In late October of 2024, Primus and their followers had been shocked when longtime drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander abruptly introduced that he was leaving the trio. Primus—which additionally options ubiquitous bassist/singer Les Claypool and guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde—had been right here earlier than. This was the third time Alexander give up the band. He was the drummer on their early information—their 1989 debut EP Suck On This, 1990’s Frizzle Fry, 1991’s Crusing The Seas Of Cheese, 1993’s Pork Soda, and 1995’s Tales From The Punchbowl. He left in 1996 and was changed by Bryan “Mind” Mantia, who had performed in an early incarnation of Primus. Alexander rejoined in 2003, leaving once more in 2010. Jay Lane, one other early Primus member, took his place. Lane left, and Alexander rejoined in 2013, staying for eleven years. 

This time, the band went outdoors their circle to interchange Alexander. As Claypool remembers, laughing, “Effectively, [Alexander quitting] sort of got here from out of the blue, so we weren’t ready for any of this!” Nonetheless sounding a bit stunned, he says, “The very first thing I did was name [Tool drummer] Danny Carey, as a result of he’s a good good friend and he can play these drums! He advisable a few folks, however then Ler and I assumed, ‘We don’t have anyone within the wings like we had earlier than, let’s see who’s on the market,’ and we began happening the wormhole of YouTube. That led to the ‘Interstellar Drum Derby.’”  

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The multi-part “Interstellar Drum Derby” clocks in at over three hours and options cameos from Fred Armisen, Danny Carey, and Maynard James Keenan, and Stewart Copeland of the Police. 

Spoiler alert: the winner was a relative unknown named John Hoffman from Shreveport, Louisiana. Really, it’s not a lot of a spoiler: he’s on the quilt of Trendy Drummer journal, having made his very high-profile debut with the band at Device’s Dwell within the Sand competition, which came about within the Dominican Republic on March 8. Hoffman is presently on his first tour with the band, as a part of the Sessanta 2.0 trek, which sees Primus and two of Maynard James Keenan’s bands (A Good Circle and Puscifer) sharing the stage and switching off songs all evening lengthy. 

In Tim Alexander’s statement explaining why he give up, he talked about that he’d misplaced his ardour for enjoying and that touring had left him “feeling empty.” He mentioned that he advised the band, “They deserve somebody who desires to be there.” John Hoffman is somebody who very a lot desires to be there. 

“That is one thing my associates and I talked about after we had been children: ‘What if I could possibly be the drummer of Primus?’” Hoffman says excitedly from a cease on the tour. “It by no means appeared like an precise chance! I bear in mind going to Tower Information to purchase [1999’s] Antipop the day it got here out. A number of that stuff doesn’t get performed as a lot,” he notes, referring to that album and 1997’s The Brown Album. “I’m hoping to get them to deliver again a few of that stuff to the stay exhibits.”

His option to play a somewhat deep lower from The Brown Album, “Duchess and the Proverbial Thoughts Unfold,” impressed Claypool and LaLonde throughout his audition. And that tune made the setlist on the Dwell In The Sand Pageant. The band shared the efficiency of that tune on YouTube. 

The video is titled “Hoffer’s First Gig.” It’s form of an unofficial ceremony of passage in Les Claypool’s world that everybody round him has nicknames: “Ler,” “Herb,” former Primus drummer Jay Lane is “Jayski,” and his frequent collaborator Sean Ono Lennon is “Shiner.” 

“All my associates are inclined to have nicknames,” he explains. “Once I get comfy with anyone, they find yourself with a nickname. I really feel odd calling somebody by their correct title if I actually know them nicely.”

Hoffman wasn’t the apparent selection for the gig, based on Claypool talking by cellphone from the tour. “We had over 6,100 submissions. Our good friend Tim Soya, who has identified us ceaselessly, watched each single video. Ler watched virtually each single video. They went via and picked the perfect of them, and I watched these. We had 4 folders: the one-star folder meant you had been actually good, two stars meant you had been distinctive, three stars meant ‘Oh my god, this particular person’s superb,’ and 4 stars meant that this particular person needed to get an audition. I feel Hoffer was within the two-star folder.”

He continues. “However then I posted, ‘Hey, we’re getting a lot of individuals enjoying Primus songs, it’s laborious to see what character people have. Please resubmit with a few of your individual stuff.’ (that is the submit the place he made the announcement: ) Hoffer resubmitted, and it killed us, so he obtained an audition.” That video not solely featured Hoffman enjoying together with Primus songs, but in addition well-known TV themes, together with Seinfeld, Barney Miller, and The Jetsons. “It was very intelligent,” Claypool says.  

