It stands to reason that Primus is kicking off its "Tales From the Punch Bowl" tour Monday night in Salt Lake City.
The San Francisco-based trio has consistently made token appearances to the Beehive State, including the memorable 1993 headliner act when Lollapalooza got ugly in Ogden.Despite the dearth of mirth that was that fateful event - which, by the way, introduced the happy band Tool to a lot of Utah kids and their parents - Primus seems to keep coming back for more.
The band will play to a sold-out crowd at Saltair Monday, July 17, at 7:30 p.m. as former Minutemen and fIREHOSE bassist Mike Watt will open the show.
Primus' tour is in support of "Tales From the Punch Bowl," the trio's fifth album, described in press materials as a series of "sonic calisthenics served with a surreal sense of humor paying homage to beavers, parrots, elephants and the occasional inedible sandwich."
"`Punch Bowl' is the all-encompassing zone from which we all dwell," says bassist and vocalist Les Claypool. "I don't know, it just seems like a nice set of parameters to be in, the big ol' punch bowl."
Like their four previous albums - which include songs about race car drivers, redneck goons, working blokes and visits to the Department of Motor Vehicles - "Punch Bowl" is an eclectic set of 13 offerings "as punchy as a downtown gym yet as loopy as a bumper car track conveniently located at the edge of a cliff."
"There's some real carpal tunnel parts on some of those things," the bassist said.
In 1989 the band cut a live debut called "Suck On This." The effort caught the ear of Caroline Records, which signed the band and released its 1990 debut studio album "Frizzle Fry."
Primus then signed with Interscope, and the result was the 1991 gold-selling "Sailing the Seas of Cheese." Not to be outdone, "Cheese's" follow-up, "Pork Soda," showed up on Billboard's Top 200 at a quite respectable No. 7.
After the "Pork Soda" tour, the band took a vacation of sorts. While Claypool hit the road for a few weeks with Sausage, drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander played in Laundry, another Bay area band, and appeared on bassist Michael Manring's album "Thonk." Guitarist Larry "Ler" Lalonde stayed at home and became immersed with computers.
In the midst of it all, the band appeared at 1994's Woodstock Anniversary show in upstate New York, complimenting concert-goers on the quality of their mud.
"I think if we had gone right into the studio after the "Pork Soda" tour, we would not have come up with anything we had liked," Claypool stated. "We needed to do other things and be apart. Green beans may be your favorite food, but every now and then you're gonna have to eat something else."
Opening Monday's show will be Mike Watt, one of punk's elder statesmen, whose career spans 15 years of intense playing, touring and recording.
From 1980 to 1985 Watt, guitarist/singer D. Boon and drummer George Hurley made proto-punk history as The Minutemen. Releasing 11 albums, their "Double Nickels on the Dime" is still regarded as a classic in the genre.
With Hurley and guitarist Ed Crawford, Watt formed fIREHOSE and cut five studio albums and a live EP. Another of Watt's projects involved former Black Flag bassist Kira Roessler in an all-bass duo called DOS. They made three albums.
Watt is on tour with the release of his first solo outing called "ball-hog or tugboat?" which features more than 40 guest artists, mostly old SST label artists.
Making appearances on the album are Henry Rollins, members of the Meat Puppets, Flea, Beastie Boys Adam Horovitz and Mike D, Eddie Vedder, Nirvana's Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic and three of Sonic Youth's four members.
Watt's band on this tour, the Crew of the Flying Saucer, features Watt on bass, Nels Cline on guitar and drummers Michael Preussner and Vince Meghrouni.