CLD - South of Reality w/Kello Gonzalez

Josh and Frankie.

What a couple of dumb shits. Hello, primates. You found Primus Tracks. Congratulations.

There are so many places to find Primus Tracks, but this is the most important one, in my estimation.

I am Dr.

Josh Bald, one of the hosts of Primus Tracks. He is coming to you from the 39th floor of Primus Tracks Towers, which, incidentally, is south of here. Encyclopedia Frankie Berestein.

Hi, Josh.

Hey, Frankie.

Frankie, we are going south of reality today to talk about the title track or titular track, if you're nasty, to the album South of Reality. And every time I go south, I think of this man because... He is generally south of.

Me when he's not touring the world in one of many bands. It's the funky diva himself, Keo Gonzalez. Welcome back to Privacy Tracks.

Hello.

Buenas tardes, Keo.

Buenas tardes. Thank you for having me again. I thought I was not going to be invited anymore. Is it something I said?

You will never not be invited on this podcast.

That is correct. I don't know what your agent told you, but they are wrong.

Okay, thank you.

It's great to have you back to discuss the track South of Reality, the title track from that record. Speaking of records, you're working on one right now. I'm excited to hear the final product.

I'm excited about that too. It's my second solo album. It's sounding great. It's sounding great.

Especially the vocals, right?

Especially the vocals. I spent a lot of time on the lyrics. Instrumental again. So the first one, I loved it. And still, up to this time, I listened to it a lot. But I think this one, I managed to step it up. And all the songs are great. And I can't wait for you to hear it. It's a follow-up to the previous one. This is going to be a trilogy. If I get to that age, this is going to be the trilogy of the K. E. González anthology. Wow.

It'll be nice.

You're like Prince. He used to listen to his own records.

I do, you know? And that's the thing. That album and this new album, that's music that I did for me. That was created thinking of what I wanted to listen to. I think that's the most honest way to do music. Because if you create music thinking of the listener, then you're dissociating yourself from the product. It's not for you.

It's for someone else. It's like doing a jingle. How many artists will come up with an album and after it's released, they never listen to it again? That's very common, unfortunately, you know? Yeah. And for me, at least these albums that have my name on it, I'm proud of them and I listen to them nonstop and I still like them, which is good.

When you listen to them, do you think, hey, that bass player, he's pretty good?

He's very handsome.

I'll just say thanks again for joining us, K.O. We're talking about South of Reality. It is track three on your South of Reality record from the Claypool Lennon Delirium. It is a nice, brief, compact three minutes and 28 seconds.

Credits are as follows. Music by Claypool and Lennon.

Lyrics are by Les Claypool because in the first couple of records, they had an edict of if you write it.

You sing it.

So we know that those are Claypool lyrics, and that's pretty obvious after reading them. My best guess for credits, Les on bass and lead vocals, Sean Lennon, guitar, and Mellotron backing vocals.

And I don't know who's on drums and percussion, Frankie.

Would it be Paulo, perhaps?

Paulo did not guest on this track from my recollection. Just Amethyst? It was Amethyst, Bariska, and one other. So this one is either Les or Sean. I'm not sure.

Yep.

So that remains a mystery.

Sounds Claypool-ish, I must say.

Yes, I think parts of it do. I think you're right. There's a couple drums that he hits that he hit a bunch on. Whales.

Fungi and Foe and Whales, yes. I'm like, oh, those are drums he likes to bang.

On, so that is probably him, is my guess. K.O., what is your.

Attraction to South of Reality, the track, and the record overall that would lead you here today?

I can tell you this is my favorite Lennon Claypool Delirium album. Wow.

Okay. I noticed you inverted the title. You said Lennon Claypool Delirium.

Do you have a.

Because that's the order on which I wanted to say it, you know?

Okay.

There's no subtext there.

No.

But this is my favorite one. This, by a long shot... Okay. I mean, I like the three of them, but this one, I think, is... Not as psychedelic or experimental as the other two. Because the first one is very psychedelic. The third one is very, it's a little bit more proggy or almost experimental. And this one, I think, I don't want to use that word, but it is, I think, a little bit more mature. Like they sound like a band.

