"A book about the highly strange San Franciscans Primus has been overdue for years, so Greg Prato's excellent oral history of the band is welcome—doubly so, given that the key band members, Les Claypool, Larry Lalonde and Tim Alexander, are involved . . . Great stuff."
—Record Collector Magazine
"They were real musicians' musicians . . . Primus had their own thing, for sure. Nobody really does that Primus thing—they have their own personality, which is something difficult to do." —Chad Smith, Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Primitive, animated, dinosaur, Halloween, trailerfunk. I felt Les was a kindred spirit. Someone I could learn from and collaborate with. Quick, schooled, humble, with an amazing musical lexicon and down home as hell, with a bent sense of humor." —Tom Waits
"There's an unbelievable batting average there in songs . . . There are so many songs that I like and so many different feels and so much different sh*t in there. It's a huge body of work."—Matt Stone, South Park
"I was very enthralled by their whole enthusiasm at what they did. That was infectious."
—Chuck D, Public Enemy
"I think [Les] is one of the greatest lyricists in America right now. He has a turn of phrase that always just evokes a kind of hidden world. It's like Grapes of Wrath kind of stuff. It's really the mettle of America.”
—Stewart Copeland, the Police
"Definitely one of the greatest live bands, and I think that is always a sign of music that holds up . . . It's very timeless . . . Primus was very influential in the formation of [Muse] and what our priorities were."
—Matthew Bellamy, Muse
"It was '89 or '90 that I heard about them . . . I was fascinated by the band, but more so intrigued and mesmerized by Les, because he was such a cartoon character. And his bass playing was obviously phenomenal."
—Linda Perry, 4 Non Blondes
"At Phish practice, we used to listen to Sailing the Seas of Cheese . . . [Les] is the most unique bass player."
—Trey Anastasio, Phish
"I just remember listening to some of those clips over and over again, just the bass solo, over and over again, sitting there trying to figure it out. Those records were a huge part of me growing up."
—Tom Blankenship, My Morning Jacket
"They have a body of work that I'm always impressed with. Really, that's a band that never failed to deliver the goods on why you enjoy them . . . It actually gave me the feeling that there was some kind of justice in the world—watching them ascend. It's kind of like one of those moments, like sometimes those things happen, and it makes you think there's a possibility that the universe can have balance."
—Norwood Fisher, Fishbone
