artists » Larry Lalonde of Primus

With album titles such as Pork Soda, Fizzle Fry, Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Tales From The Punchbowl, Brown Album and Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People, the average music fan might be a bit confused or frightened as to what Primus are all about. Don’t let their album and song titles deceive you. There is some weirdness going on, but in a good way, of course.

The band’s songs are born in the same way that many other bands are. “For the most part, everyone in the band writes their own part,” guitarist Larry Lalonde confides. “The rest of the song comes from us sitting together in a room around a tape recorder and we all jam. Then we listen back to it and take the parts we like from it and shape it into a song. That way, we’re all writing the song together. The process is very democratic.”

Primus is the brainchild of bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry ‘Ler’ Lalonde and drummer Tim ‘Herb’ Alexander. Their trademark sound is instantly recognizable and revered by many. Les’ percussive, melodic bass stylings are deciphered and practiced by bass players on a daily basis. Tim ‘Herb’ Alexander is the rhythmic anchor of the band, and holds it all together while at the same time supplying challenging rhythms for the rest of the band to play off of. At the helm of the guitar end of the band is Larry ‘Ler’ Lalonde.

Like many aspiring guitarists, Larry took lessons at the outset of his guitar-playing career. However, not everyone gets to have a major guitar legend as his or her guitar teacher. “In the San Francisco area, everyone’s guitar teacher took lessons from Joe Satriani. He was definitely the top teacher in the area at the time. I went into one of the local music stores to buy something and saw a sign on the wall that read ‘Guitar Lessons.’ I signed up not having any idea as to who the teacher was and it turned out to be Joe Satriani. It was a pretty lucky day for me. He’s awesome!” This drove Larry to practice whenever possible.

He met the other members of Primus when sitting in with other San Francisco area bands. The three all became good friends. When Primus’ guitar player left the band, Larry was the obvious choice. Larry explains, “Les just called me up and said ‘Hey, do you want to be in the band?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, sign me up!’ I didn’t even need to think about it. That was it. It was a very easy choice.” From there, the band went on to record their debut album, Suck On This. It was released on their own label, Prawn Song, in 1989.

The trio continued to record and tour, which helped them to break free of their Bay Area cult status. In 1991, the band released Sailing the Seas of Cheese. This album yielded them a fair bit of attention from the fans of the early ‘90s alternative scene. The single ‘Jerry Was A Race Car Driver’ was a major force in achieving that goal. The band had momentum.

Primus continued to play and the band’s popularity grew steadily. In 1993, the band headlined the incredibly popular, recently revived Lollapalooza tour. This gave them a huge amount of exposure, a new fan base and the opportunity to play in front of festival-sized audiences. It was around this time that the band earned a gold record for Pork Soda. “I think that everyone who came out and saw us actually went out and bought the record,” Larry exclaims.

The band continued to record and tour throughout the ‘90s, headlining their own tours and hitting the road with other bands on package tours (such as the H.O.R.D.E. tour). Primus was nominated for a Grammy in 1996 for Best Rock Performance for the song “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver” off of the album Tales From The Punchbowl.

Their current release, Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People, has been well received by their fans. So has the tour supporting the album. The set list is truly a fan favorite. The first set consists of a “mish mash” of new and old material, while during the second set, Primus plays the classic Sailing the Seas of Cheese album in its entirety. When asked how the tour is going, Larry’s sense of humor shines through, “I guess the tour is going well. People seem to be staying for the entire show. That’s a good sign to me!”

Along for the ride on this tour is Larry’s recent upgrade to his tone arsenal: VOX Valvetronix amps and a new ToneLab. The Valvetronix amps have proven to be tone laden and roadworthy. Larry is using an AD120VTX amp and AD212 cabinets coupled with a VC-12 footcontroller. When asked how his Valvetronix is performing live, Larry said, “It’s awesome! Right out of the box the Valvetronix sounds great. I don’t have much patience for getting a good tone or tweaking an amp. The Valvetronix sounded great immediately. I’ve had lots of other amps that really had to be worked with to get a good tone. That’s not for me.”

Larry continues, “Plus, with the Valvetronix, everything is built into one box. All of the effects that I need are already in there. The layout of the amp is great. You can see all of the different effects sections and controls right there on the top of the amp. They’re all right there, there’s no digging around. The Tap Tempo feature is awesome. I find it really useful playing live. We do lots of spontaneous jamming live and I can dial in a delay right on the spot really easily. Plus, you don’t have to deal with additional cables running into stomp boxes and racks. It helps to keep things quiet. Having all of the effects built into the amp definitely frees up some room onstage, also. No running around in circles to step on all sorts of pedals. The VC-12 makes it really easy to change programs. It’s sturdy and is easy to use.”

Larry is also using the ToneLab. “Its perfect for lazy people like me,” he laughs. “It has the same great easy-to-use layout and tone as the Valvetronix. It’s great for recording, just plug it right into you recorder or computer and dial in your sound. Not only is it great in the studio, but great on the road, too. I use it on the bus when traveling from city to city and in my hotel room as well. I was never a fan of modeling amps, but the Valvetronix and ToneLab have changed all of that. Plus they look cool!”

For updates on Primus and to find out when Larry and his Valvetronix amps are coming to your town, visit their website www.primussucks.com.

By Hugh Gilmartin
Photo by Jay Blakesberg