Classic Primus Lineup Announces Willy Wonka Tribute Album, Tour, Candy Bars
Funk rockers Primus are known to have some fun with their releases — previous album titles have included Sailing The Seas Of Cheese and Pork Soda. Their newest album may be their strangest yet: it’s a tribute album to Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory called Primus And The Chocolate Factory With The Fungi Ensemble. It’s the first album that sees the classic ’90s line-up recording together since 1995’s Tales From The Punchbowl. The album will be released on chocolate-colored vinyl and five golden copies will be made and distributed at random, mirroring the plot of the famous book/movie.
They will also go on tour, building off of a Wonka-themed performance they put on for New Year’s in Oakland, California. They’ll start the show with a normal Primus show before revealing a chocolatier’s dream with a full set of Wonka material. “We’re also talking about doing a matinee stage production of it, for kids,” frontman Les Claypool told Rolling Stone. “We’re gonna do an early show that’s only the Wonka thing — and it’ll be a short show ’cause kids have a short attention span.”
The band will also be distributing band-themed candy bars at the show. Three flavors will be available: crisped rice, called Mr. Krinkle; peanuts, Professor Nutbutter; and dark chocolate, the Bastard Bar. “The tour and the album are solely a marketing tool just so we can sell candy bars,” Claypool quipped. “That’s the whole impetus of this entire project. Because the fucking recording industry rolled over and let this Internet shit all over us. So we had to come up with another income stream, so we’re making chocolate bars because you can’t digitize a chocolate bar — yet.”
Along with the album announcement, they’ve shared a studio version of their cover of “Pure Imagination,” which you can listen to below.
Primus And The Chocolate Factory With The Fungi Ensemble is out 10/21 on ATO