Who better to cover songs of one of the most well-respected prog-rock bands than a group that toured with them?
Primus will bring the entirety of Rush’s highly acclaimed 1977 album A Farewell to Kings to the Clyde Theatre on Tuesday, May 10, at 8 p.m.
According to AL.com, along with playing A Farewell to Kings songs, Primus will play several originals from their repertoire, including “My Name is Mud” and “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver.”
Finding a connection
Les Claypool, bassist and vocalist for Primus, explained to AL.com that the idea to start performing Rush tracks started when they auditioned their drummer Tim Alexander in the 1980s.
“We saw this guy show up with this big drum kit, and we were like, ‘Huh, guess we can play some Rush licks.’ And we just started jamming on Rush licks,” Claypool said.
“We didn’t know any songs in their entirety, but it was one of the things that we were able to connect on,” he added. “That and like (prog-rock band King) Crimson and some other things, and it was just a common ground. And then, of course, later when we went out on tour with (Rush), becoming friends with them, it really just sort of solidified our place in their world, and their place in our world.”
The San Antonio Current says that each member of the band “brings his own set of musical influences to the party, and they don’t overlap much, save one band: Rush. So, it makes sense that the group, which toured with the Canadian power trio in the early ’90s, is currently performing A Farewell to Kings in its entirety.”
It seems that die-hard Rush fans and casual listeners will enjoy the show. The Daily Times reports that “anyone with a passing familiarity of Primus knows full well that the band’s irreverent, offbeat, and colorful sense of humor is second only to its musicality in terms of entertainment value.”
Getting permission
Just like with so many other tours, this one has seen dates rescheduled several times due to the pandemic.
Prior to the shutdowns,Claypool told Rolling Stone, “how important it was for him to pay tribute to a band that gave him so much inspiration over the years. He sought Geddy Lee’s blessing before mounting the tour. ‘I texted with him, I keep in touch with Geddy, just to make sure we weren’t trodding on something weird,’ he said. ‘So I checked in with him to see what he thought of it, and he was excited about the notion.’ ”
keeping music going
As far as original material, Primus released a three-track EP titled Conspiranoid in April.
Claypool explained the title track’s origins to Consequence Sound.
“ ‘Conspiranoia’ was sprouted from a seed I had planted in my notebook a year or so ago, a few lines commenting on the mental state of the contemporary world,” he said.
“I watched the distrust and divide grow between friends, colleagues, relatives, and the general population because of the consumption and digesting of disinformation, misinformation, warped information, and flat-out fairy tales being perpetuated by anyone with a slight hint of web design aptitude.”
Primus formed in the mid-1980s, and after releasing Frizzle Fry independently in 1990, they toured with Jane’s Addiction before signing with Interscope Records and gaining popularity with the release of Sailing the Seas of the Cheese in 1991, which went platinum, followed by another platinum-selling album in 1995, Pork Soda.
