The Core: New Primus Drummer John Hoffman
The Shreveport, La.-based drummer explains how a lifetime of music fandom, and jamming to some classic television themes, helped him land his dream gig with Primus.
Origin Stories
I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. My dad is a keyboardist—he’s a career musician and met my mom on the road. My dad got a cool gig on the island, and they lived the rock-star life [to the South] for a while before coming back home to Louisiana, where my dad’s side of the family is from. He joined a band called The Killer Bees—this reggae band based out of the South. They moved to Austin, Texas, not long after they formed and are primarily based out of Austin.
So I moved out there with my dad and just hung out with him as a kid while he was doing the thing. I’ve always gravitated toward the drums—the way my dad tells it, when his band out in Hawaii opened for The Police back in the day, as soon as I saw Stewart Copeland, my first word was “drums.” So I’ve wanted to play drums from the time I was in diapers, and they let me do that. I was just always around musical culture and musical activities. Being on the road with my dad, I got a taste of it early.
The first couple of albums or bands that I really gravitated toward, at a young age, were The Cars and Van Halen— especially 1984. But when I was 5 or 6, my dad introduced me to Billy Cobham, which was far beyond what I was capable of comprehending. He always told me: “If anybody ever asks you who your favorite drummer is, then you tell them Billy Cobham.” So though I was barely talking, I’d tell grown-ups he was my favorite drummer if they asked me. From there, it was a natural progression to Jimi Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell and then, as I grew into my teenage years, it was Primus, man—it was Primus, Tool and Incubus. I remember hearing “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver” and “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver” pre-internet and having to wait to catch them on the radio again or find them on a jukebox. And then, when I was 16 or 17, I played with these dudes and they played this riff, which was “Tommy the Cat.” I remember being like, “What is this?” We’d play “My Name is Mud” between songs. We’d just always listen to them.
During one of my conversations with Les, he told me that, when he opened for Rush, he felt nervous being around Geddy Lee. He was a fan again. And I said to him, “You guys were my Rush.” I’ve had to get used to being part of the band, as opposed to just being a fan of these guys for the last 25 years.
Learning From Les and Larry
I started playing music five nights a week when I was about 16 and started trying to juggle school and doing all that. It didn’t really work out for me school-wise—I ended up having to pick one or the other and I ended up playing music—but I got on my first national tour, when I was 17, with a blues guy named Walkin’ Cane Mark, who was based out of Phoenix. He was a cool dude and showed me the ropes. I stayed out in Phoenix for a long time playing music, came back home to Shreveport in my mid-20s and started playing with everybody around here— everybody who needed a gig. I played in Dirtfoot, who actually opened for Primus before I joined the band. I had a few original projects—one’s called Stiff Necked Fools, and I’m the frontman and the lead singer. It’s a reggae band that’s a tribute to my dad’s band. Before I got the Primus gig, I was also hosting a blues jam every Monday night, and I was hosting a jazz brunch every Sunday. I just filled my calendar with all things music related—I’ve taught several hundred students—and, over the past few years, I’ve been playing with a Nashville-based artist named Trent Willmon, who produces Cody Johnson. I’d also play a lot of house gigs with musician friends who are in other bands—we’d come together for these highly improvisational gigs and never play the same things twice.
It’s been interesting with Primus because there’s a lot of jamband elements, but there are also a lot of very specific parts that were recorded by different drummers, that people have been used to hearing in a specific way for decades. So depending on the era and the song, there’s a different vibe and style in terms of the delivery of the music. So I’ve had to learn how to pay tribute to those other drummers while still being myself and, in the jamband sections, keeping my ears wide open to what’s happening next. Playing with Les [Claypool] and Larry [LaLonde], they are clearly extremely seasoned. So I’m doing my best to keep my mouth shut and my eyes and ears open—following them and learning how they do things by picking up on their little mannerisms. Because of the house gigs, I’ve gotten pretty good at hearing a riff and matching the energy. I’m hyper focused on what Les is doing on the bass—knowing when to move out of the way and sit back or grab onto something.
Bassist and Guitarist Seeking Drummer
I first heard that Primus was accepting submissions for a new drummer through Facebook or Instagram. They made a post saying that Herb had left and that they were putting out this open call. It seemed kind of out of left f ield, but it was such a major opportunity. So, I decided to throw my name in there and see what happens. My first thought was that Primus are homeboys with Danny Carey and Stewart Copeland—they could get any drummer they wanted. But I decided to send in a cover of “John the Fisherman,” which is one of my favorites. I knocked out a quick little cover and got a response email thanking me for sending in the video and saying not to contact them about whether they’ve watched it or not because they were being inundated. [Ed. Note: Primus reportedly received approximately 6,200 submissions.]
Then Primus made a public post asking to see more from the auditioning drummers, instead of just covers of Primus songs. They wanted to see more artistic capability and personality. So I threw everything that I had into this Hail Mary that covered all the bases I could think of and just hoped for the best. I probably spent about 30 hours editing this video. It was a creative drum showcase—I did a little talking, I sent in several clips of me playing some funky grooves, and I included a few live clips and several clips of me playing along with some television theme songs. Before all this Primus stuff was going on, I was making a small name for myself putting out drum videos playing along with different TV show themes—Barney Miller, Seinfeld, The Jetsons and things people can relate to. And I ended the video with a short message to Les and Larry. I said, “I want this gig. Please pick me.” And about two days later, I got an email directly from Colonel Les Claypool himself, and it said, “Hey, we saw your video. We loved it—we’d love to have you come out and audition in person.” I started crying—it was such a victory. The entire thing was very emotional with a lot of ups and downs. I put my whole self into this video and had an internal battle about that, knowing there would be heartbreak if I didn’t get picked. But when I got that email, it felt like that was the moment. I just put my game face on.
