Les Claypool Duo De Twang live report: Les Claypool for president!

If you like music, and I mean "real music" not shitty rihanna-whatever kind of music, you probably know Primus.

And if you know Primus, then you probably also know that the mastermind of the band is its eclectic bass player and singer Les Claypool.

Well, I love real music, and I play bass, so for me Les Claypool is a kind of god. I love Primus and I love his style (I've never been able to play like him. Not even close...).

Yesterday I went to see him live playing with its new creature: Les Claypool Duo De Twang.

Easy to understand from the moniker, the band is a duo, formed by Les Claypool (Primus and... Hold on. Do I really have to introduce him????) and his high school friend Bryan Kehoe (from M.I.R.V.).

The album has been out for a while now: a mix of songs with different background (Primus songs included) played in a catchy country key.

The creature is 100% Les: everything orbits around the crazy slapping of Les on his dobro bass.

If you haven't bought the album yet, please, do yourself a favor and do it right now.

The album is simply great, but it gives you only an idea of what Les and Bryan can do. The live version of the duo is something that goes over every expectation!

But let me go in order.

The location: the show was in the wonderful and vintage Sons of Herman Hall, historical building in Dallas (cute Texans, they have history too!). It was the perfect location: really old style venue, dusty and comfortable, perfect for the music of the duo. The hall is pretty small, but it wasn't a problem. My understanding is that Les wants to play in small places in order to create a "familiar" environment and to be able interact better with the crowd.

The people: every kind of folks were there. Country men, punk dudes, metal heads, young people, older people, etc. As I said, not so many: maybe 100, 150...

The show: the Reformed Whores opened the act.
The Reformed Whores it's an acoustic girls duo singing funny songs about sex.
My impression was (and still is) that a couple of songs are ok and funny, but after the third song I was bored already. It was the perfect moment for a beer, but I was in the real first row, only few feet far from the chair where later Les will sit down, and I wasn't fuckin' moving from my spot!! So, no beer for me, and I had to listen to the girls singing about their sex problems... Meh...

Anyway... Luckily (for me), their show is not that long, and after maybe 30 minutes they left.

It's Claypool' time now.

It's time for the best bass player in the world (and I'm not kidding: I consider him the best bass player in the whole world) to teach everyone how to play.

Very quietly the duo took the stage.

Les didn't say a world, and he started with a super-badass slapped solos. In that moment I sincerely thought "What an arrogant asshole: not even a words or a "hi, how are you"...".

But I was wrong.

When the solo was done, he said "That's all I got folks..." and from that moment he started a direct and constant conversation with the crowd. Talking to us, asking question, telling jokes and stories and random things. And Bryan is the same. Note on Bryan: he's super funny. For example, here is a joke from him: what's long, black, with five holes and now completely useless? (the answer is at the end of the post)

That was the level of the show: really interacting and funny. Not just a concert, but a real show.

And that's why they decided to play in these small clubs and bars. It would be impossible this kind of interaction in a bigger theater or arena.

Basically, they play a song and then they start to talk, then they play another song, and Les decides to stop and say something else, and suddenly they start to play again. And then they start another song, and Les goes "Naaa, I dont like this one, let's play something else..." and they they were like this for the entire show...

Ok, we get it: they where funny. But what about the music?

Well, if you're reading this, probably you already know Les, and you know which kind of musicians usually play with him.

Technically perfect: nothing to say, nothing to argue. Another planet.

All the songs are complete focused on the crazy slapping of Les.
I knew already what to expect from him: I saw Primus playing live a couple of years ago, and the feeling was the same even this time. Long story short: after his show I usually want to go home, take my bass and burn it. And this is because I'm not even close to be called "bass player" compared to him... Sad but true.

Anyway... They played for 2 hours in the row: they played the entire album, plus a couple of other covers, and a lot of fragments of Primus songs just because Les was in the mood for that (most of the time Bryan was "I don't even fuckin' know how this song goes...").
After the 2 hours they left the stage, but only to come back two minutes later for the "encore". They played a couple of other songs, included the Southpark theme and most important, one of my favorite Primus song "De Anza jig".

Ant that was it. They finally thank us, and they left the stage.

I don't think I have to say any other word. I'm still internally crying for the joy, and after a really shitty day like my entire day of yesterday, that was exactly what I needed. 

Les Claypool for president!
Primus sucks!

Solution: Philip Seymour' belt.