Here in the Relix office, we’ve started turning our eyes (and ears) towards festival season. One group that will be making the rounds this summer is Primus. Today we look back to the June 2006 issue of the magazine, in which les Claypool shared his thoughts on fests as well as his mockumentary Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo which had just been released.

Les as Lapdog Miclovich

I’m a festival whore. I’ve played pretty much everything except Lilith Fair and, if that was still around, I’d probably be there too with Gabby La La. Primus was part of Lollapalooza, which was instrumental in getting this whole festival thing going. Jane’s Addiction was riding a huge wave in the early ‘90s – they were the cool band and everyone wanted to be a part of anything they were involved in. Perry Farrell saw what was going on in Europe with the Reading Festival and said, “Well, shit, let’s do that in the States.” He did it and really did help to change things.

But when I was a kid, they didn’t really have diversified music festivals. Bill Graham would put on these Day on the Green festivals with Ted Nugent, AC/DC and The Monsters of Rock. Before Lollapalooza, I remember they did this thing called Gathering of the Tribes. It was this whole mixed fest: King’s X, Yo-Yo and EPMD. I think Henry Rollins was on it and it just died a horrible death – nobody came. I think Bonnaroo has really brought that diversity back and it’s obviously brought attention to the jam scene. But it’s also brought more respect to a scene that was generally pooh-poohed by the press. I still hear from my publicist, “Well, it’s hard to get into these magazines ‘cause they don’t want anything to do with jambands .” Bunch of morons, you know – it’s like bigotry. I just think it’s ridiculous, but Bonnaroo has helped to soften that stigma.

Now, I’ve written a handful of screenplays over the years and really pursued Electric Apricot, in particular, because of what it’s about. I raised the money – gathered various producers. We’d always hit these walls and we’d lose money – one guy ended up dying. It’s a nightmare trying to make a film and trying to get money. I find this true in every aspect of entertainment – I’m sure in any aspect of business – the more money you try and get from people, the more control they want to exercise over whatever the hell it is you’re doing.

It’s a bit of a composite of all the festivals I’ve played. The film is kind of a three-act stage play, so the third act takes place at the festival. Prior to that it is more about the four individuals in this band, Electric Apricot. Being a guy who has been in many bands over the years, I’ve heard many stories and legends and what not. I was able to draw from that and incorporate many of those experiences into the plotline. We made this fictitious festival in the Pacific Northwest, Festeroo. Playing Festeroo is sort of the Holy Grail for these four individuals.

I talked to Trey and Matt [South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone] prior to making this film; they’re actually investors. They grew up in Colorado, so they have their opinions of the jam scene and that culture. But, when I started the film, it was just me and Adam Gates, an old friend of mine, who has been around my world for a long time. I brought him in and then the keyboardist, Jonathan Korty – who plays Herschel Tambor Brilstein – who is an old friend of our producer, Jason McHugh. He came and stepped into character and was perfect. The search for the guitar player was a little harder. I finally found Brian Kehoe, who is a very old high-school friend of mine, who’s just kind of a lunatic – he was the guitar player for Frog Brigade a couple years back. I knew he was a character and he could play the hell out of the guitar. So, the cast was chosen not just on their ability to step into these characters but also because they can play their asses off. The band is actually pretty damn good. In the film, I play Lapdog Miclovich, who plays the drums in the band. He’s probably one of the best drummers in the world, and I’ve played with a lot of drummers. I’ve played with Stewart Copeland, Neil Peart and all these amazing players. One of my fantasies would be to play with Lapdog Miclovich.

Les as Les – photo by Rex Thomson

I started watching Spinal Tap about half-way through production to see if we were stepping on any toes. Spinal Tap is much more overt then this. This is very subtle, probably stylistically Ricky Gervais would be more of an influence. Sure, they are both mockumentaries about a band so you can draw lots of parallels to Spinal Tap. But there are a lot of films about baseball, too.

As soon as we started gigging, we started filming. I’m a guy who’s done a lot of things. I make records all the time – I’m continuously busy. But this was the hardest damn thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. There was stress, there were trips to the hospital, there was a hit-and-run, there were people flipping out and friends mad at each other. One of the festivals we were supposed to shoot at got cancelled like a half-hour before we got there [2005’s Shakedown Festival]. We were driving in a motor home to get to it! It was like a kick in the nuts every day. It just got to a point where I was like, “Okay, just kick me in the nuts.” We became these characters.

The actual filming part was fine, it all went really smoothly and directing the guys was great. I said, “The Murphy’s Law grenades were going off on an hourly basis.” It got to be a joke. We were like, “Okay, what’s gonna happen today? Guess we have to go to the hospital again.” It’s very much like building a house. You know building a house is responsible for some ungodly percentage of divorces. Well, this was like building a house with a handful of amateur carpenters and all the building materials were on fire. Artistically, I think what I learned is, when you have an idea, you just have to follow through with it. We won best comedy at the Tiburon Film Festival. It was sold out – they had to add an extra show. It was unbelievable, but we constructed it. We’ve got a pretty nifty little house.

People have said, “He’s gonna take the piss out of the jambands, he’s gonna take the piss out of the jamband scene!” But it’s actually a very endearing look at the scene. I’m taking the piss out of these four guys. Four guys who just take themselves way too seriously. We all know people like that, whether they are musicians or shoe salesmen or whatever the hell they do. And that’s what I’m taking the piss out of. Warren Haynes actually does a little acting in the movie. He is incredible. He did a great job. Bob Weir and Wavy Gravy are the champions of the movie. Wavy drops some fine knowledge in this one. By the end of the film, I don’t think there is anybody you don’t like. It’s not making anybody look bad. Sure, there’s conflict and there are some villains, to an extent, but it’s pretty mild. All these characters are very lovable and I think it’s a very endearing look at the scene. It’s poking fun at a portion of humanity, people that are somewhat disillusioned by their own perceptions of themselves.

I’ve sort of had the scene thrust upon me by the Oysterhead thing. In 20/20 hindsight, it makes sense, because Primus was one of the more technical bands as far as our contemporaries. We tended to open things up; just out of boredom we’d start jamming. But the thing that I really enjoy about this scene is I get a sense of evolution with this scene. It’s just growing and expanding – evolving. I mean, Oysterhead started when the Superfly guys called and said “Hey, would Les put together this jam thing at JazzFest?” It was pretty ballsy for them to bring in someone like me, and they’re continuously trying to do these things. Now you look at Bonnaroo: it’s not just Phil and Friends and Widespread Panic, which is great, but you also have Radiohead there, you have the Flaming Lips and Ween. That’s what the original Lollapalooza was about, bringing all of these different people together. I think it’s an incredible thing. I feel this vibrant spirit. I like how people are very open-minded.

I’ve played at Ozzfest. It was fun… but we were the oddballs. I became good friends with the Slayer guys at Ozzfest. It was a ritual: Every day I’d smoke a joint backstage with Tom Araya. So at the Gorge, I brought Tom Araya out on stage while we played “Too Many Puppies.” It was truly a sit-in – he sat there and smoked a joint while we played.

It’s one big barbecue, you know? Maybe Bonnaroo has a few more tofu burgers on the grill than Ozzfest, which has more ribs. But it’s still just people coming together, hanging out in the sun and having a good time – though there’s not enough pyro at Bonnaroo. There was way more pyro at Ozzfest. With Oysterhead this summer, we’re gonna do some Rammstein flames, just big towers of fire. And big ole Easter Island heads! That’s what I want, big Easter Island heads on stage with giant torches. It will be the anti-Woodstock ’99.