Hits

Primus Interview

By Whitey

Besides touring endlessly–notably performing live at the ’96 World Championships of Skateboarding and ’97’s Boarding For Breast Cancer–Primus has put out six full-length albums, two EPs, and the Sausage album. Les Claypool, bassist/vocalist/head Primus-guy has been responsible for the band’s videos, films, and claymation masterpieces, as well as released Drink with the Devil from his side project, The Holy Mackerel. And all of this is in the last nine years.

Claypool, guitarist Larry Lalonde, and drummer Brain recently released Rhinoplasty as, " … the chance, or excuse for that matter, to go into the studio and have a bit of fun." When has Primus ever not been about fun?

How long have you guys been into snowboarding?

Les: Larry and I just started last year, so this is our

second year.

Brain: For about three years now.

So Les, how’d you break your foot?

Les: I was flying down this hill when some fat guy cut in front of me and I collided with him–breaking my foot and hurting my ribs.

What snowboarders do you think rip?

Larry: Pettit rips at booze. Brian Botts rules–he gave me this jacket. I’ve never seen him ride, but he’s my favorite rider now [laughing].

What’s Rhinoplasty all about?

Les: It’s sort of a follow-up to Miscellaneous Debris. It will be a bunch of cover tunes and a couple of live tracks.

Who are some of the performers you cover?

Les: We did tunes by XTC, Peter Gabriel. Jerry Reed, Stanley Clarke, and Metallica.

When are you guys going to get a keyboardist? All aging bands seem to get a keyboardist–it’s mandatory.

Les: Larry is trying to be a keyboardist, and we’re going to write songs like "Jump."

How did you learn to play guitar–did you go to a crazy

school or what?

Larry: I went in [to a musical instrument store] one day to buy an amp, and it said guitar lessons on the wall. So, I started taking lessons, and it turned out to be Joe Satriani.

Were you a long-haired hessian?

Larry: Yep. I had long hair and a leather jacket with spikes

coming out of it.

You guys have a kind of hessian following–are you

stoked on that?

Les: What the hell is a hessian?

You know, rockers with mullets.

Les: Nooo! We don’t have any of those guys.

What are you talking about?

Yes you do. You used to have a hessian haircut. The haircut that’s long but shaved on the sides. It’s metal cheese, yet slightly leaning toward punk rock.

Les: We never had those kind of haircuts. I had a mohawk.

How’d you get the name "Brain"?

Brain: When I was in school, I would never go out and party because I wanted to learn classical snare drum–I wanted to be in the symphony. I’d sit there at night with the hardest piece of music, and my friends would come in and ask, "Why are you learning classical snare drum? You’re a brain." Basically, I wasted my whole life to do this.

And now you’re a rock star.

Armageddon

The Album

Columbia

Movie soundtracks–the voice of the entertainment generation. They’re finally getting it right! In order to emotionally charge their blockbuster films, movie studios have tapped into the minds of our generation and are using the pop music that speaks to us. And it works! Marketing demographics tell no lies. How good was the music in Pulp Fiction? Great! The Singles soundtrack helped us understand what all those flannel-clad guys in Seattle were so pissed about. And really, what else could you say about The Crow soundtrack?

Not much.

Well, the folks at Sony Music Soundtrax (Columbia) have come out with another one for your collection: the heavily anticipated Armageddon soundtrack–fourteen jams from some of America’s heaviest-hitting rock pioneers. Here’s a rundown:

Aerosmith: five songs–some old, some new–all Aerosmith. The love song, "I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing" sounds exactly the same played backward or forward.

Journey: "Remember Me" kicks off sounding very Boston-like, but subtly shifts gears to sound like every other Journey song you’ve ever heard. Their new singer, Steve Augeri, sounds so much like original singer Steve Perry it’s spooky. If only Van Halen had been so smart.

Jon Bon Jovi: "Mister Big Time" will put a smile on your lips, along with a hefty portion of drool, as you are lulled into brain-numbing hypnosis by its astounding unoriginality.

Chantal Kreviazuk: does a very emotional version of the late John Denver’s "Leaving On A Jet Plane."

But to me the album’s highlights are Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band’s "Roll Me Away," with its Dylanesque yearning for the open road, and ZZ Top’s "La Grange," which will get you moving the same way it did when it was first released 24 years ago.

Once again, a soundtrack has been created that is truly a meaningful mirror of our generation. Armageddon: The Album will surely rock you like a speeding meteor on a crash course with your hometown.

–Jesse Loomis

Local H

Pack Up The Cats

Of all the bands treading in Nirvana’s massive shadow, Local H should be voted most likely to succeed. Admittedly, the Loc aren’t the international sensation Nirvana became, and vocalist/guitarist Scott Lucas isn’t the media’s "spokesperson of a generation." The point, however, is he could be. If superstardom comes, Lucas is ready. With a gifted songwriting style awfully similar to Kurt Cobain’s, Lucas has one thing Cobain lacked: a protective armor of self-deprecating smartass. Local H’s last record yielded a big hit, "Bound For The Floor" (remember that insistent "keep it copacetic" chorus?), but also included clever toss-offs like "High-Fiving MF" and "Eddie Vedder." So it’s clear Lucas isn’t taking anything (including himself) too seriously. He writes angst without succumbing to it, and his Pavement-like sense of slacker humor continues on Pack Up The Cats.