So the thing with this song, it is very structured. You clearly have your intro, your main riff, your verse, your chorus, and even a solo section.

Right.

That's very structured as well. The harmonic composition is even different than what I think. Even for this, and you alluded to it, this is a Claypool song, but it is in a minor key, which is not common for Claypool. Most of the time he'll play a... Like major chords. This one is actually a minor one. You know? Yeah.

It's a minor chord. That's not common for Les.

So already a different feel.

It is a different feel. And the rest of the song, it's mainly the chorus. It's all chromatic. It's... It's all chromatic. And the solo section is just. A different take on the chorus. So he just repeats different pieces of that. And that's the song. So it is very logical. It has its order very well defined.

We'll see when we get to that section or that segment how they probably tweak it live, but at least on the record, it is very straightforward. Yeah. Again, the minor piece makes it interesting, and it could be that based on the theme of the song, they wanted to do it a little bit sadder, right? Instead of the normal, happy, Claypool cartoonish story, you know?

Yeah, I think that it lends to that chant of South of the Path, like that doing it over that chromatic thing, but having that minor is really interesting, yeah. A little more haunting. Hearing that in isolation, it certainly sounds a little more haunting.

Yeah, it is haunting. A haunting progression. Interesting.

So what I put in my notes around that part that you just played, that chromatic part, is first of all, that's what we first hear for the song. Like, we're just dropped into the middle of the song right at the beginning.

Correct.

And that's the musical equivalent to the literary term of in media res, which is Latin for beginning in the middle of a storyline. So it feels like we're just dropped into the song. But that the bass and guitar... are ascending or descending depending on the part and the melatron is doing the opposite and then every once in a while the guitar stops and does the opposite of the bass it's as if we have two it's just like in the sky when these two celestial bodies cross one another because they're on this they're on a similar path and then they intersect and then they're on their way apart again so that ascending and descending at some point they're hitting the same note but then they're off in different.

Directions it's they're harmonizing the chromatic run and actually who is either going up or down is the bass in most instances the guitar normally just keeps the same descending chromatic progression.

Maybe I heard the bass then as a guitar, because there was one part where.

The bass went high register.

Okay.

Yeah, it's really cool how they do that. And harmonizing chromatics is not something you hear every day. It doesn't make a lot of musical sense in a way, but these guys managed to make it happen.

That's cool.

What you mentioned of how the song starts is how I would imagine Alice in Wonderland. That starting is like falling into the abyss. And then it comes into a minor chord. It's like you fell, you're in the abyss now. Okay.

It's interesting that you mention Alice in Wonderland, given that Cheshire Cat is referenced in the lyrics.

Are we beyond the looking glass?

We might.

I do wonder if that I do wonder then if Alice in some way was an inspiration for this track, because you do often see the Cheshire Cat, its face pictured in the moon. um, in a lot of things.

And it's also on acid tabs by the way. So that's, I guess that's a pretty popular, uh, LSD thing to do. So that, that also tracks, there's a, there's a lot of things coming together with the Cheshire cat, but, um, I do wonder if that was an inspiration.

And so that's what they're taking and putting into some of the music.

Fascinating.

Huh?

Oh, there you go.

Then when you put that on, it makes it really murky and, uh, spooky, uh, We are in the spooky month. Okay, now I want to hear a spooky version of this song. That sounds great.

We can do that, and you'll sing it.

I would be happy to, yes. Very much so. I mean, I've got to bring up the lyrics so I can do it. La Fonda's gonna take us to the place. There, there's my.

You can do a little bit more spooky than that.

Yes, thank you for the note. Frankie, before we get too far, what do you have on this track?

Staff of Reality was performed three times in 2018 in the lead-up to the New Year's Eve with Beanpole. So this was one of the few tracks of the record that were dropped before the album materialized the following year. Subsequently, it was performed at every stop of the 2019 concerts. Then it was performed once in 2020 at the Jam Cruise.