Ahoy John!
There was a whole gamut of emotions going into my audition. Obviously, there was a major catastrophe with the wildfires— the audition took place in North Hollywood and, from where I was sitting in Louisiana, LA looked like a complete inferno. And then I came to find out that Larry had lost his home in the fire. I was like, “Man, who knows if this is still going to go down?” So I decided that I was going to drive to LA instead of flying. I made it into a road trip—I did my hour audition and drove home. There was a group of 10 or so finalists, and nine drummers actually ended up competing in the in-person audition. I was the seventh one to audition. I pulled up to the place where the audition was, looked over and coming out the door was Nikki Glaspie, one of my favorite drummers. That’s when the reality and gravity of the situation hit me hard, and I realized that I’m up against some major killers for this thing. Not long after, I was greeted by Primus’ management, and they explained what was going to happen—“They’re going to put the mic on you, they’re going to tell you where to go, you’re going to walk through this circular light thing, you’re going to have a camera behind you, you’re gonna get your drums ready and then, when everything is all set, Les and Larry are going to come in and you guys will begin the audition.” I was feeling very confident and very cool until the moment Les came into the room. He tends to greet people by saying, “Ahoy!” So he comes into the room, and I’m looking the other way. I hear “ahoy” and immediately I knew it was him because I recognized his voice. All my cool factor, all my confidence, took a backseat immediately, and I just went straight to fanboy mode—“Oh, Mr. Claypool, hello.” But, obviously, they liked my audition. I think they could tell that I was nervous, and they were giving me a little crap about it, but not in a way that made me feel uncomfortable or anything. And throughout the entire experience, even that one hour of being in the room with those guys for that audition, I just felt like I leveled up so much.
The way that the audition was set up was that we spent a few minutes chatting and getting to know each other while the glue on Les’ fingers dried—Les put glue on his fingers because he was playing with so many drummers for this audition and needed to callous them up. Then he pretty much picked up his bass and started in with a riff— and as soon as he started in with the riff, my groove started kicking in, and I just jumped in with him. And same with Larry— he must have thrown about 30 riffs at me. It was amazing to just follow him and try to match his rhythm with my bass drum—and try to catch what Larry was doing with the hi-hat stuff. It was a good jam, and it was very comfortable and easy to play with them. So after we did that, we played four songs—everybody did “Tweekers” and “Groundhog’s Day” and then they gave everyone a choice to play either “Duchess” or “Last Salmon Man” and either “Tommy the Cat” or “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver.” I chose “Duchess” and “Tommy the Cat” and, apparently, I was the first one that chose “Duchess.”
Playing in the Band
After going through the process, they called me to tell me that I got the gig and, on the day that they told me, they also told me that I was going to come to the Dominican Republic and play an international show with Primus at the Tool Live in the Sand Festival. I was like, “What can they do to possibly make this dream more epic and amazing?” And then they were like, “Well, you’re also going to be on stage with one of your favorite drummers of all time, Danny Carey—no pressure.”
I’m still in tears from getting the gig as they’re telling me—it was an overwhelming moment. I’m such a Tool fan and their music has always been so different and mysterious—the members of Tool have this unique vibe. I’ve always imagined Danny as being this serious guy, and he was one of the kindest and happiest people I’ve ever met. I’m 6’3” and he’s taller than I am. He’s a big dude—he works out a lot—but he’s constantly smiling. He has this whole-face smile. Meeting him was a relief—this hero of mine turned out to be so cool. And on top of that, he was just incredibly supportive and had nothing but positive things to say to me about the situation that I was in.
Primus didn’t make a public announcement that I was coming—it was intended as a surprise—and then Les announced me coming out from the stage. Danny played half the show, I played a few songs with Danny and then I did four by myself. It was a magical situation, man—I don’t take it for granted. I’m so appreciative of this whole opportunity. Since they don’t have a major tour coming up, I am also in a situation where I can ease in, spend some time with the guys, let me figure them out and let them figure me out. I wasn’t thrust out into a two-hour headlining gig. And the next tour is the Sessanta tour with A Perfect Circle and Puscifer. It’s about an hour-long set, and there’s a lot of switching and swapping around. So I don’t have to learn all of the catalog for that. Having said that, as soon as the Sessanta tour is over, we’re starting the Onward & Upward tour, which is a headlining tour. So we will be getting deep into the catalog. I’ve actually been working on the songs already, even before the Sessanta tour. Now that I have some time, I’ve not only been digging into a lot of the stuff that I want to play, but also that Primus hasn’t played as much lately. I think it’s going to be fun for Les and Larry to play some of the songs that I want to do that they haven’t done recently—we are hopefully going to do some deep cuts. I’m a huge fan of the Brown Album and Antipop, so there’s a whole bunch of stuff I’d love to play off of those. Naugahyde has a lot of great stuff, too. I’d love to pull out some Rhinoplasty tracks—man, that would be amazing.
I’m just trying to fill my head with all things Primus so that I’m as ready as possible when the time comes.
