You may have heard the story of Les Claypool being “too weird” for Metallica when the now-Primus frontman/bassist auditioned for them eons ago, following the untimely passing of Cliff Burton. Of course we know that Jason Newsted would fill that spot, then later Robert Trujillo, but as it turned out, the eccentric Claypool would be far from done with any of the members of the world’s best-known metal band.
In a new promotion for Claypool’s “Pachyderm Gold” EMG Pickups, Claypool and the current Metallica bassist/backing vocalist Trujillo star in a zany take on the California Gold Rush, Precious Metals. This five-minute short film, filmed by Les and his song Cage, sees the elder Claypool in the role of a panhandler, searching for gold before stumbling upon the aforementioned “Pachyderm Gold,” named of course for Primus’ hit song “Southbound Pachyderm.”
Once he finds the pickups, his hat gets shot clean off by another panhandler (played by Trujillo) who claims to have his own precious metals, before holding up pickups of his own, Trujillo’s “Rip Tide” pickups, to be exact. The two belly-laugh ad nauseum before they end up in a jam session full of funk, slaps, and bullet ricochet sound effects. It’s goofy, it’s peculiar, but damn if it isn’t fun.
For the bass players out there, you can grab your own Les Claypool signature “Pachyderm Gold” pickups here.
Watch the strange short Precious Metals below:
Comments