Logjam Presents & 96.3 The Blaze Welcome:

Primus

Mastodon

JJUUJJUU

KettleHouse Amphitheater

Missoula, MT
Add to Calendar 06/21/2018 19:00 06/26/2018 11:30 pm America/Boise Primus

Logjam Presents & 96.3 The Blaze welcome back alternative funk metal band Primus to the Kettlehouse Amphitheater for a live performance on June 21, 2018. They will be joined by fellow alt metal group Mastodon and Los Angeles-based rock band JJUUJJUU. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10am on Fri, Feb. 2nd… Continue Reading

Logjam Presents - Missoula, Montana false MM/DD/YYYY
5:30pm (door) 7:00pm (show)
$39.50-$49.50 (Adv.) $149-$249 (VIP) + applicable fees
All Ages
Tickets All-In Package Shuttles/Parking

Logjam Presents & 96.3 The Blaze welcome back alternative funk metal band Primus to the Kettlehouse Amphitheater for a live performance on June 21, 2018. They will be joined by fellow alt metal group Mastodon and Los Angeles-based rock band JJUUJJUU.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10am on Fri, Feb. 2nd and will be available at The Top Hat, online or by phone at (877) 987-6487. General Admission standing pit tickets, reserved stadium seating tickets and general admission lawn tickets are available. All ages are welcome.

General Admission Pit

General admission pit tickets allow access to the standing room only section located directly in front of the stage.

Reserved Stadium Seating

Reserved Stadium seating tickets allow access to the reserved, stadium style seating section located just behind the main pit of the amphitheater.

General Admission Lawn

General Admission Lawn tickets allow access to the upper standing section of the amphitheater located just above the reserved stadium seating section.

Additional ticketing information and policies can be found here.

All concerts are held rain or shine. Be prepared for extremes such as sunshine, heat, wind or rain. All tickets are non-refundable. In the event of cancellation due to extreme weather, tickets will not be refunded.

 

About Primus

“It’s a story about gluttonous individuals sucking the colors out of the world,” says Primus singer/bassist Les Claypool. “The overuse of resources by the greedy elite, and how the meek masses can overcome them in the end by unifying. It seemed pretty relevant these days.”

The tale Claypool is describing comes from a 1978 children’s book called The Rainbow Goblins by the Italian author and artist Ui de Rico, and it forms the basis for the new Primus album coming out September 29, The Desaturating Seven. In the story—which is accompanied by stunning illustrations, done in oil paints on wood panels—s

“My wife got turned onto it when she was a kid, and we started reading it to my children when they were very young,” says Claypool. “It became a bedtime story favorite. It always came across a bit frightening, like an old Grimm’s fairy tale—a little dark and creepy, which seemed very much up my strasse.”

Claypool found particular inspiration in de Rico’s paintings for The Rainbow Goblins. “The artwork is just amazing,” he says. “There’s a beauty but also a dark eeriness for this compelling, sinister story. The paintings are incredible, vibrant, very unique looking—it’s a good contrast between dark and light visually and also metaphorically. And there’s always been a strong visual element to Primus.”

Indeed, taking inspiration from a wide range of sources was part of what made Primus one of the most distinctive, innovative bands of the 1990s. The trio’s alt/punk/avant-garde/psychedelic/country attack, along with Claypool’s surreal, fever-dream lyrics, resulted in some of rock’s unlikeliest hits, including

definitive Primus line-up—Claypool, guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde, and drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander—for its first

album of original music since 1995. Starting as Primus toured with some of rock’s biggest names—U2, Jane’s Addiction, Public Enemy, Rush—and headlined the third Lollapalooza festival. Even goblins come to the valley where rainbows are born, intending to steal the rainbows and eat them. The valley, though, knows that the goblins are coming, and makes a plan to thwart the wicked creatures by hiding the rainbow. After the goblins are caught in their own nets, the flowers release the colors of the rainbow and drown the goblins, and in gratitude, the rainbow turns the flowers into beautiful birds who fly across the valley in freedom.

“Cat,” “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver,” and “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver.” The Desaturating Seven marks the return of the “Tommy the an underground phenomenon in San Francisco, the band’s cult grew rapidly. Such albums as Sailing the Seas of Cheese (1991), Pork Soda (1993), and Tales from the Punch Bowl (1995) all went gold and or platinum, and Alexander left and rejoined Primus several times, and Claypool alternated between the band and such other projects as Oysterhead (with Trey Anastasio and Stewart Copeland) and the Claypool Lennon Delirium, alongside Sean Lennon. In 2014, Alexander returned for the

Staying in the fantasyland of children’s stories, Claypool decided to tackle the adaptation of The Rainbow Goblins. “The challenge was to write music about goblins and rainbows and not come off overly clichéd,” he says. “I didn’t want to be overly literal either—there are very few straight-up lines from the book in the lyrics, more like hints at metaphors.” He started off with the story’s climactic moment, which became the nearly-eight-minute epic “The Storm.”

“I wrote that and recorded some bass and vocals, and I played it over the phone for Larry,” says Claypool. “I worried that I was going too far down the 70’s art/prog path, I didn’t want it to come off cheesy. But he loved it, and then so did our manager, which inspired me to keep going.”

