Primus are revealing all about their search for a new drummer to replace Tim ‘Herb’ Alexander by filming the auditions and putting them on Youtube.
The first episode of the Primus Interstellar Drum Derby dropped last week and the band put the second – which features drummer Thomas Pridgen jamming with Les Claypool and Larry LaLonde - up online yesterday.
The band are being remarkably open about what is usually a closed intimate process. Primus put out a call on Instagram before Christmas for a new sticksman, stating that they were after a “well-mannered, affable individual with original sensibility and aesthetic... Flashy chops are wonderful, but groove, pocket, and the ability to listen, react, and contribute to the musical conversation is a must.”
They’re not the first band to do this kind of thing. You may recall that INXS attempted to recruit a frontman to replace the late Michael Hutchence via a TV reality show. The winner had a rock star name, at least: JD Fortune. But the singer’s relationship with the Aussie group didn’t last. Fortune recorded just one album with INXS before he was dumped by the rest of the band in 2011.
The difference with the Primus process is that we already know who’s got the job: one John Hoffman, from Shreveport, Louisiana. "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity," said Hoffman on social media, "I came and did my thing the way I do it. It went as well as I could have hoped."
"I came and did my thing the way I do it. It went as well as I could have hoped. Maynard James Keenan was sitting directly in front of me and watched my entire audition. He gave me this towel. It's been one of the most incredible days of my life. I love you all.”
Just before New Year, Primus played their first post-Alexander show at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California. Sat behind the kit that night was Bryan ‘Brain’ Mantia who played drums for the band in the late 1990s, after Alexander had quit the first time.
Alexander left the band (for the third and, we have to assume, final time) last November, saying in a letter he shared with Rolling Stone, that "A lot of times, you do something you love for a long time, and sometimes the passion turns into a job, and sometimes that job doesn't feel like it's your being anymore.
"When I discovered that I'm struggling with all these things, I had to sit and think about exactly what am I doing. I don't think I've ever chosen my path in life, I think I've just always thought 'I'm a drummer, I'm just gonna do music,' and things came to me, accepting whatever happens."
