"An Evening with Primus and the Chocolate Factory"

In the summer of 1971, Primus’ Les Claypool was a couple months shy of his eighth birthday when Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory debuted in movie theaters.  Like many people of a certain age and temperament, the movie became a perennial favorite that Claypool would come back to repeatedly, throughout different stages of his life, taking something different away from it each time.

So it seemed equal parts genius and obvious when he decided to throw a Willy Wonka-themed Primus show on New Year’s Eve last year.  During the second set, Primus performed the soundtrack in its entirety.  “I don’t think we’ve ever had a better New Year’s combination of elements,” Claypool reflects, seven months later.  “It felt good.  It felt like we needed to be doing this.”

It felt so good, in fact, that he decided to take Primus into the studio to prepare the soundtrack for an album release.  Claypool admits that he’s always, “in some way, wanted to be Willy Wonka,” and, also, that he’s always wanted to work a cover of “The Candyman” -- a memorable number from the film’s soundtrack -- into Primus sets.

“The thought was that I wanted to take on some kind of sacred cow, and the whole Wonka thing was a massive part of my childhood,” Claypool explains.  “It just seemed like the perfect project to take on, in part because those tunes are all so strong.”

The project would’ve worked with almost any of Claypool’s diverse musical ventures, but he knew from the start that he wanted to bring Wonka straight to his flagship band.  “There’s excitement right now in the Primus world,” he explains.  Two years after releasing an album of new material, Green Naugahyde, the Primus machine has a full tank and is running hot.  “There’s this reinvigoration here,” says Claypool.  Beginning on New Year’s, drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander returned to the lineup, following a three-year hiatus (during which the baton was passed to Jay Lane).  Reunited with Claypool and guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde, the trio were able to capture the classic Primus sound and honor the spirit of Willy Wonka as seen through Claypool’s steam-punk, creative-vision goggles.

“The recording is about my perception of the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” says Claypool.  “The notion wasn’t so much to go in and redo the soundtrack.” 

In order to get the full depth that he envisioned for the music, Claypool called up two celebrated players from his multi-unit roster -- Mike Dillon and Sam Bass.  “Otherwise, it would’ve been the ‘Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver’ version of Willy Wonka,” he says.  “I don’t think it would’ve carried as well.”  This reinforced version of Primus set about recording what would become Primus and the Chocolate Factory at Claypool’s home studio, Rancho Relaxo, in Sonoma County, California, [around when?].

“The whole thing just unfolded,” says Claypool, who produced the album himself.  “It was a very easy project.  It wasn’t like we sat and scratched our heads... Every song was all wrapped around how I would interpret the vocals, for the most part, because that was the most difficult thing.” 

For example, Claypool took on the character of Grandpa Joe on the song, “Golden Ticket.”  But rather than try to emulate the voice of an old man (which just didn’t appeal to him), he affected an almost comical vibrato that brings to mind an Elvis impersonator lounge singer... with a wobble. “And then it just fell into place,” he says.

Some of the album’s finest moments were inspired by the same motivation that has driven Primus’ entire career: “I spent the last 20-some odd years just trying to make Larry LaLonde laugh,” says Claypool.  “The majority of Primus music is me trying to crack him up and him trying to crack me up.”  So when LaLonde humorously captured a Rockmaninoff melody that Wonka briefly performs in the movie, Claypool rebranded the track “Lermaninoff” in Larry’s honor and even snuck in a surprise vocal... without informing the guitarist.  “That’s been the foundation of most of our career,” says Claypool.  “Just trying to one-up and impress each other.”

The result is an album that Claypool enjoys listening to, as a fan.  “One of the things that I’m most impressed with and that I’m most drawn into, on the recording, is Tim’s percussion,” he says.  In order to achieve the effect he was going for, Alexander built a drum station that Claypool describes as both “a pile of percussion” and a “huge circle of drums” so dense that Alexander then had to create a door just to enter and exit the thing.  “Tim was able to produce these amazing sounds and he does these things that we’ve all loved about him over the years,” says Claypool.  “But it’s not your traditional drum kit or rock playing.  It’s very orchestral.”

With the album drop scheduled for October 21, Primus plans to tour the Chocolate Factory beginning the very next day.  “We’re going to do excessive touring with it and we put together this pretty elaborate stage production,” says Claypool, adding that the group plans to hit the festival circuit pretty hard.  “We’re going to take it out there, around the planet, and see what happens.”

Of course, Claypool realized that it was risky business to adapt a cinematic classic that is so close to so many people’s hearts.  And, naturally, he realized that it was dangerous waters to swim in the wake of Gene Wilder, who portrays Willy Wonka in the original film.  The band pulls it off by making something that is theirs entirely, without taking anything away from the movie.  “The whole idea was to not Johnny Depp it,” he says, taking a swipe at the failed Tim Burton remake.  “This whole thing is an homage to Gene Wilder.... And now I get to do Wonka for the next 18 months.”

When it comes to the Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and lives of pure imagination, there is no doubt that Primus holds a golden ticket.

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