With that central piece down, Claypool started fleshing out the journey of the book, creating an introduction, “The Valley,” that established some of the themes that thread through much of the music. From there, it became a matter of working through the story and building a cohesive structure.

“Originally it was going to be one giant piece, but some parts didn’t match up,” says Claypool. “You get these epiphanies and then you hit a wall—I was rolling along and then ‘The Trek’ really hung me up. ‘The Dream’ was an odd one, tough to wrangle, but a good contrast—very dark and sparse, then there are these big percussive hits and then at the end, away it goes, into this early Peter Gabriel-ish rhythm.”

Having to maintain a story line represented a new sort of challenge for Claypool’s writing. “When you have a narrative, it puts up parameters,” he says. “It gives you interesting jumping-off points, but it can also make it more difficult. Those confines can propel you forward or hold you back a little bit. But using someone else’s art for inspiration certainly opens doors you wouldn’t on your own.”

Musically, The Desaturating Seven led Primus back to some of the sounds and styles of their earlier days. “This record hearkens back to our prog roots—Rush, Yes, Crimson, all those things,” says Claypool. “It’s a little heavier than the last record, more intricate than anything we’ve done in a while.”

Which, he adds, made these songs ideal as a return to working with Tim Alexander on original material. “This stuff is totally In his wheelhouse,” says

Primus & The Chocolate Factory with the Fungi

Ensemble album, on which the group covered the iconic soundtrack to the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Claypool. “Intricate and melodic drumming is what Tim does, what naturally comes out of him.”

From its inception, Claypool approached The Desaturating Seven music with an eye toward presenting it on stage. “As I was laying it out, I was already thinking about how it could be performed trunk-to-tail,” he says. Now he’s in the process of planning a tour that will feature a complete performance of the new record—a show with a set of Primus material and then “an entire set of Goblin Rock, with full production and fancy eye candy.”

For Les Claypool, sailing the seas of The Rainbow Goblins represents the completion of an idea he’s been kicking around for a long time. “Twenty years ago, I thought it would be great to turn it into music someday, but I’m just getting around to it now,” he says. “It was kind of a back-burner thing—but as I get older, I have to get through those, because at some point, I’m going to open up a hot dog stand and say goodbye.”

In the end, though, for all its specific requirements and obstacles, The Desaturating Seven came down to finding a way to let Primus be Primus. “Every time, it’s like building the Golden Gate Bridge out of a pile of popsicle sticks,” says Claypool. “You have a certain amount of sticks and you have to figure out how to make it work. But I’ve been working with these particular sticks for a long while, so I tend to know where to put them.”

Mastodon

Mastodon Image

Every living creature must face the will and judgment of time.

Ancient Greeks personified time in the form of the titan Kronos, father of Zeus, and Egyptians celebrated Heh as an abstraction of endless years. Famously, William Shakespeare lamented humanity’s immutable fate as “time’s subjects” in Henry IV. GRAMMY® Award-nominated hard rock band Mastodon ponders the nature of time on their eighth full-length album, Emperor of Sand, on Reprise Bros. Records. Threading together the myth of a man sentenced to death in a majestically malevolent desert, the Atlanta, GA quartet—Troy Sanders (bass/vocals), Brent Hinds (guitar/vocals), Bill Kelliher (guitars) and Brann Dailor (drums/vocals), and conjure the grains of a musical and lyrical odyssey slipping quickly through a cosmic hourglass.

Emperor of Sand is like the grim reaper,” admits Dailor. “Sand represents time. If you or anyone you know has ever received a terminal diagnosis, the first thought is about time. Invariably, you ask, ‘How much time is left?’”

Since forming back in 2000, Mastodon have certainly made the most of their time. Most recently, their 2014 seventh offering Once More ‘Round The Sun bowed at #6 on the Billboard Top 200, marking their highest chart entry to date and second consecutive Top 10 debut following 2011’s The Hunter. Casting a shadow over pop culture, they received “Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance” GRAMMY® Award nominations in 2007, 2014 and again in 2015. Their music blasted through the Academy® Award-winning comedy The Big Short, animated blockbuster Monsters University, and sci-fi western Jonah Hex starring Josh Brolin—for which the group composed the score. After contributing “White Walker” to HBO’s Catch The Throne, Vol.2 mixtape, Dailor, Hinds, and Kelliher appeared as “Wildlings” in a popular episode of Game of Thrones Season 5.

Not only did they earn the appreciation of Time, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Billboard, and more, but they also turned many peers into fans, including Metallica, Pearl Jam, Tool, Queens of the Stone Age, CeeLo Green, and Feist, to name a few. Performing everywhere from Coachella and Bonnaroo to Download and Sonisphere and nearly every major festival, they’ve headlined legendary venues such as Red Rocks and sold out shows around the globe. Emperor of Sand offers the next conceptual and instrumental evolution for these musicians.