And subsequently, it was resurrected for Claypool Gold this year.

Did they play it a lot at Claypool Gold?

20 times.

Oh, so yes, because there are only about 26 dates that I recall. So that was a mainstay on the Claypool Gold.

It's a semi-regular. You can tell that Les really enjoys playing this track.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's a fun song to play.

It's never been jammed.

It's so straightforward to play. I can tell that for him it would be one of those songs he used to cruise through.

Yes, they don't jam on this one. It's always been played exactly like.

On the Wreck Earth.

I would imagine then this is one of those tracks that, I'm not saying he's taking songs off, but it's not overly vexing to play. And so, like you said, Keo, he can kind of cruise on this one because there aren't that many theatrics. And so it's probably a nice one to play from a comfort perspective, just for your hands, too.

Well, I mean, think about it. Three bands with different songs. You need something to cruise through. Just cruise control instead of having to worry about every song in the set list.

Yeah, that's a nice cruise control song. I like that descriptor. Just turning on the cruise now.

Gliding.

But you also mentioned, K.O., this has a nice tight structure. We have our intro, which is the chorus riff, verse 1. chorus with the south of the path which is i think i mentioned it's really fun to yell south of the path and then when you have 2 000 people in the audience all yelling it with you it's kind of fun and of course the the title south of reality i think a lot of people just from word association their minds go to south of.

Heaven so they're thinking of slayer or something you know.

So to yell south of the path it sounds pretty pretty metal um so verse one chorus verse two chorus um Mellotron solo with some theatrics there, verse three, chorus, the bottom drops out of that last chorus, and we're out. There's really no space in here that's undefined.

But there's a very cool bridge.

Yes, right around the two-minute mark, right?

And while I agree with Keo about the overall simplicity of the song, I think the bridge is where the keyboard shines.

Should we play that part for the good people?

We definitely should.

All right, here is Frankie's favorite 40 seconds of South of Reality.

Let's see it.

Let's see it. yeah that's cool that is definitely cool.

It's up-tempo.

It's fun.

The Mellotron, Sean on the Mellotron. I assume that Sean is doing some cool stuff on it. I actually got to mess around with a Hammond organ not long ago. A guy I know just has it in his barn.

He got it for free. So I got to mess with a Hammond organ. I was like, shoot, man.

I really wish I had continued playing piano past age 12 because Hammond organs are really, really fun. But a Mellotron with all the different... things you can do with it. Sounds like a great time. How does the Mellotron work for you, Keo? Because I'm sure it was new, at least to the Claypool soundscape, of course, with the Delirium.

I think it fits really well. I just, you know, wonder where you.

It does, because, I mean, all the psychedelic sounds, I mean, you can get some of those from those type of instruments, right? So I think it kind of... it kind of makes it gel pretty well, you know? It has to be organic, so it has to be an organic synth sound, right? And I think that's where the Maltron kind of adds the organic piece to the... It's like when... I think when Klepel started branching out of Primus, he started bringing in all these different sounds that I think he wanted to incorporate but couldn't because Primus is... a whole different beast, you know? And he did a lot of stuff with his solo, initial solo stuff, and then when he did this, I think he was able to add to the soundscapes

that he's already worked with in a much different way, you know? And he already had certain sounds that fit his solo songs, and I think It was an obvious choice pairing up with the Lennon legacy, making it more psychedelic. And when you make it psychedelic, then you can bring in these sounds.

So that leads me to the follow-up question of, will we hear Mellotron on the Keo Gonzales trilogy?

So my second album has a lot of, well, not a lot. It does have synths and keys and pianos and programming and samples and all that, but no Mellotron.

Hmm.

Let's see for the next one. You have trumpet, you know.

Now you're talking.

All right.

Yeah.

Branch out. All right.

