The news about Sean Lennon and Les Claypool forming a band together is something that made me really happy, being a big admirer of both the musicians. They announced the new project in January when they released their debut track, the psychedelic "Cricket and the Genie."
The idea for the new project was born during a joint tour with their respective bands, the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger and Primus, when they found mutual musical interests and became good friends along the way. Wanting to leave Primus on a hold for a while, Claypool was already thinking about a new project. He invited Lennon to come to his Rancho Relaxo property to try how they would work as a writing team. Sean agreed and stayed for the holidays in Claypool’s guest house, for what turned out to be a very fruitful experiment. As the bassist recalls, they were “drinking vino, hunting mushrooms and throwing musical pasta at the walls." The long weekend resulted in an album called “Monolith of Phobos,” which will be released under the moniker the Claypool Lennon Delirium, on June 3rd. The following day they will be embarking on a three-month U.S. tour. The live band will feature Beastie Boys' Mark Ramos Nishita on keyboards and Paulo Baldi on drums. “Mr. Wright” is the first official single from the album.
The excellence of Claypool's bass playing is well known by now. But he made an emphasis on Sean’s guitar skills in an interview, stating that during one of the concerts “Sean sat in with us and melted our faces with his guitar… He definitely reflects his genetics.” Lennon also plays the drums on these songs. Although Claypool usually plays the drums himself, he was so fascinated by Sean’s talent that he let him take the drummer's role this time. "His drumming is like a cross between Ringo and Nick Mason. But I think folks will be most surprised by what a monster guitar player he is, especially when you prod him a bit.", he said in an interview. Sean also pays respect to his fellow musician: "It's been an honor and a challenge playing with someone of Les' caliber, but luckily the Gods of Pinot Noir shone favorably down and granted us a bundle of devilish tunes about monkeys, outer space and sexual deviancy."
