"Primus is an old comfortable pair of shoes," stated Les Claypool, bassist/frontman of rock group Primus, during an Outside Lands press conference. "And you get to a point when you’re wearing your old shoes that you long for some new shoes. And you wear them for a little bit, but it’s always good to come back to those comfortable shoes because – it’s like you know we’re going to do this big festival here in a couple of weeks." The festival he was referring to was Outside Lands, a San Francisco-based festival set to debut in one week. The festival is to be held in Golden Gate Park, a location which Claypool frequently takes his kids.

The 3-day, 6-stage event will feature a variety of acts over which any rocker, rhastafarian, folkie, or all-around music lover would squeal in ecstasy upon first hearing the lineup. To name a few, Radiohead, Tom Petty, Beck, and Wilco are scheduled to perform. On top of that, the Outside Lands festival will include Primus and Mike Gordon, two artists that the bass-playing community could really sinks its teeth into. Mike Gordon, bass guitarist from Phish, is now going solo both on the festival circuit and on tour. Not that Phish wasn't already bass-heavy, but it's quite probable that the low-toned instrument will be even more prominent without Trey Anastasio's grooving, yet unambiguous guitar licks. You never know what Mike Gordon has up his sleeve, but it's safe to say that his set, along with many other aspects of the festival will be a spectacle of epic proportions. More on Mike later; let's get back to Primus.

Since his original formation of the quirky trio in the mid-80s (along with drummer Tim Alexander and guitarist Larry LaLonde), Les Claypool has embarked on a musical journey of sorts. At the age of 44, he's proved himself to be one of the most accomplished and talented musicians in the world, bringing about multiple genres that are impossible to categorize and creating a whole new place in music for the bass guitar. Even since before Primus' 5-year hiatus and reformation in 2003, Claypool has both initiated and participated in a sizable array of projects, a few of which include Oysterhead, Colonel Claypool's Frog Brigade, and Sausage.

Having traveled the world over with his wealth of collaborations, Claypool is now back with the group with which he started out. And being that Primus is scheduled to play the first annual Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, within an hour's drive of the band's hometown of El Sobrante, things have really come full circle. "You know it's like your high school hair cut," Claypool commented on his return to where it all started out. "You know you go through a period of- it's your high school hair cut, it's a wonderful thing. And then all the sudden it's not such a wonderful thing. And then some time goes by and you kind of go, 'That was kind of a cool haircut I used to have'. So you know with Primus I think our approach to it these days is very similar to our early approach on many different levels."

That being said, he made it a point to recognize that things aren't 100% back to the way they were originally. As mentioned before, Claypool's vast amount of experience has sparked his gradual transition into the Renaissance man he is today. Therefore, he has (to say the least) developed a bag of tricks. He addressed the fact that these things that he and the other two members of Primus have learned along the way have been applied to the band's recent shows, the latest of which was July's Rothbury festival in Michigan and the next being Outside Lands. "Because of all the musicians I've been playing with over the past ten years and this much more open approach to the stuff I do- my solo stuff, the parameters are a little less tight. Not that Primus ever had these big, strong well-defined parameters but now it's even more casual. So I think it lends itself to us being more comfortable on stage"

It's quite obvious that the band's success and intrigue within the scene has a lot to do with this approach, to which much of its spontaneity can be attributed. And because of this spontaneity, every move on the chessboard of Primus' career is utterly unpredictable. It's also probable that the band itself often times doesn't know what they'll do or how they'll do it. "And it’s not like we’re calling each other everyday and plotting and planning on what the set’s going to be or how we’re going to approach it," Claypool added. "If anything we’re talking about you know – where we’re going to hang out, where we’re going to go have dinner and all these. It's not like stress out because it’s some gig or some job or whatever. And Primus has always sort of been like that. We’ve always been pretty casual about doing these types of events, or just performing in general." So what will we, the audience, receive on Saturday when 6:40 rolls around at Outside Lands' Twin Peaks stage? The only thing that Claypool has announced for certain is that giant inflatable astronauts will be involved.

Looking ahead one more day to Sunday evening, the Presidio stage will be graced by one of the final acts of the festival, Mike Gordon, whose arbitrary performance variation is reminiscent of that of Primus. Gordon (sans Phish) has embarked on a tour with a schedule so eclectic that one has to wonder how he goes from show to show. Not physically of course, but to put it in other words, how do musical lineups, setlists, and all the other elements of the performance vary from show to show? Even Gordon himself stated, "They are so different from one to the next." One must consider the fluctuation of venue size during the tour. It's all across the board. One night Gordon and his band are playing an amphitheater, the next night at a small club, and the next at a colossal music festival such as Outside Lands.

Gordon provided a well-articulated embellishment on this. "What I find is that it’s not really the size of the venue or the situation that dictates how it’s going to unfold as much as some other factors like acoustics...The crowds are so different too." He added in regards to the audience, "Maybe what happens in people’s lives or the news that day, or the weather or you know it’s just the – really hard to predict how the set is going to unfold especially with the band that every set is different and every rendition of the song is different."

Gordon bears resemblance to fellow bass virtuoso Claypool in that both have engaged in a great deal of artistic polygamy, having been involved with the creation of more music, literature, and film than can be counted on the fingers of either of their audiences. Above all, both know how to work a room and have the ability to please a crowd without feeling obligated to perform magic tricks. As Gordon stated, "Sometimes, it’s thinking backwards – reverse psychology – which is, we think that we’re in a club so lets imagine that we’re playing in front of the vast ocean of whatever – of waves or vice versa. You know beat it – the biggest Phish concert ever was at the Big Cyprus, Millennium New Year’s thing and we did our midnight set from midnight until 7:00 in the morning until sunrise without stopping. And it felt like being in someone’s living room because there were 80,000 people there but it was just this really intimate feeling. I felt like I could see the person in the back row, which I couldn’t but there was that feeling. So it’s very strange the way – the way the (music) works and that’s not the kind of venue or the size that dictates – it’s all kind of factors."

As far as Outside Lands is concerned, Gordon made no mention of inflatable scenery, but he did give a little insight. "Usually, at the festivals, the sets are a little bit shorter because we only have so much time, so we might sort of choose our battles and make sure that there’s something for us to stretch out on in the setlist but also some real song-oriented stuff." And that's all we'll know until next weekend, when all will be reveled. If anticipation came in some tangible form, there would be enough to fill up Golden Gate Park many times over, and there will be as of 5pm this Friday. Every Bay Area festival-goer is waiting with baited breath for Primus, Mike Gordon, and the rest of Outside Lands' all-star lineup to turn this long-awaited event into the most extraordinary music festival since Woodstock.

Here are the links to the official websites of: Outside Lands, Mike Gordon, Primus