“We didn’t suppose that he’d make it to the finals as a result of the day he performed, Ler was coping with all of this hearth shit, as a result of his house had just burned down [in the Los Angeles fires]. He simply wasn’t in a nice temper. He didn’t really feel that audition like I did. Even as much as the tip, we thought that Gergo [Borlai, another auditioning drummer] was going to get it.”

Claypool, who can also be a drummer, had some points with Hoffman’s enjoying on the first audition. As Hoffman remembers, “Les mentioned, ‘You had a good audition and we had been all very impressed, however you want to go residence and work in your double bass [drumming] and get that tight.’ I mentioned, ‘Sure, sir, I’m on it!’ So the following time I obtained with Les, and we jammed, he mentioned, ‘Man, you’ve been working in your double bass.’ I mentioned, ‘Yep, I positive have: I got here to win!’” 

“He did his homework!” Claypool agrees. “And a part of the ultimate audition was that we spent the day within the recording studio engaged on this model new tune that I had written, ‘Little Lord Fentanyl.’ We simply launched it [on May 2]: that’s instantly from the audition.” Maynard James Keenan is featured on the tune, and so they’re performing it collectively on the Sessanta exhibits. (Claypool notes that the Primus/Device bond dates again to 1993 when each bands had been on the Lollapalooza tour. Device was a new band on the time, or as Claypool places it, “They had been the low scrotum on the totem!”) 

“Little Lord Fentanyl” is a fairly heavy tune, musically and lyrically. Claypool notes, “I actually pushed the notion that this particular person is a sufferer of the abuse of prescribed drugs, not avenue medicine. However that’s been taking place with a lot of individuals, and I’ve had associates who had this occur. Not simply with fentanyl, however opiates. They’ve an damage, they’ve a surgical procedure, and the following factor , they’re hooked on this shit and it takes them ceaselessly to get off of it.”

Hoffman’s ascent is a a lot happier matter to debate than the drug epidemic. Because the rookie says, “I went from sending in an audition video to changing into the drummer for one of many biggest bands of all time.” Claypool enjoys watching Hoffman expertise rock stardom, and says it’s given the band a new blast of power.  

“He’s assembly well-known folks, he’s on the tour bus, he’s staying in these good resort rooms, we’re consuming fancy wine, he has a actual drum tech… It’s very endearing, and it’s rejuvenating for us as a band. We’re jaded outdated bastards; the entire sudden, there’s this recent perspective! And it’s actually a fantastic factor. It’s been a shot within the arm for this band, for positive.”

“I draw the parallel to the primary time I took my children to Disneyland,” Claypool explains. “I went to Disneyland one time after I was like 8 or 9 years outdated, and it was the best expertise of my life. Once I was older, Ler and I’d go on a regular basis. Generally in varied altered states! However after I obtained to take my children for the primary time, it was like reliving that pleasure via their eyes. It was a fantastic factor. That’s the best way it’s with Hoffer.”  

The band’s new dynamic modified Claypool’s summer time plans: he notes that Alexander had initially dedicated to the Sessanta tour, which stretches via early June.  “I used to be going to do a Frog Brigade [his solo band] summer time tour or a Claypool Lennon Delirium [his band with Sean Lennon] tour. We’ve obtained a Delirium album that we’ve been engaged on for 3 years that we’re attempting to complete up. Then all of this occurred, and now the main target is again in Primus-land. Particularly now that now we have this man who’s all fired up. Plus, I couldn’t depart Ler excessive and dry like that, both. It’s simply a completely different dynamic now than it was eight months in the past.” A month after Sessanta ends, Primus is headlining their very own tour. 

A brand new Primus album is “in all probability very doubtless,” he says. “There’s an enthusiasm now that’s infectious, and when you could have that, it’s important to reap the benefits of it. However I even have the Delirium album: it’s a huge idea report, and it’s a fairly ‘out-there’ idea. I’m sort of hoping to do a new Primus report within the subsequent 12 months and get the Delirium report out and possibly do a tour subsequent summer time with each bands.”  

The Sessanta Tour, with A Good Circle and Puscifer, ends June 7. Primus kicks off their headlining tour on July 5; that tour ends August 8. 

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