There's room for Mellotron on the third one, possibly. You know what I like about the song, too, is that each verse is its own portion of the story. And so they can exist separately because verse one is essentially Les' dad, but it's Les' experience watching the 2017 eclipse. Verse two is Sean Lennon's experience with viewing an eclipse when he was very young. And then verse three is the actual event. But we're back with Les because his dad's swatting at flies. But getting ready for this actual celestial event. So I like how they stand alone but all really come together, of course, on a theme. I just want to play the end because I think this is one of the more satisfying endings, certainly to a

Claypool song. But even for a Claypool Lennon delirium tune, it ends in such a satisfying way. It doesn't kind of ramshackle its way to an ending. It doesn't fall apart.

It ends in a.

Really natural way, and that sounds like this.

It just stops. You know, slam the brakes.

But you know, part of that closure of the song has to do with the nice pairing that both vocals gel together. You know the way they kind of complement harmonically? Yeah. It's very interesting.

Yeah, Les' vocals are interesting throughout. The verses, he's amping something up in his voice. I don't exactly know what it is, but he double tracks at least his vocals during the verses, but then the vocals during that chorus has some gravitas, but I do like the harmonizing. So Lennon's up, you know, further up on the register, but they're both really, I'm making this gesture with my hand because it's like, they're both singing with.

Such force seemingly. Like you have to hold your hand like this to south of the path of totality.

What I mean is the way their songs, their voices compliment each other and how they sound beautifully. how they sound together.

Oh, okay. So the quality of their voices when combined.

Combined. Gotcha. The timbre, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, we've discussed throughout these episodes, Sean's vocal qualities are really impressive, and he certainly sings very well.

And I think this is the, I may say this, this is the only band where I think claypool does have a good pairing vocal wise yeah because i mean i think the first time he started doing something like this was with oyster head right i mean you had two different vocalists but i don't think their voices are as complimentary as they're here you know they were more like you sing this i'll sing this you know and but here is it's like uh Harmony. Like Alice in Chains, you know? Yeah. Like Lane and Jerry, you know, and how their voices just sound like one. Yeah. That's how you feel it in this band.

You raised a good point because with Oysterhead, it seemed like one or the other. And there wasn't a lot of overlap. But here, of course, these guys are, they're switching off, but they're layering along with one another and they're harmonizing and that sort of thing. And I, It is fun to hear Les sing notes, which does not happen in Primus songs. It does here and there, but it happens a lot in CLD.

It's like jodeling in key, or rapping in key. But here, again, I like the vocal qualities and how they complement each other. I'll buy that.

Frankie? You're welcome. PayPal ready.

Absolutely.

Frankie, I do want to hear your thoughts on this tune, because I always ask you, is this in your.

Regular rotation for your midnight runs?

It is.

I do enjoy this song quite a bit, both in the context of the record and also as part of a playlist. Because like Kea mentions.

It comes and goes.

It's short, it's compelling, none of its sections... overstates welcome, but it's still dynamic and interesting enough to be refreshing each time you listen to it.

It's a catchy one. That chromatic part is really, really catchy to me.

And I did ask Les about this song during the Q & A in Washington. Oh.

Do you remember what he said?

Um, he said that it was basically a song about how he took his dad to see the eclipse and his dad was utterly unimpressed by it and was just wondering when they, when they were heading back home.

That comes through the lyrics big time. It's really funny.

These are, I will say, if we want to transition to the lyrics, these are, they're very funny lyrics, but also, um, they, they make you feel like you're.

In the club. To a degree.

And what I mean by that is if you're paying attention to the lyrics, you know some of the, I wouldn't call them vague references.

But oblique references. And so if you know who La Fonda is, and if you know that Sean Lennon is.

Shiner, then you're past that first layer of the lyrics. And it's like he's just telling you some stories from his life, which is great. We get autobiographical lyrics from time to time. And this is no different than those.

And this is the second time Captain Crunch is mentioned in a clip of Lyric.

I was going to toss that out there, too. Oh, man. Old Captain Crunch. He's back.

And then, of course, our pal Captain Crunch, who goes to all the live shows and is always on the rail. He's a recurring character at the live shows now. So Captain Crunch is taking on uh, doing a lot of heavy lifting, I guess, in the Primus Claypool mythology at this point.

Yep.

That's pretty incredible.

Um, yeah.

