‘We did Disneyland on mind-altering substances’: Primus frontman Les Claypool on being rock’s great joker – and why Metallica rejected him

After going platinum in the 90s and writing the South Park theme, bassist extraordinaire Claypool discusses the AI-themed concept album he’s made with Sean Ono Lennon When Les Claypool wrote his first song for Primus in 1984, he faced a crisis of self-confidence. “I was too embarrassed to sing in my apartment,” he says on a video call. “But my roommate at the time was dating the preacher’s daughter, and had keys to the church across the street.” In the dead of night, the madcap bassist and si...

By Alastair Shuttleworth