With the dust starting to settle on Primus‘ revamped lineup, their newest recruit, drummer John Hoffman has been speaking to the press. While a talented percussionist, Hoffman had essentially been existing playing with dozens of regional and local bands over the years to pursue his musical passion, rather than align with any national touring artist of note.
As Primus themselves have gone on to meticulously document, over 6,000 hopefuls took their shot at filling the void left in the multi-platinum alternative metal band after Tim “Herb” Alexander once again exited late last year.
Hoffman made it down to the final hopefuls who actually got to take part in the in-person auditions, beating out some highly capable drummers in Thomas Pridgen (Fever 333, ex-The Mars Volta, etc.), Rory Dolan (lespecial) and more.
In a new interview with Stereogum, Hoffman explained the months of work that went into his successful audition, his musical background, and the daunting task of performing drums alongside Tool‘s Danny Carey during his first official Primus show. That live debut took place last month as part of Tool‘s first-ever ‘Tool Live In The Sand‘ festival.
As it turns out, Hoffman found out he got the gig via a celebratory cake, delivered to him personally by Primus vocalist/bassist Les Claypool. Hoffman explained to the above-mentioned publication how all that came about shortly after flying out for his audition:
“I was told that everybody gets a nickname from Les. The day that I’m leaving, Les texts me that morning and he said, ‘Hey, do people call you Hoffer?’ He asked me two or three different names. I said,’Yeah, people call me Hasselhoff,’ or whatever. And his response was, ‘Hoffington. You’re going to be Hoffington.’ I didn’t know what it was for. I was just like, ‘OK, I’m Hoffington then, that’s cool’. And I’m going on Google like, What is a Hoffington? I figured it was some nautical term. I thought it was like a boat or something. I think it’s just something he made up.
I had finished the audition process that afternoon, and so the whole crew and everybody in the band is kind of having a wrap party for the most part. It was a trivia night at [Claypool’s wine tasting room] Pachyderm Station. I’m planning on leaving the next morning, catching my flight. The audio-visual crew, they’re doing interviews the whole time I’ve been hanging out.
During all of the audition, I had a mic on me and there was a camera following me around, so much that I totally forgot that I was being filmed and recorded all the time. So they’re like, ‘Hey, man, before we go, can we get one more interview just to get your thoughts on the whole thing?’
They set me up for the interview, and they’re asking me a few questions and they say, ‘So how did you get along with the crew?’ And it kind of hit me. I was like, ‘It kind of sucks, man. I really enjoyed a lot of these people. I’ve made a lot of friends here. It’s going to kind of suck if I don’t really ever get to see anybody again.’
And as I’m elaborating on that, I hear, coming out of the kitchen, a group of people and they’re singing [sings] ‘For he’s a jolly good drummer.’ So I see this group coming out of the kitchen, and it’s led by Les. I’m doing this interview… and I’m like, ‘Should I keep talking… or? What’s going on here?’
After a couple seconds, I realized that they’re coming towards me and Les is carrying a box. I realize that they’re singing to me, they’re bringing me a box, and I kind of lose it a little bit. I’m full of emotion already at this point, even after the last couple of months of this process, so it didn’t take a lot for me to kind of start tearing up anyway.
But when I realized that they were bringing me this box, I just kind of started losing it. And he sets it in front of me. And I opened the box. And it was a cake. And written on the cake, it said, ‘Hoffington, You Got the Gig.’
Then I really lost it. I mean, I just buried my head. The tears were coming out. So a little time went by, I realized that there’s a room full of people watching me right now basically cry in my arm with my head down. So I realized I needed to get up and sort of address the situation and say something. They’re saying ‘So how does it feel, man?’ They’re hugging me and all this stuff. I’m just like, [ugly crying noises].
And so Les is like, ‘So you got the gig, and also you’re going to go with us to the Dominican Republic, and you’re going to play at the Tool in the Sand Festival on stage with Danny Carey.’ Oh, by the way, on top of this huge opportunity in this life-changing moment… you also get to go play with one of the consensus greatest drummers that ever lived.
Tool… when I was growing up, always seemed like a real mysterious and dark kind of band, full of mystery and shrouded by facts and kind of replaced by your own imagination. And so I just imagined [Carey] being kind of distant and kind of standoffish and weird, and he’s not at all. He’s just so cool.
And he had the nicest and most positive and encouraging things to say to me that day that I met him as far as my future in the music industry and with Primus. And it meant so much coming from a legend like him to have sort of an approval.”
Primus have a busy scheduled mapped out for the coming months, having been confirmed for the below run of shows.
‘Sessanta v2.0 Tour‘ with A Perfect Circle & Puscifer:
04/24 Palm Springs, CA – Acrisure Arena
04/25 Las Vegas, NV – PH Live at Planet Hollywood
04/27 Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater
04/29 San Antonio, TX – Freeman Coliseum
05/1 Tulsa, OK – BOK Center
05/2 Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP
05/4 Huntsville, AL – The Orion Amphitheater
05/6 Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood
05/8 Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
05/10 Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
05/11 Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
05/14 Manchester, NH – SNHU Arena
05/15 Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at The Mann Center
05/17 Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
05/18 Fairfax, VA – EagleBank Arena
05/20 Pittsburgh, PA – Petersen Events Center
05/22 Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
05/24 Indianapolis, IN – Ruoff Music Center
05/25 Cleveland, OH – Blossom Music Center
05/28 Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
05/29 St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
05/31 Milwaukee, WI – American Family Insurance Amphitheater
06/01 St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
06/03 Omaha, NE – Baxter Arena
06/06 Portland, OR – RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
06/07 Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre
With Ty Segall:
07/05 Paso Robles, CA – Vina Robles Amphitheatre
07/07 Salt Lake City, UT – Sandy Amphitheater
07/08 Jackson, WY – Snow King Mountain
07/09 Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
07/11 Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed
07/12 Kansas City, MO – Grinders KC
07/13 Nashville, TN – The Pinnacle
07/15 Louisville, KY – Iroquois Amphitheater
07/16 Detroit, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre
07/18 Lafayette, NY – Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards
07/19 Essex Junction, VT – Midway Lawn At Champlain Valley Expo
07/21 New York, NY – The Rooftop at Pier 17
With MonoNeon:
07/22 Bridgeport, CT – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
07/23 Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater
07/25 Atlanta, GA – Synovus Bank Amphitheater At Chastain Park
07/26 Wilmington, NC – Live Oak Bank Pavilion
07/28 New Orleans, LA – Saenger Theater
07/29 Shreveport, LA – Shreveport Municipal Auditorium
07/30 Dallas, TX – The Bomb Factory
08/01 Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre
08/02 San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
Primus:
08/03 Santa Cruz, CA – Quarry Amphitheater
08/06 Los Angeles, CA – The Greek Theatre (feat. Ty Segall)
08/07 Sacramento, CA – Channel 24
08/08 Sacramento, CA – Channel 24
