- This event has passed.
Primus and the Chocolate Factory
April 20, 2015 @ 7:30 pm
Primus and the Chocolate Factory with The Fungi Ensemble
Les Claypool of Primus confesses that he’s always sort of wanted to be Willy Wonka. So when it came time for the band to record a new album, this staple of Claypool’s young life naturally floated to the surface. “One thought I had,” says Claypool, “was to take on some kind of sacred cow and twist it into something of our own.”
In order to get the full depth that he envisioned for the music, Claypool called up two celebrated players from his multi-band roster — Mike Dillon and Sam Bass. Reunited with drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander and guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde, this reinforced version of Primus set about recording what would become Primus and the Chocolate Factory.
“The notion wasn’t so much to go in and redo the soundtrack note for note as much as it was to utilize the classic elements of the music yet try to reflect some of the darker undertones of the Roald Dahl books, because when you read those books, there is an eerie and somewhat menacing aspect implied.”
The result is an orchestral homage to Gene Wilder and David L. Wolper’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – plus, Claypool adds, “it gives me an excuse to wear a purple, velvet waistcoat and brown top hat for the next 18 months.”