News & Reviews

WORD: Primus frontman Les Claypool debuts with novel ‘South of the Pumphouse’

Music fans know Les Claypool as one of the most original alt-rock musicians of the 90s, when the bass player fronted the band Primus. This month he reinvents himself as a dark and quirky novelist with his debut South of the Pumphouse from Akashic Books.

South of the Pumphouse is a dark, clever tale about two brothers, a fishing trip, misconceptions, drugs and murder. Akashic publisher Johnny Temple tells us Claypool’s work is "reminiscent of The Old Man and the Sea, and the raw, tweaked perspective and hallucinogenic tutorial of a Hunter S. Thompson novel."

Will South of the Pumphouse launch Claypool into a cult phenomenon, like his one-of-a-kind music did for Primus? We’ll see once the novel hits bookshelves across America with its July release.

While fronting Primus, Claypool toured the world with groups like Jane’s Addiction, Public Enemy and U2. He has also been involved in various collaborations, including the most recent Colonel Claypool’s Bucket Of Bernie Brains, which released its debut album The Big Eyeball in the Sky in 2004.

Claypool will do a series of book signings beginning July 15 at Manhattan’s Barnes & Noble at Astor Place (6 pm) and closing in San Francisco Sept. 21 at City Lights Bookstore (7 pm).

Claypool is currently touring the U.S in support of his latest solo album Of Wales and Woe that launched on May 30. In an interesting local note, Oakland hip hop band The Coup is opening most of his shows.

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