So the, uh, as far as the lyrics go and KO take notes for the, you know, for all the lyrics that you're writing for your trilogy, um, the rhyme scheme on this one, that.

Was a nice sting. I appreciate that. Um, The rhyme scheme on this one, each verse is eight lines, and it's just paired rhyming couplets. So A, A, B, B, C, C, D, D.

And as I noted, we shift from Les' experience in the first verse to Shiner's in the second, back to Les. And he really is, he's really hard, he's really, I wouldn't say he's really taking digs at his dad, but he really keeps coming back to how his dad was really bored, and swatting at flies to pass the time.

So his dad did not want to be there, clearly.

So that was interesting.

I don't know about you guys, because where I am in Oregon was a decent spot to be for the 2017 eclipse.

I don't know about in Mexico. I don't even know if it was noticeable.

My hometown was one of the places to be, which is Mazatlan.

Oh, okay.

I was not able to go, but I was in Guadalajara. which was okay, but it was not a full eclipse here. Okay.

I had a similar experience in that it wasn't a complete eclipse because I was, I too was south of the path of totality, but there were also a lot of wildfires in this area. So there was so much smoke in the air that the effect of the eclipse was really muted because it was already somewhat dark and it just got a little darker and things got, you know, when there's smoke in the air, things have this sickening yellow hue anyway. So it, it just kind of amplified that as opposed to getting dark.

Um, so I didn't have the best experience.

My, my favorite couplet in these lyrics, because once again, less hammers at home, uh, he says, pop says, it's like watching drying paint.

We're impressed, but obviously he ain't. The first line is enough.

Pop says it's like watching drying paint because that is one of the most commonly used expressions.

To indicate boredom.

With that one line, we know his dad is bored. He piles on with the next line. We're impressed, but obviously he ain't. And it's a really fun rhyme with paint and ain't. He had to get there with instead of watching paint dry, which is usually how people express that idiom. He says, watching drying paint so he can get that rhyme with ain't. There's a little bit of cleverness there to get to it, but I just love the line, we're impressed, but obviously he ain't.

I don't know why.

It flows really nicely. It's superfluous to the story, but it just sounds good.

It flows.

Um, and then that second verse, you know, so once again, uh, La Fonda was, was there, uh, was Claypool's.

Motor home for years.

I think he's either sold it or it broke down too many times and he had to retire it.

They rode in the Fonda up to somewhere.

I can't remember where he said they went for the eclipse, but, um, Oregon, like Eastern Oregon was prime viewing area for it because it was in the path and there is very little light pollution, um, in the Eastern half.

Of the state. So, um, a lot of people went there. Oregon public TV did a great special on it. Um, that's probably available on their website.

Uh, anyhow, uh, Uh, the Shiner story is cool too. He was just a little kid and his science teacher, they did the shadow box. I don't know if you guys have ever done those. I did those when I was a kid too. We did the shadow box to view an eclipse. And as you said, Frankie, it's made out of a Cap'n Crunch box. I wonder if that was coincidence or creative license. Sean has a, an eye for detail. So I would imagine he would remember that it it was Captain Crunch, but I don't know if Les took our artistic license here. So he's doing this at the snake Canyon, which is interesting. Um, and somewhat like Les's dad, the lyrics are he's staring up and she's staring at him, wondering where his mind has run.

So maybe he was absentmindedly viewing this eclipse too, but you know, kids, kids have a, about a 10 minute attention span tops. So that could be, those could be related. And then we get that third verse with the Cheshire Cat dodges behind the moon, and he uses a couple nice descriptors, baffled flies, eerie haze, glooms the afternoon, a chill in the air. But then after the event, LaFonda's primed and ready for her run as the moon chases away the sun.

We're out of here. We came, we watched the eclipse, we left. Sounds right.

Not much else to do in Eastern Oregon after watching the eclipse. Anyway, it's brief, it's compact. I like the rhyme scheme. There's a little enjambment here and there, but nice sensory language. And south of the path of totality just sounds really cool.

So there you go. That's what I've got on the lyrics, Frankie. Keo?

