The first film I made was when I was 13 and it was called ‘The Dogs That Ate Detroit.’ It starred my Saint Bernard Barney, and it was a killer thriller with oodles of special effects that were cutting edge for the time.
You don’t go see Primus to see what kind of new clothing I’m wearing or what my new hairdo is. You come to see Primus for the musical experience and the visual experience. I think, anyways. Maybe I’m wrong!
If I’m home and I come up with something, I’ll try to record it, but a lot of the time I’ll forget to. A lot of things go off into space and never come back ’cause I just don’t remember them.
My favorite venues are the 2,000 seat theaters, like the Warfield. If there was a Warfield in every city, I would play it. That’s all I would do. I love venues like that.
I think the world is very much embracing this whole concept of musicians going out and playing their instruments and playing music for music as opposed to music that has something to do with some form of image or imagery.
I’ve never been on the cover of ‘Tiger Beat’ magazine, let’s put it that way. But that’s not why you go see Primus. You don’t go see Primus to see what kind of new clothing I’m wearing or what my new hairdo is.
I had one guy pretend to be me, go to a hotel room, and tell the people at the front desk that it was me, and then he went in and stole all of our luggage. There’s always that eager beaver that wants to be a part of the team and comes off as a sticky fly.
My heroes are guys like Frank Capra and Elia Kazan and Coen brothers and Terry Gilliam, more so than a lot of bass players at this point in my life. So I’ve always been an old-film nut and have very much enjoyed doing videos over the years.
Band chemistry is a tricky thing. If one guy isn’t feeling right with the other guys, everything gets thrown off. When you get the personalities and the chemistry right, that’s a grand slam.
From my experience, moving through life, things tend to go in eight- to 10-year cycles. Friends, relationships and whatnot.
Play as much as you can as often as you can with as many people as you can. That’s how you learn and grow.
For me to do a project – I have a pretty successful solo career, so – for me to even want to do Primus, it had to be a creative step forward.