When two experimentalists such as Primus bass virtuoso Les Claypool and multi-instrumentalists Sean Lennon come together to collaborate on some music with a project named The Claypool Lennon Delirium, which already sticks out on the 2016 Bonnaroo Music Festival lineup (June 11), the expectations are high.
The first taste of their collaboration, the track “Cricket and The Genie”, did not let us down, providing what Rolling Stones defined as a “raw, proggy psych-pop suite“. While Claypool is on his bass and provides some vocals, Lennon takes care of every other instrument and is the lead vocalist of the track, heavily influenced by elements of progressive and psychedelic rock.
As Claypool told Rolling Stones, the duo came together while Lennon’s psychedelic duo Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger was opening for Primus and Dinosaur Jr. on tour in the summer of 2015. After some jamming sessions backstage, Les invited Sean to play “Southbound Pachyderm” on stage with them and was impressed by his “face-melting” guitar, or, as he said: “I realized that this fella had some chops“.
“Primus was about to take some time off and I was gearing up a new project so I asked [Sean] if he’d like to come to Rancho Relaxo and see if we couldn’t get some interesting sounds on tape. Next thing I know he’s staying in my guesthouse over the holidays and we’re drinking vino, hunting mushrooms and throwing musical pasta at the walls”, he continues.
The bass player seems incredibly proud of the collaboration and of Lennon’s musical ability, indeed stating: “One thing I think folks will be surprised by is what a monster of a guitar player Sean is. Not only does he have technical ability, but also the sounds that come out of his rig tend to be pretty bent and compelling. His DNA definitely shines through, though it isn’t just his father’s musical sensibilities that he reflects but also his mother’s abstract perspective, which to me, makes for a glorious freak stew”.
#Peace.Love.TheClaypoolLennonDelirium