They're very straightforward.

Keo, how do you find these lyrics? Are you a lyric listening guy? I don't think I've asked you that.

Sometimes I am. But the reality is that when I'm listening to Claypool, my attention is somewhere else.

Gee, I wonder where.

So, no. Okay, fair.

No, that's fair.

Not much. I mean, I do because it's part of the song. I like the song. But I don't get to... caught up in that. I think, again, when I want to look into or go into the details, I gravitate to something else.

Okay, yeah.

I'm a wordy person, so when I'm listening, I'm listening to those lyrics and I'm absorbing them. I don't go out of my way to memorize lyrics, but I pick them up, you know? I pick them up after repeated listens, so.

I'm always listening for lyrics.

Plus.

You know, vocal cues are really helpful for understanding music and transitions and that sort of thing.

So that's where I go with it. All right. I suppose we've talked about it enough. That's the new Primate's takes.

Just a couple of primates takes today, but if you want your opinion about the track read right here on the podcast, all you have to do is go to patreon.com forward slash primus tracks. There are many tiers of support for Josh and Frankie. And primates takes is the universal constant. John Shreve says this song explains waiting for an eclipse to happen as perfectly as an only child can explain.

As someone who has watched paint dry, who is also an Eagle Scout, this song brings me back to simpler.

Times when we would speak of more complicated.

Times, and really nothing changed other than most things when it comes to entertaining oneself.

Five out of five. Thank you, John.

And our resident curmudgeon Eric in Australia says, This one feels quite plodding to me. I enjoy CLD as an album experience, but I don't think it pays for me personally to scrutinize these songs individually.

I think I'm having deja vu. Thanks, Eric. Live cuts.

A jam vehicle.

Live cuts.

The jam vehicle. Live cuts.

What's going on here?

The Frankie Provides. That's an oblique reference to the Bugnish Provides, the new Ween live music set.

Frankie has graced us with a couple of live cuts of the Claypool Lennon Delirium performing south of reality. And our first is from Port Chester.

I better get to the right tab. Our first is from Port Chester, New York. I'm sorry, Port Chesta, New York. Chesta. You really got to get that ha-ha-ha in there.

And this is the Capitol Theater, July 30, 2019.

Ooh, we got some nice video game sounds at the end there.

You know what's interesting? Even the solo is very close to the original. Yeah.

Yeah, Joao just went with what was on the record for the most part.

That's actually what they asked. Joao told me that's what they asked him to play in the audition.

Oh, really?

Yeah, they asked him to play that solo.

Wow, that was his audition piece. Yep. The South of Reality, Mellotron solo.

Huh.

All right.

Well, for all of you aspiring keyboardists out there, put that in your back pocket. You might get a gig.

Wow.

That's cool. Was that tempo a bit faster than on the record? It felt like it.

A little, yeah. Okay.

Yeah, that was very lively. That sounded really good.

And we've said this for all three live cut segments for this record, that live, there's a full band. and it just sounds fuller, it sounds more realized, and it drives. So I wouldn't say they're pushing tempos on all of them, but they're definitely playing them at a very lively pace.

Keo, have I asked you that? Do you push tempo live, or do you try to stick with what's on the record?

It depends, because if you do have backing tracks, then you need a click, right? So that keeps you at a given... tempo what we do sometimes is if we're going to use a click and we want it live to be a little bit more forward we we kind of speed up the the time a little bit but i'll tell you this naturally if you there's no click most of the time drummers will make some quicker live anyway.

Yeah Oh, you're putting it on the drummer. The drummer's doing it.

Well, they keep the pulse.

Wait, I thought the bass player was in charge.

We keep it together. That's a different story. We keep it together, but the drummer is the one that keeps the pulse, right? If they want to make it quicker, they will. That normally happens because of the adrenaline or however you want to say. But normally, I mean, again, if there's no click... to drive the drummer, songs will be played normally quicker. Unless the drummer's tired, then he'll play back.

Okay, so there's a push and pull there.

A lot of early show energy and then maybe second set playing more closer to.

