Primus is back. Now that drummer Tim Alexander is okay after heart surgery, the band has announced their next record will feature the original lineup and will be titled Primus and the Chocolate Factory. The album is a tribute to the 1971 film Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and will consist of extremely strange covers of the music from the film.
If you're curious, feel free to check out the creepy cover of "Pure Imagination" streaming below via Rolling Stone:
Les Claypool said in a press release he wanted to do a covers album for the soundtrack because he grew up with the music and has a passion for the soundtrack and movie as a package.
“The thought was that I wanted to take on some kind of sacred cow, and the whole Wonka thing was a massive part of my childhood. It just seemed like the perfect project to take on, in part because those tunes are all so strong … The recording is about my early perception of the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory film. The notion wasn’t so much to go in and redo the soundtrack note for note as much as it was to utilize the classic elements of the music yet try to reflect some of the darker undertones of the Roald Dahl books, because when you read those books, there is an eerie and somewhat menacing aspect implied.”
Did we mention you can buy Primus chocolate bars with the release? Seriously.
The record will be out October 21 via ATO Records. So how about them tour dates, which will feature drummer Tim Alexander after his recent health issues?
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
