Primus will be releasing their tribute to the music of the 1971 film “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory” in October with a new full-length album. The effort will be issued under the title of “Primus And The Chocolate Factory With The Fungi Ensemble” on October 21st through ATO Records. The decision to release and record the outing follows a live set the band played last New Year’s Eve that paid similar tribute.
Mike Dillon of Critters Buggin and Sam Bass of the Frog Brigade help fill out the sound on the new effort, which also features studio drumming from Tim Alexander—who was recently sidelined by a heart attack.
Primus frontman/bassist Les Claypool told Rollingstone.com of the project:
“As we started putting it together, especially with the expanded soundscape of having string and vibraphone and marimba, it started sounding to me like one of the early Peter Gabriel records meets Dark Side of the Moon meets The Residents. That’s what I get out of it. Obviously that’s some big-ass horn-tooting to be doing.”
Claypool went on to cite an unconventional percussive setup played by Alexander as a key element of the album:
“He’s so musical at what he does, and he can be very orchestral when he wants to be, and taking him off a traditional kit just brought forth these sounds that we’ve just never gotten from him before,” says Claypool. “If you saw this kit, you’d laugh your ass off. He couldn’t get in and out of it. We’d open up a portion of it and shove him in there and then lock him in with other pieces of things.”
Despite Alexander‘s recent health woes, he has urged the band to go on with the project, which they will begin touring behind in October. It was undisclosed whether or not Alexander will be healthy enough to rejoin the band behind the kit for the trek.
According to Claypool those shows will feature a brief traditional Primus set followed by a Wonka-themed set. There’s also some discussion of playing a matinee show of the Wonka material in an attempt to get kids interested in the original film.
Given the Wonka theme, chocolate brown vinyl (complete with five randomly inserted gold vinyl) are being readied, as are three previous limited run chocolate bars—’Mr. Krinkle‘ (crisped rice,) ‘Professor Nutbutter‘ (peanuts,) and ‘Bastard Bar‘ (dark chocolate) by Asher’s Chocolates. Claypool joked of the marketing:
“The tour and the album are solely a marketing tool just so we can sell candy bars. That’s the whole impetus of this entire project. Because the fucking recording industry rolled over and let this Internet shit all over us. So we had to come up with another income stream, so we’re making chocolate bars because you can’t digitize a chocolate bar — yet.”
Digital pre-orders are available here and a stream of their take on “Pure Imagination” can be heard after the break:
“Primus And The Chocolate Factory With The Fungi Ensemble” track listing:
01 – “Hello Wonkites”
02 – “Candy Man”
03 – “Cheer Up Charlie”
04 – “Golden Ticket”
05 – “Lermaninoff”
06 – “Pure Imagination”
07 – “Oompa Augustus”
08 – “Semi-Wondrous Boat Ride”
09 – “Oompa Violet”
10 – “I Want It Now”
11 – “Oompa Veruca”
12 – “Wonkmobile”
13 – “Oompa TV”
14 – “Farewell Wonkites”
Primus on tour:
10/22 Upper Darby, PA – Tower Theatre
10/24 Albany, NY – Palace Theatre
10/25 Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre
10/26 Burlington, VT – Flynn Center for Performing Arts
10/28 Waterbury, CT – Palace Theater
10/29 Baltimore, MD – Hippodrome
10/31 New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
11/01 New Brunswick, NJ – State Theatre
11/02 Rochester, NY – Main Street Armory
11/03 Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit
11/05 St. Louis, MO – Peabody Opera House
11/07 Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
11/08 Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle
11/09 Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live
11/11 Miami Beach, FL – The Fillmore Miami Beach at The Jackie Gleason Theater
11/12 Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall
11/14 Biloxi, MS – Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
11/15 Austin, TX – ACL live at the Moody Theater
11/16 Dallas, TX – The Majestic Theatre
11/17 San Antonio, TX – Majestic Theatre
11/19 Phoenix, AZ – Orpheum Theatre Phoenix
11/21 Los Angeles, CA – Orpheum Theatre LA
