ADAM GATES: Todd’s parts were so beautifully considered in how they weaved in and out and sculpted the melody around Les’s complex bass lines, that when Les called me one day and said, “Well, Todd left the band,” I went, “My god . . . how are you going to replace him?” And the person he told me was Larry. We had both toured with Blind Illusion—Les did the first half of the tour and I did the other half, playing bass. I came to know Larry that way. When he told me Larry was doing it, it was absolutely the most perfect person for it. First of all, he could play Todd’s parts—which aren’t terribly easy to play. Larry’s technically really good. And then he plugged into the aggressive part the band was really headed to. So the transition wasn’t as bumpy as it might have been with another guitarist who couldn’t handle the parts right. When Tim came in, they always had good drummers—Les always played with good people. But I think Tim brought a personality—certainly the larger kit, this sort of even-churning rhythm thing that he does so well. That plugged in and gave it this component of . . . not Rush, but this churningness that locked in with Les’s bass in a way. Jay Lane touched on that churningness a little as well, but Jay was more funky. He would play with the space a little more than Tim would.
TODD HUTH: When Jay and I were playing, I think it was a little more funky/dissonant/note-y. Les handled most of the low end to it, and I did textural stuff within it. It wasn’t as “big band,” I would say. Because Jay was Mr. Funkster—with his hi-hat and all that kind of stuff. When I left, Les asked me if Larry could play my parts, so that they wouldn’t have to start over again. So I taught Larry the parts, and he kind of played it different. I couldn’t even tell you how he played it different—he didn’t play note-for-note what I did. He played it in “Larry’s style.”
LARRY LaLONDE: I think the handful of songs that they had, I tried to pretty much learn his parts from what tapes I could gather. And then over time, I sort of segued into doing it my own way—some of it. But a lot of it was Todd’s parts. It was really kind of bizarre, because I was coming in with this bizarre way of playing, which was a mix of weird Frank Zappa and King Crimson-y guitar. A lot of times, when I would go to play over some of the parts, my style was very similar to Todd’s, so I lucked out big time that way. A lot of times, I would hear what the part was, and I kind of already knew what it was, because it was the same bizarre things I was playing.
KIRK HAMMETT: I really think that Larry LaLonde was the best guitar player for Primus. I had known Larry because he had been in Possessed, and we also had the same guitar teacher, Joe Satriani. Larry and I were coming from very similar backgrounds. When I found out that he was going to join Primus, I just thought, YEAH! That’s the next level. Larry LaLonde had a lot of technique, and he had a lot of musical knowledge. When you compare that to Todd’s playing, it’s very evident that Larry fit better, because his chops were at the same level as Les’s and as Tim’s. And I always thought that Tim was just a fantastic drummer too. Totally polyrhythmic, had a great groove, and when you needed him to play a complex jazz beat, he could. And when you needed to throw down a heavy rock beat, he could. For me, the best lineup of Primus was with Larry, Herb, and Les.
ADAM GATES: They were ramping up the aggression—it was naturally occurring. Certainly, Les was exploring distortion more in his bass approach. Just getting a little bigger. I think he was certainly a big fan of Metallica, and he had a lot of references that I wouldn’t say were metal, but they were more aggressive. So that starts to ramp up. They were getting more popular—kind of the thrash/funk thing was starting to mean something in the Bay Area. So they were naturally going in that direction anyway.
TIM “HERB” ALEXANDER: I guess [the nickname “Herb”] could represent the world’s most powerful and versatile plant known to man, that cures illness, has multiple industrial uses, and is replenished in a few months rather than chopping down 200-year-old trees to wipe our asses on. A plant that is illegal, while [politicians] spend millions of dollars on bombs that are somewhat accurate and blow kids apart, while people lose their homes and jobs and retirement savings, and the executive bonuses skyrocket . . . [It] is not only legal but the American way. Oh yeah—the name Herb I got when I used to carry ginseng with me.
TODD HUTH: I think Herb was more of a rock drummer than Jay. Definitely. And a real big sound. Technically thoughtful, more than Jay. Jay is more finesse. With Jay and I, I think we were a more textural and finesse type band. With Larry and Herb, I’d say it was more of a rock band—a bigger stadium band.
CHRIS “TROUZ” CUEVAS: Tim really brought in that real “big rock” element, with Neil Peart [style drumming]. It eventually took it to the next level. It made them even more interesting to me.
ADAM GATES: That’s when you started noticing, Okay, they’re selling out Berkeley Square two nights in a row, and there’s this natural, organic thing going on, that any band that is successful usually experiences. And then it just started taking off.
MATT WINEGAR: Les would say just ridiculously funny shit on stage. He would talk to the people in the crowd, or get mad at somebody. Sort of like take care of it in a funny way. Back then, there were a lot of stupid motherfuckers jumping up on stage. And Les had a really good way of defusing that, by taking a playful shot at the person. The shows were always crazy and hectic. I did live sound for them a few times, and I just remember it being so stressful and hectic. I just said to Les, “I wasn’t cut out for this.” The guy who runs the house sound is always yelling at you and telling you you’re not doing something right, and there’s always a microphone that doesn’t work. I remember trying to fight my way to the stage when a kick drum fell out at the Omni, when I was doing sound for them. And I tried to run up to the stage to put the microphone back inside the bass drum, and I just got caught in this swirling mass of shirtless, sweaty people, punching each other in the face. It was totally not my thing. I was like, Fuck this shit. These are the people I walk in the other direction from in high school! I don’t need to be caught in a giant mess of thousands of these people. [Laughs] So that was the end of my live-sound thing.
DAVID LEFKOWITZ: I remember one four-day period in early- or mid-1989, where they opened for three different bands that were very far-flung. One of them was Testament at the Omni, one was Schoolly D at the Nightbreak—it’s referenced in “Harold of the Rocks”—and there was a third show . . . I don’t remember. There was a woman named Debbie Abono who had managed Larry’s band, Possessed, and almost all those East Bay thrash metal bands. I remember talking to her after Primus was on that Testament bill, and her making a comment to me, like, “When Primus was on stage, everybody was smiling. Whereas when all the metal bands were playing, it was a very serious thing.”
LARRY LaLONDE: Right when I joined, the band was already starting to get known, because I was still in high school, and there were people in my high school that knew of the band. So at that point, to me, that was like you were already on the way to somewhere if somebody knew about it. Slowly, the shows started to get a little bigger and then there started to become this Seattle-esque buzz sort of thing, where a lot of record labels were coming into town to check out all these bands. That was the first time I got the idea of, Oh, there is something starting to happen here. Of course, everyone got signed but us . . . which was awesome. [Laughs]
Chapter 7
Suck on This
LES CLAYPOOL: A month later [after the Les-Ler-Herb lineup was solidified], we recorded our first album, Suck on This.
MATT WINEGAR: After we did the Sausage demo, Les said, “I want to do a live thing at Berkeley Square.” What we made the Sausage demo on was this little all-in-one recorder. It was an eight-track.