Could be.

Depending, yeah.

I mean, who counts in? Right, yeah.

Whoever's counting it in is the person that's setting it, yeah.

But even then, I mean, you could have the bass player start, and then if the drummer decides that the song should be quicker, he'll speed it up.

Then you're just along for the ride.

Fun.

Our next live cut is from Atlanta, Georgia, 2019. Otherwise known as.

There it is.

K.O.

's face is priceless.

K.O., I don't know where that came from either. He just started doing it.

I don't know. I just see a forehead.

A forehead with a baby's voice.

I don't know where that came from.

We are indeed returning to Sweetwater, one of Frankie's favorites. This is obviously celebrating of reality, and you can find both of these on YouTube. The Sweetwater set is pro-shot and looks great, and it's there in perpetuity.

Let's hear it.

¶ ¶.

Father's going to take us to the place where we can stand and stare out into space.

I've got goggles, but before our eyes, I've got faces gazing to the skies. Pop said it's like watching trying paint.

We're all impressed.

But obviously we ain't.

Not really, as I feel fun waiting for a moon to shield the sun.

By the way, if you're hearing multiple voices on the backing vocals, that's because all three non-Less Claypools in the band are singing the backing vocals.

So that's pretty cool. Their vocals were turned way up.

It's an interesting mix.

Yes, the backing vocals are way up there.

In general, because for a Claypool band, the bass and his vocals are very low.

And that could be the soundboard. I don't know what's going on there, but it is interesting. We should also note that the bass is what brought that in, which may be a surprise to someone. Probably not, though, given who the bass player is in that band. That tempo was more close to the record from what I could tell, but those backing vocals were front and center and sounded really good, those harmonies. I just love it when Paolo's on drums for these different Claypool projects.

He's a good drummer. I like that guy. Let's hear this part of Sweetwater. Sweetwater. Congratulations, Drow, you've passed the audition. You're in the band. That sounded good.

The footage of it, like, Mellotron and piano and all those things, they sound really impressive, right? And then when you're watching a masterful piano player that's moving around on the keys, it's enhanced.

By the visual.

But when you watch somebody on a small Mellotron like that, and they're kind of hanging around and they're playing something impressive, but one hand's playing and then the other one's fiddling with dials. There's something about them like, you know, I know I can't, but it looks like something.

I could do.

I'd like to do.

I would like to do that.

I definitely have to practice a lot more, but it looks really, really fun. Maybe that's my next project.

So there's our live cuts. Did you hear anything in Sweetwater that resonated with you, Keo?

Only that comment. The mix sounds very un-Claypool-esque.

Yeah, certainly.

But it's nice to hear what goes around a little bit more in the forefront.

Absolutely. When we get that Claypool Gold live Blu-ray, then we'll hear them. Mixed the way he wants.

Or maybe that CLD stage show they want to do for The Paradox.

Closing thoughts on South of Reality. I really like this track.

If I went for jogging excursions in the middle of the night, in which I was also stealing car stereos and that sort of thing, I too would have it on my playlist, as Frankie does.

I like it. And I think it's one of the stronger tracks. And K.O., I didn't even mention.

This is also my favorite CLD record. And I think it is by a wide margin. And I think this is one of the top tracks on the record for me.

This one's up there in the CLD.

Actually, from the Claypool anthology, I would say this is top five.

Top five for the entire Claypool catalog.

Wow. All right. Wow.

Non-Primus, of course, right? We're excluding Primus.

Everything, I think. I mean, well, it's hard to nitpick Primus. You're correct, yeah.

Okay.

Why would you say something so brave yet so controversial?

Because it's a great album. It's just a solid album. That's what it is, you know? I mean, like an album, like a full album, not songs or in general. As an album, it's really solid. Yeah, it is.

And one of these days.

Frankie and I will do our, you know, our top 10, uh, less Claypool solo band tracks and we'll do our top 10 Primus tracks and we'll enrage everyone, but we'll eventually do that.

And that's going to be fun.

Yeah.

It'll be agonizing.