“Since it regards enduring insurmountable odds, it’s a continuation of the Mastodon catalog,” explains Sanders. “That started in 2002 on Remission. Two years later, Leviathan was about hunting a metaphoric whale that could solve all of your problems, or it could kill you in the hunt. We took a journey up Blood Mountain and vaulted all of the hurdles that needed to be cleared for survival. Crack The Skye was its own deep and twisted concept. The Hunter was loosely based on dealing with death. Once More ‘Round the Sun was about being given an opportunity to do this one more time, one more trip, one more tour cycle, one more year, and one more birthday. Now, we’re reflecting on mortality. To that end, it ties into our entire discography. It’s 17 years in the making, but it’s also a direct reaction to the last two years. We tend to draw inspiration from very real things in our lives.”

 

A trying, turbulent, and tragic turn of events transpired as Dailor and Kelliher began writing music in the latter’s brand new basement studio. The guitarist received news of his mother’s brain cancer diagnosis during May 2016. He spent the next six months making regular trips to Rochester, NY before her untimely passing in September.

“When my mom became ill, it was really heavy,” Kelliher sighs. “She’s the person you know best. She’s the person who brought you into the world, nurtured you, and cared for you. No matter how old I was, my mom never let go of worrying about me, checking in on me, and trying to give me advice on life. It’s a sad and terrible thing when you have to watch your mother die. It’s something I think about every single day.”

Dailor recalls, “Writing was like a distraction to give Bill a release. There’s nothing you can do, but you can say, ‘Let’s go in the basement and see if there any riffs.’”

“One of the things I appreciate about my bandmates is we channel our current energy— although it may be dark—through the art we call Mastodon,” adds Sanders.

As jamming ramped up, a narrative took shape for Emperor of Sand. Dailor details it: “A Sultan in the desert hands down a death sentence to this guy. He’s running from that. He gets lost, and the sun is zapping all of his energy akin to radiation. So, he’s trying to telepathically communicate with these African and Native American tribes to get rain to pour down and kill it.”

In order to capture the vision on tape, the guys enlisted producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.) with whom they worked on 2009’s seminal Crack The Skye. For several weeks, the band recorded with O’Brien at The Quarry Recording Studio in Kennesaw, GA.

“Brendan is a charismatic and funny guy,” smiles Hinds. “He knows us so well, and it felt like like we picked up right where we left off. He adds all of these bells, whistles, and perks outside of being an awesome musician in his own right. Everything came together lickety-split.”

“I feel like we had an even better time with him,” says Kelliher. “We trust his opinion, and he’s super hands-on. He was always in the room with us, and he knows what we’re going for.”

Emperor of Sand commences with the unpredictable swell of “Sultan’s Curse.” A storm of muscular guitar riffs and a thunderous bellow rages amidst a deluge of acidic percussion. Opening the storyline, our hallucinating protagonist, “believes he’s being bathed by the Sultan’s daughters, but he’s being carried to his assassination by the Sultan’s men,” as Dailor says.

“It felt like a natural beginning,” agrees Kelliher. “It’s got traditional Masto elements, and it’s fucking rockin’.”

Next up, “Show Yourself” alternates between Dailor’s hypnotic croon and Sanders’ overpowering roar, trudging into one of Mastodon’s most chantable refrains.

“It’s about revealing your inner strength to power through a bad situation,” Dailor goes on.
“It’s outside the box,” Hinds comments. “That’s exciting for us to do things people don’t expect.”

Whether it’s the thought-provoking elegy of “Roots Remain” punctuated by a searing Hinds solo or the hammering “Andromeda,” which boasts a primal scream by Brutal Truth’s Kevin Sharp, the music ebbs and flows inside of an emotional hurricane awash in cinematic keys and mellotron, fret fireworks, and the push-and-pull of three distinct voices. On the latter half of the record, the venomous and vital “Scorpion Breath” upholds a tradition of cameos by longtime friend Scott Kelly of Neurosis. Conclusion “Jaguar God” hinges on a delicate acoustic intro by Hinds before climaxing in a head- spinning last gasp of crunching distortion and a polyrhythmic percussive flood.

In the end, Emperor of Sand siphons raw emotion through the framework of an immersive story and intricate musicianship, digging to the core of what defines Mastodon and all timeless rock ‘n’ roll.

“When people hear it, I want them to experience the spectrum of emotions that we put into it,” Dailor leaves off. “We’ve been through everything together. We still have the same four guys after 17 years. It’s been the wildest of rides. I love it, and I love those dudes.”

“If our songs can touch someone in a positive manner, that’s the magic of what music can do,” concludes Sanders. “I know for a fact that music is the universal language. I hope someone will find it touching. As far as the fan base we’ve built up over the years, I hope they’ll give it a listen and stay on this ride with us. It’s a marriage! At the end of the day, we’re four guys in a rock band. We navigate through difficult circumstances musically and in life as brothers. It’s the next chapter of our adventure.”

 

JJUUJJUU

JJUUJJUU is an astral union, an arcane ritual, and above all, a conversation.

Harnessing an unspoken energy, the trio have exponentially blossomed from a sonic experiment to a forceful, telepathic dialogue of distinct-but-aligned vibrations. Releasing this dynamic on an expanding spiral of planned and impromptu live shows in the American southwest, the magnetism of the duo only continues to grow, along with its devoted, traveling coterie of entranced acolytes.