Les Claypool

Les Claypool本名为Leslie Edward Claypool，于1963年9月29日生于美国佛罗里达州， 四岁时父母亲就因故离婚，从小他便与他的母亲生活。小时候的Les Claypool就以收音机为伍，到国中时，他发觉他想要学些乐器，那时他还分不清楚什么是吉他什么是BASS，但是他对这种&可发出肥厚声音&的四弦乐器相当有兴趣。
 
国中时Les认识一位叫Mark Biedermann的吉他手，而Mark因为缺一位Bass手，所以Les就向父亲借钱买了生平的第一把BASS（Fender P-Bass），并加入生平第一个乐团（Blind Illusion），在当时Les还不会弹奏BASS，而Mark Biedermann 就负责教导Les弹奏。当时Les常常跑去看Rush乐团的Geddy Lee表演，他仔细观察Geddy的手及所有弹奏的部分，因为Geddy Lee的刺激，他了解自己还需要更努力，为了要让弹奏速度更快，他开始用三只手指弹奏。
 
除了在Blind Illusion乐团里弹奏外，国中时的Les还加入学校的爵士乐团，虽然当时他还不会视谱，但是经过老师的教导，渐渐的他就懂得如何视谱了，除此；加入爵士乐团也让他有机会接触到Upright Bass，Les回忆道：「弹奏Swing是一件很有趣的事情，你可以看见大家随着节奏而起舞！」接受了Metal及Swing洗礼的Les开始对Funk产生兴趣，当他听到Stanley Clarke的 I Want to Play for Ya 专辑后便深深受到这种节奏的吸引，他学习弹奏专辑中的每个音符，几年的苦练之后，Les的Slap速度已经相当的惊人了，国中时大家都叫他&Disco Les& 因为他始终弹funk。
 
1984 年Les参加很多乐团的audition，不过都没有找到适合自己的乐团，Les便开始尝试自己创作；这段期间一位旧识的吉他手Todd Huth 找他组团，因此Primate 乐团成立(随后改名为Primus)。为了录制专辑，Les卖掉车子以筹措录音的费用，虽然专辑推出了，但只有在当地的电台拨放，而歌迷也是少的可怜。
 
1988年Todd Huth因经济因素而离团，该年Les 重回Blind Illusion 并遇见Primus 现任吉他手Larry LaLonde，随后他们又遇见鼓手Tim &Herb& Alexander，由于他们的努力，Primus 渐渐建立起名望，然而就在专辑 Suck on This 录制中，他们又面临团员的异动，但是极高的电台拨放率及好评，使他们更为坚强，也引领着Primus持续前进。
 
对于Les的弹奏，就像Primus的乐风一样，你除了无法定位及理解外，你会对他的创造力及技巧称奇，六弦无琴格的Bass，时而弹奏和声，时而强烈的Line，Bass在他的手里，就像是玩具一般，操控着音乐的起伏，也操控着听众的情绪。
 
The most original rock bassist to come along in the 90s was unquestionably Primus Les Claypool. With his oddball sense of humor and funky playing, Claypool took his varied musical influences and created an invigorating and completely inventive style. The Les Claypool story begins on September 29, 1963, when he was born in Richmond, CA. As a teenager, Claypool met fellow student Kirk Hammett (yes, the Kirk Hammett of Metallica fame), who turned him on to such rock acts as Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Led Zeppelin. It was around this time that Claypool took up the bass, influenced by the likes of Rushs Geddy Lee, Yes Chris Squire, and Paul McCartney. Although Hammett asked Claypool to join a band he was in, he opted for another group in his high school, progressive metallists Blind Illusion, while broadening his musical horizons by playing in jazz and swing bands. Upon discovering such fusion and funk bass greats as Stanley Clarke and Larry Graham around this time, Claypool began incorporating slapping into his playing technique.
 
After graduation, Claypool played in a local cover band, the Tommy Crank Band, which specialized in blues, R&B, funk, and mainstream rock hits. Playing several sets a night almost every night of the week, he sharpened up his improv skills, and after a short while, there wasnt a musical style that he couldnt pull off convincingly. It was while with Tommy Crank that Claypool bought his first Carl Thompson piccolo bass (after seeing Stanley Clarke play one), an instrument that would become his trademark. It was around this time (early to mid-80s) that Claypool began demoing his own original compositions, which would become the impetus for Primus. Originally called Primate, Primus consisted of guitarist Todd Huth and drummer Jay Lane in addition to Claypool, who also contributed vocals (in a strange sing-speak style, almost akin to a narrator) in addition to bass. Although the trio instantly created an underground following in the San Francisco area, Primus was put on hold when Huth left and Claypool returned to Blind Illusion (whose sound now resembled a thrash metal band), and appeared on the groups lone album, The Sane Asylum, on Combat Records.
 
His return to Blind Illusion didnt last long, but he met a kindred musical spirit in BIs guitarist, Larry LaLonde. By 1989, a new Primus lineup was formed — Claypool, LaLonde, and new drummer Tim Herb Alexander — and not long afterward, their first album was issued, the live set Suck on This. The album caused such a buzz with college radio that the independent label Caroline signed the group, resulting in the reissue of their debut and their sophomore effort, 1990s Frizzle Fry, while the trio toured with such bands as Janes Addiction and 24-7 Spyz. 1991 proved to be an even better year for the group, as their major-label debut (for Interscope), Sailing the Seas of Cheese, reached gold status a year after its release, as the trio opened for such varied artists as Public Enemy, Anthrax, U2, Fishbone, and Rush.
 
Primus scored a surprise Top Ten hit with 1993s Pork Soda (and subsequent headlining spot on that years Lollapalooza festival tour), solidifying the bands status as quirk rocks undisputed kings, as more hit releases followed throughout the decade and new millennium: Tales from the Punchbowl, The Brown Album, Rhinoplasty, and Antipop, as well as the theme song to TVs South Park (Claypool also tried his hand at directing the bands videos). In addition to his Primus duties, Claypool has always had time for side projects — Sausage (a reunion of the original Primus lineup), Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel (Highball with the Devil), the Frog Brigade (Live Frogs, Purple Onion), and Oysterhead — as well as guesting on albums by other artists (Buckethead, Jerry Cantrell, Victor, Limp Bizkit, Tom Waits, Rob Wasserman). He released Of Whales and Woe in 2006, the first project solely credited to the man himself.