I don't know if I mentioned on this podcast, but I was on my weekly mixtape, which is a great podcast, a music podcast to go check out. And I was talking Primus on that and I had to build along with Brian, the, the host, we had to build a 10-song Primus playlist that was representative of the band across all their different eras and drummers and that sort of thing.

And it was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. I haven't had a very hard life, apparently. It was, no, but it was somewhat agonizing.

I mean, but you can, there's an easy way to do it, you know?

Oh, please tell me because I did not know the easy way.

Well, the easy way is just go for the better known tracks, which can be more representative of the eras. Oh, of course. I think that's the easy pass. I mean, like for me, like my top three bands are Italica, Rush, and Primus, right? If you ask me to do that from Italica, a Rush of being predicament.

Oh, you wouldn't just have Enter Sandman be the first song on your mix?

I mean, again, that's the easy route. Yes. Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, Enter Sandman. You know, that's the easy path.

Sure, absolutely.

So for Primus, the easy path is My Name is Mud.

Jerry.

Risk or Driver. Pack a Derm. I mean, Wine On Us. Those are the easy ones. But we like the... Deep cuts. So that's when it comes... Yes.

So go check out my weekly mixtape.

If you want to hear our 10 song selections for that one.

Maybe we hit some deep cuts.

Maybe. But then you could do like they do in the playlist, right? You have the deep cut playlist and you have the singles playlist and then you have like the... I don't know.

So you can just hedge... In every direction so nobody can yell at you. That's a good idea. KO will be publishing his top.

10 Metallica songs of all time on his YouTube channel at KOGC.

On October 30th of this year. So look for that. It's 21 days from the recording of this podcast episode.

Really those, yeah, the 10 best and top 10, those only just serve to create arguments that go nowhere so maybe Frankie and I will do it but I just can't imagine it being.

Productive but I was happy when I saw Rush in Mexico City.

Oh of course yes they played Moving.

Pictures in full and 2112 in full in the same concert so it was it was.

You got two Rush concerts that night you got Moving Pictures and 2112 and then a bunch of other.

Songs A bunch of other songs, that's correct. Dang.

Well, that's a night to remember. Very nice. Thanks again for joining us, K.O. It's always great to speak with you and visit with you. Thank you. I'm looking forward to that second record in the trilogy. You know what?

I listened to the latest Parasite record again while I was driving endless hours last week, and that was.

Sounds like an album to listen when you're lost in an endless....

Yes, it was a delight.

It actually helped keep me focused on the road because of its.

Like jerking you out of the sleep.

Yeah, exactly.

Its twist and turn just kept me from fading off the road to one side. So that was a delight. What else do you have on the stove? You always have about 72 things you're working on.

Just came back from Malaga. I think I was in Malaga when you actually invited me to this one. Yes. I was going to play in Comic-Con, San Diego Comic-Con in Malaga with Akira Yamaoka.

Awesome.

We might do another run of dates in the U.S. early next year, hopefully. So my album, second album's coming up, if all goes well, late November, right?

Excellent.

Some other things are cooking, but still in the works, so.

We'll keep them hushed.

You'll learn about them once they're ready. All right.

I'm looking forward to all these unnamed things as well as the named things. I can't wait to see what you got going on. He is at KOGC on all the socials, and I mean all of them. You can find him just about everywhere.

So, KO, thanks again.

Even dancing in TikTok.

Oh, man, he's doing TikTok dances. All right. I got to see that.

All right, so.

Thanks again, K.O. And I guess I should say this. South of reality, pick a direction because you've been tracked. Next time, Frankie, it's getting freaky.

It's actually going to be one of my favorite tracks from the record.

Ooh, all right.

Is it because of the aliens?

Is that why?

And the music, which is just amazing.

Oh, okay.

All right. It's the music. It's always the music with this guy.

Thanks again, KO, primates, primatrons, people of Earth, people south of just about anything, including reality.

Thank you all for listening and supporting this here podcast. Later days.

We'll amaze.

Of totality.

CLD - South of Reality w/Kello Gonzalez

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