PRIMUS's LES CLAYPOOL On New Drummer JOHN HOFFMAN: 'He's Just An Incredibly Nice, Positive Human Being'

In a new interview with Neil Jones of U.K.'s TotalRock, PRIMUS bassist/vocalist Les Claypool spoke about the addition of drummer John "Hoffer" Hoffman, who joined the band in 2025 after beating out more than 6,100 applicants in a global audition process dubbed the "Interstellar Drum Derby". Asked how many drummers PRIMUS actually auditioned, Les said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, there were over 6,100 submissions, and [PRIMUS guitarist] Larry LaLonde looked at a lot of them. Our good friend, Tim Soya, who's been with us for many years, he looked at all of them. And I looked at the filtered versions. We had four folders — one star, two star, three star, four star. One star being 'this is good', two star being 'this is very, very good,' three star, 'this is spectacular, you gotta check it out,' and four star is 'they have to get an audition'. So there weren't too many in the four star. But we ended up auditioning 12 different people."

Asked what the main thing was that he and Larry were looking for, Les said: "Well, I've played with a lot of people over the years. And the one thing you just can't substitute, no matter how technical somebody is, how proficient they are, is chemistry. You gotta have that chemistry. And it's not just a musical chemistry; it's the ability to hang and chit-chat and laugh. That's the way you get shit done, is in just the connection. So the chemistry is what we were looking for mainly.

"Hoffer's our ninth drummer, and the fourth one that has been recorded with us," Les explained. "So, there was a lot of different facets that we needed to cover, not just replacing the last drummer, so to speak… Granted, we've played with some spectacular drummers. I'm in a band with [THE POLICE drummer] Stewart Copeland. You can't do much better than that."

On the topic of whether Stewart was considered for the PRIMUS position at all at any point, Les said: "No. He's like a wild stallion. When you play with Stewart, you're riding a wild stallion. You can't say, 'Hey, play these parts this way.' He does his thing his way, and it's spectacular, but we need it to be true to what the ground rules that have been laid down years ago."

Regarding what Hoffman has brought to the PRIMUS sound, Claypool said: "Well, it's interesting, 'cause our drummer Jayski [Jay Lane], who had left the band in the late '80s prior to us actually making our first record, he was very instrumental in what created the sound that most people know. And so Hoffer's quite a lot like him; he has this kind of hop to his playing, a lot of grace notes on the hi-hat and whatnot.

"The thing that [Hoffman has] really brought is he's a big fan," Les explained. "So he often says, 'Hey, why aren't we playing this song? I love this song. It's a great song.' And we go, 'Oh, shit, we forgot we even had that song.' So it's like having our fanbase in the band because he's drawing songs out of us that a lot of people haven't heard in many years, if ever, because he enjoys them himself. So that's a big thing. He's also just an incredibly nice, positive human being. And even when we're playing and even if he fucks something up and I turn around to give him the look, he's just back there smiling away. And I'm just, like, it makes me laugh. I'm, like, all's right with the world. So it's very endearing playing with him because he didn't even have a passport before doing the first show with us, which was down in the Dominican Republic, where he literally, his first song playing with PRIMUS was in tandem with [TOOL's] Danny Carey on stage. And he's just been wide-eyed and absorbing the world. And it's incredible, because after doing it for so many years, I don't wanna say you become jaded, but things that you take for granted. I remember rolling into Manhattan early in the morning in a limo van with him and his wife a year or two ago, and just looking at his face, and they were both just so enamored with what was going on. And we're in a limo van, and we're rolling into the Manhattan skyline. He'd never been there before. And we've done it countless times. And it makes you appreciate a lot of these things that you've forgotten about. It's like when I first took my kids to Disneyland, I got to relive it through their eyes. And it's a very similar thing with Hoffer."

PRIMUS has already released a few studio songs with Hoffman's drumming, including "The Ol' Grizz" and a cover of DIO's "Holy Diver" from the "A Handful Of Nuggs" EP, which came out in May, and "Little Lord Fentanyl", which was one of two songs released as a seven-inch single last summer.

Hoffman is a Shreveport native whose deep pocket, wild musical mind and immediate chemistry with Claypool and LaLonde made him the clear choice for PRIMUS.

Earlier this year, PRIMUS hit the road in the U.S. with the "Claypool Gold Tour", banding together three of Claypool's beloved outfits for an unprecedented collaborative outing. From May 20 to July 4, PRIMUS, THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM and LES CLAYPOOL'S FEARLESS FLYING FROG BRIGADE united for a 30-stop tour, promising a "mind-melting musical experience" and "fluid show featuring wildly different setlists and surprises."