Other Bands
Oysterhead
Oysterhead is an American rock supergroup featuring bassist Les Claypool of Primus, guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish and drummer Stewart Copeland of The Police, with both Claypool and Anastasio providing vocals. The band's eclectic sound has been described as "alt-funk fusion".
In April 2000 Superfly Presents asked Claypool to assemble a band to perform during New Orleans Jazz Fest. Claypool contacted Anastasio and together they agreed on mutual hero, Copeland. Oysterhead was originally intended to be a singular live performance at New Orleans Saenger Theatre on May 4, 2000. The band compiled a set of almost entirely original material for the show, practicing at Muskegon's Frauenthal Theatre. Tickets were scalped for up to $2,000 each; audience members included Francis Ford Coppola and Matt Groening. The band toured in 2001 and was scheduled to tour in 2020. Both times it has toured it has been interrupted due to significant disasters, in 2001 due to the September 11 attacks and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Oysterhead played at The Peach Music Festival in Scranton, PA in July 2021.
Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains
Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains (C2B3) was an experimental rock supergroup featuring bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Buckethead, keyboardist Bernie Worrell and drummer Brain.
Les Claypool, bassist of many bands, including Primus, collaborated with virtuoso guitarist Buckethead, funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell, and former Primus drummer Brain under the name Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains (a combination of all the band members' names), after they met at the 2002 Bonnaroo Music and Arts festival. Worrell, Brain and Buckethead were there to perform with Bill Laswell as Praxis. Laswell was not able to play at the concert, so Claypool invited them to jam with him. From this point, they developed the concept of this supergroup. Their concerts pushed the improvisational envelope by preparing no material and not rehearsing beforehand. At one of their shows they prepared sandwiches onstage for the audience members to eat.
Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade
Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade (also known as The Les Claypool Frog Brigade) is a musical project with rotating personnel, led by American singer/bassist Les Claypool. The Frog Brigade was formed during a hiatus from Claypool's main group Primus.
The original band was formed in summer 2000 and consisted of Claypool, Todd Huth (guitars, vocals), Jay Lane (drums), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), Skerik (saxophone), and Eenor Wildeboar (guitars, cümbüş). Les Claypool has described their sound as, "It's kind of a King Crimson meets Pink Floyd meets Frank Zappa type thing."
Les Claypool's Fancy Band
Les Claypool's Fancy Band was a lineup of musicians on tour with Les Claypool from 2005 to 2007. The band consisted of Claypool on bass, Skerik on tenor and baritone saxophone, Mike Dillon on vibraphone, marimba, tabla, cuíca and percussion, Gabby La La on sitar, ukulele and theremin and Paulo Baldi on drums. The Fancy Band's first appearance was 2005. They toured nationally in 2006 promoting the album Of Whales and Woe. They toured the early Summer of 2007 with the release of the DVD Fancy.
A variation of the Fancy Band is the "Fancy Trio" including Claypool, Skerik and Dillon.
Much like with his Frog Brigade, Claypool's Fancy Band performed a variety of songs from his various side projects. They did not usually play Primus songs apart from an occasional riff teaser.