Artist
The Les Claypool Frog Brigade
San Francisco, United States • 2000 – 2004
The Les Claypool Frog Brigade is a music group from San Francisco, United States, active 2000–2004. Their discography on Gatefold includes 5 records.
5
Albums tracked
23
In collections
2000
Since
Biography
Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade is one of many musical projects involving Primus bassist Les Claypool. The original band was formed in summer 2000 and consisted of: Les Claypool (bass, vocals), Todd Huth (guitars, vocals), Jay Lane (drums), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), Skerik (saxophone), and Eenor (guitars). The band released two live recordings in 2001, "Live Frogs Set 1" and "Live Frogs Set 2". "Set 1" is a mix of covers and originals, including Thela hun Ginjeet (King Crimson) and Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pink Floyd).
The Arc of The Les Claypool Frog Brigade
The pivots — what forced The Les Claypool Frog Brigade to reinvent.
The Live Cover Experiment
Claypool assembled the band with no original material, relying instead on heavy jams and full-album covers to build chemistry on the road. Touring keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and saxophonist Skerik pushed the arrangements into wild, improvisational territory that Primus never touched. The culmination was a complete live performance of Pink Floyd's Animals, captured on Live Frogs Set 2. This run proved the band could survive on pure chops and live energy without a studio record to sell.
The Purple Onion Shift
By 2002, the cover sets were retired to make room for Claypool's first proper solo studio album under the Frog Brigade banner. Recorded at his home studio, Rancho Relaxo, Purple Onion stripped away the jam-band indulgence in favor of tighter, narrative-driven songwriting. He brought in Bay Area stalwarts like Fishbone's Norwood Fisher and even sat down with Warren Haynes to anchor the tracks. The result was a weirdly disciplined record that traded twenty-minute improvisations for structured, marimba-led kitchen sink dramas like 'Whamola' and 'D's Diner'.
Influences
- Pink Floyd — The band covered the entire Animals album live during their 2000 tour, which became the core of their Live Frogs Set 2 release. You hear it in the way Claypool structures his long-form jams, trading spacey, atmospheric synth pads with aggressive, driving bass lines. It grounded their weirdness in classic progressive rock structures.
- King Crimson — Claypool has repeatedly cited Adrian Belew's era of the band as a major influence, even covering 'Thela Hun Ginjeet' on their debut live album. The influence is obvious in the interlocking, polyrhythmic marimba lines from Mike Dillon and the angular guitar work of Todd Huth. It brought a math-rock precision to their jam-heavy sets.
- The Residents — Claypool collaborated with the bizarre art-collective on several occasions and covered their track 'Holy Happy Hour'. Their influence shows up in the cartoonish vocal delivery, the surreal lyrical themes, and the unsettling, avant-garde arrangements on Purple Onion. They took the fear out of being genuinely weird.
- Frank Zappa — The Frog Brigade's lineup of vibraphones, marimbas, and dual saxophones mirrors the complex instrumentation of Zappa's mid-70s touring bands. You hear this on 'Barrington Hall', where complex, composed instrumental passages collide with cynical, satirical lyrics. It is the school of high-chops absurdity.
- Rush — Claypool's entire bass style is built on the foundation laid by Geddy Lee, whom he has cited as his ultimate hero. The band regularly snuck Rush riffs into their improvisational jams on tour. The power-trio dynamics of the rhythm section on Purple Onion carry the exact same busy, counter-melodic weight of Lee's classic work.
Discography
Their records — most-collected first.
Related artists
Around the web
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