Background
Primus quirky mix of rock, funk and general irreverence took them from underground sensations to lollapalooza headliners in a few years time. Combine Les Claypools innovative bass playing, Larry Lalondes unconventional guitar style and Brains explosive drumming and youve got one of the most instantly recognizable sounds in rock. Bandleader Les Claypool speaks to us from his comfortable northern California home, which he has dubbed Rancho Relaxo.
MacDirectory: How much do you rely on your Macintosh?
Les Claypool: Well, its been a huge part of my existence for the last four or five years. Right now, we're running our ProTools through it. ProTools for us has become a big writing tool. We track to a one-inch analog sixteen-track thirty IPS and bounce stuff into ProTools, then layer things, etcetera. We still record everything analog and then put it into ProTools.
MD: So you prefer recording to analog tape rather than to a computers digital hard disk?
LC: Digital doesnt frighten me. On the last album we bought all this analog gear because we wanted to get back to the roots or whatever. Now weve just gotta use it so we get our damn moneys worth out of it. (Laughs.) The easiest thing is the ProTools and weve got the twenty-four-bit, so its really nice.
MD: Yeah, it seems like a lot of people still prefer to record the drums and bass analog and then record guitars and vocals digitally on their computer. Do you have a preference?
LC: [Analog tape] does make a difference. But weve found tricks that warmed things up considerably by using different compressors and high-end outboard gear . . . and even some low-end outboard gear (laughs) that made things sound pretty sweet without having to go to tape.
MD: Are there other related applications that you use your Macintosh for?
LC: Another thing weve been using it for is our graphics. Larry [Lalonde], some friends and I have a graphics company, and its all Mac-based.
MD: Yeah, Ive seen the enhanced CD with the interactive artwork and movies you created for the album, Tales From The Punchbowl. That was amazing! Ive seen a lot of enhanced CDs, but never anything on that level.
LC: That one cost us a hundred grand to make, which is cheap for what it was, but it was a lot of money to spend on something that nobody ever really got to see. (Laughs.) We thought okay, were really gonna kick some ass and break open some doors with this new technology and were gonna be the first guys to do it. Nobody even went for it.
MD: Wow, thats surprising. It was very entertaining.
LC: We were the guinea pigswe proved that no matter how good it is, it wont sell . . . unless its a Mariah Carey record or something. (Laughs.)
MD: That artwork looked like it took an incredible amount of time to create. Did you have to take your Macs on the road?
LC: Well, we tried to . . . but we would just end up playing golf or Flight Simulator on them. (Laughs.) At home we were sitting in front of those damn screens for fourteen hours a day for about a month making all that stuff. I mean literally, fourteen hours a day! That enhanced stuff took forever. It was actually supposed to come out with the record and it came out nine months laterso it lost a lot of its impact.
MD: Its been two years since your last full-length record. Any plans for a new album?
LC: Yeah, actually were right in the middle of it. It should come out sometime this summer.
