Primus have shared the 11-minute epic new track Conspiranoia, which is to feature on their upcoming EP Conspiranoid, scheduled for release April 22 via ATO Records.
If you hadn't already guessed from their titles, Primus' latest efforts are all about poking fun at conspiracy theorists, largely those that let their curiosities ignite into obsessions that harm the lives of others as well as themselves.
Clearly taking inspiration from the hysteria produced by Covid deniers and anti-vaxxers over the last few years, the prog metal mavericks have channelled their frustrations into a fittingly bonkers song that describes other baseless paranoid activities such as "claiming Bill Gates had put microchips in all the chicken pot pies" and "launching himself in his lawn chair, proving the Earth was flat".
Speaking of the new track and forthcoming EP, frontman Les Claypool told Consequence: "With our new studio in the works and some impending touring, we decided the world needed to be subjected to some new Primus material. Not wanting, or even having the time for recording an entire album, the notion of a 'single' was tossed around.
"I'd been itching to record an opus — basically a long, winding, bastard of a song, reminiscent of some of the compositions I cut my teeth (or ears) on, in my music-hungry adolescence. I said to the fellas, 'Let's record a 20-minute song.' The end result was an 11-and-a-half minute, progressive hunk of sound called Conspiranoia."
Elaborating on the creative process of writing the track, he continues, "Conspiranoia was sprouted from a seed I had planted in my notebook a year or so ago — a few lines commenting on the mental state of the contemporary world.
"I watched the distrust and divide grow between friends, colleagues, relatives, and the general population because of the consumption and digesting of disinformation, misinformation, warped information, and flat-out fairy tales being perpetuated by anyone with a slight hint of web design aptitude.
"I was compelled to shed light on the ridiculousness of many of these perspectives and the lack of rational thought that was being applied in the interpretation of many such entities and theories."
Adding detail about the upcoming EP, Claypool adds, "Because the single Conspiranoia is of such length, I realized that for a B-side of the vinyl, we would need at least two tunes to fill out the real estate of the actual 12-inch disc. I had the song Follow The Fool in the chamber and we fleshed it out.
"[Guitarist] Larry Lalonde had the riff for the song that became Erin On The Side Of Caution, which I supplied the lyrics for by again pulling from my notebook of notions. Because all three songs were bred in an odd time of divide, confusion, angst, frustration, and social senility, the title Conspiranoid seemed like an appropriate moniker for the EP."
Listen below:
Conspiranoid EP track listing:
1. Conspiranoia
2. Follow The Fool
3. Erin On The Side Of Caution