On "All Right (Oh Yeah)," Lucas treats rock like the game it is, singing, "You could never figure out/ What was all the buzz about/ I know it’s me, it’s only stupid me." Taking careful aim at the music business, Lucas skewers industry geeks ("Laminate Man") and fickle fans and critics ("All The Kids Are Right"), but isn’t about to sweat the details. In the end, it’s all about having fun, as Lucas promises on the longest-titled song of 1998, "Hit The Skids Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Rock." No worries, dude.–Mark Woodlief

Monster Magnet

Powertrip

A&M Records

After wading through stacks of pseudo alterna-pop, "Hey let’s get tattoos, pierce our faces, and dye our hair wacky colors," Green Day wannabe, buzz-bin-formula albums–I thought I’d found the real deal: Monster Magnet’s Powertrip. Check out the cover: It’s 1998, and they’ve still got the flowing Whitesnake hair, the black leather, the front man with the Metallica mustache throwing an Ozzy with a skeleton hand. An evil-looking devil bull on the back cover, chicks in leather bikinis abound on the inside liner pictures, and song titles like "Baby Gotterdamerung" and "See You In Hell" invoked visions of Ronnie James Dio in all his midget glory.

Imagine my surprise when from out of my speakers came, not a rocking, hessian butt-rock metal comeback, but some standard Headbangers Ball type shit from the era right before the show got canceled. I was expecting Ace of Spades. Instead I got Open Up And Say Ahhhh. This would be a good album if it was 1987 … and I was twelve–bopping around, thinking Skid Row was the best band ever. But predictable power-chord progressions, marginally aggressive tempos, and uninspired, poseur angry-guy lyrics just don’t do it for me anymore.

–Melissa Larsen

Three Pros - One CD

Tribe Called Quest

The Love Movement

Russell Winfield: Tribe Called Quest’s fifth album is definitely right on track. Tribe is one of the most consistent hip-hop groups in the business, and like all of their previous albums, this one is filled with head-bobbing, not rump-shaking, beats and lyrics that us commoners can relate to. Reggie Noble, a.k.a. Redman, and Busta Rhymes also drop some lyrical knowledge, and Mos Def, a new hip-hop sensation also makes an appearance. Of course there are a few dance tracks for all you hip-hop club fiends and radio lovers, but on the whole this album is for all y’all who are tired of hearing about dirty girls packin’ heat, wearing iced-out medallions, and designer shades, while rolling down the street smokin’ and sippin’ on juice.

Collin Lentz: The Love Movement is about as soft as the name. Besides the music being tired, how can you rap on all of that positivity stuff and still speak tough-talk? A rap act that doesn’t front? Now there’s an idea! I think Tribe’s great and all, but this one had me napping. Turn off the clap machine, please.

Jeff Brushie: Everybody knows that A Tribe Called Quest is PHAT! Their first few albums were pretty bomb. But with this album, the Tribe vibe just ain’t all there. It’s kind of bland–no songs that get you super pumped. The first song on the album is probably the worst sounding–not a good way to start. There is a few okay/good songs, but most of them are just ehhhh. Some of the beats are pretty phat, but I didn’t care for the rhyme style on a lot of them. If I had to pick a favorite song on the album, "Rock Rock Y’all"–the beat grooves pretty hard. I’m a big hip-hop fan, but this isn’t one of those tapes that I would keep in my car stereo, playing over and over every time I drove somewhere. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dissin’ Tribe at all, I think they are talented as f–k! I just think they could have done

better. Word.

Smashing Pumpkins

Adore

Virgin Records

The millennium is around the corner, and it’s evident that the Smashing Pumpkins are looking for something new with their latest album, Adore.

Ex-drummer and (hopefully) recovering heroin addict, Jimmy Chamberlin may be cringing in his cell or wherever the hell he is right now, but Billy Corgan isn’t ready for someone else to step up to the skins. Instead, Mr. Corgan has decided to mess around with some funky electronica and loopy drum machines.

Those of you who enjoyed the enormous airplay of "1979" from the Pumpkin’s last album should take pleasure in the poppy seeds "Perfect" and "Appels + Oranjes," which will no doubt be big at high school dances.

There is a difference in Billy Corgan’s voice on songs like "Once Upon a Time"–sections of the vocals are double-tracked, and he’s lost a bit of that nasal sound. "Annie Dog" is amazing–it evokes a range of emotions through lyrics and piano only. No matter how many times I listen to this song, I don’t grow tired of its charm

and curiosity.

All in all, Adore is a mellower album than Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. But don’t count them out–the Pumpkins still have plenty of studio time and material to produce a smoker with the rawness of Gish before the

year 2000.

The first person to accurately mail in which song’s chorus on Adore sounds similar to David Bowie’s "Ziggy Stardust" will receive a one-year subscription to this far-out magazine and a T-shirt of your choice. Mail your entries to:

Photo Editor, TransWorld SNOWboarding, 353 Airport Rd., Oceanside, CA 92054.