tone, singing along to droning tones as Alexander’s drums herk and jerk the song along. “Cheer Up Charlie” becomes a subdued march with a little “I Am The Walrus” abstraction, while “Golden Ticket” may be the most Primus-sounding song of all with its snaky bass line, thumping drums and evil-fun disposition.
“It is very much like a lot of my solo stuff, more so than the Primus stuff,” Claypool said of the album. “But then again, it has a very, very strong Larry LaLonde signature and it has a very, very strong Tim Alexander signature. So I think it’s kind of a crossover between the two worlds. As I put the thing together I was getting these images. As I was mixing I’m going, ‘Man, this reminds me of an old Peter Gabriel record back when [drummer] Jerry Marotta was [with him]... It has a little bit of that kind of Floyd-ish psychedelia to it, but their darker years. And then there’s a bit of The Residents in there, too. It’s kind of a homage to all of these things. But it’s very, very Primus.”
Primus & the Chocolate Factory marks the return of the band to its classic lineup, with drummer Alexander returning after a three-year absence.
During that period Claypool and LaLonde reunited with original drummer Jay Lane for the 2011 album Green Naugahyde. Claypool was pleased that Alexander was ready to take over on drums and percussion when Lane left last year to rejoin RatDog, the band fronted by Grateful Dead guitarist/singer Bob Weir.
“Tim is one of the most creative drummers of our generation, and I think he lost sight of that,” Claypool said. “I think this record is an extremely strong piece of Tim Alexander. It’s not Tim Alexander playing 100 miles an hour with his kick drum. It’s extremely tasteful, creative, musical Tim Alexander—and powerful.”
Primus spent part of 2015 touring Chocolate Factory, playing the album in its entirety. The Milwaukee show figures to include some of those songs as well, but should be more of what Claypool calls a “classic Primus set.”
Primus play the Rave Thursday, Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. with Dinosaur Jr.
