Primus have today released their new EP titled ‘A Handful of Nuggs‘, which leads their new album, dropping July 22nd, via Prawn Song Records under exclusive license to ATO Records, LLC.
Trying to summarize Primus in 2026 feels a bit like trying to explain a fever dream to someone who only listens to yacht rock. Decades into a career built on mutant bass lines, rubber band grooves, and the kind of musical left turns that make lesser bands pull a hamstring, ‘A Handful of Nuggs’ somehow still sounds energized instead of embalmed. Plenty of legacy acts spend their later years polishing old trophies and charging seventy dollars for a tote bag. Primus, naturally, responds by dropping an EP that sounds like it crawled out of a swamp carrying a physics textbook and a bong.
‘The Ol’ Grizz’ is the centerpiece and for good reason. The arrival of drummer John Hoffman injects the band with a twitchy urgency that fits perfectly into Primus’ permanently sideways universe. Les Claypool still attacks the bass like he is trying to outwit it in real time, while Larry LaLonde sprays bizarre psychedelic textures across the track with the confidence of a man who has never once worried about whether a riff was “radio friendly.” The whole thing lurches, snaps, and mutates with that unmistakable Primus chemistry where technical precision somehow feels gloriously unhinged. A lot of progressive rock bands want to sound adventurous. Primus just sounds like they accidentally discovered a new species in the studio and decided to jam with it.
The EP’s other tracks work because they lean into the band’s long standing strength of making absurdity feel strangely elegant. Their take on Dio’s ‘Holy Diver’ could have easily collapsed into novelty bait, but the addition of Puddles Pity Party gives it a theatrical weirdness that actually complements the song’s melodrama. ‘Little Lord Fentanyl’ remains one of the nastiest grooves Primus has cooked up in years, and the appearance of Maynard James Keenan only deepens the track’s diseased carnival atmosphere. Even the live cut of ‘Duchess (And The Proverbial Mind Spread)’ lands with purpose rather than feeling like filler. The performance captures exactly why Primus has survived every musical trend cycle imaginable while countless trend chasing bands now exist mainly as forgotten festival posters in somebody’s garage.
What makes ‘A Handful of Nuggs’ hit harder than a standard stopgap EP is how alive it feels within the broader Primus legacy. Claypool is currently juggling enough side projects to make most musicians collapse into a beanbag chair forever, yet this release never sounds distracted. Instead it feels like another strange branch extending from one of alternative music’s most stubbornly original trees. Primus still refuses to smooth out the rough edges, still refuses to simplify the joke, and still refuses to sound like anyone else on earth. That commitment to chaos is exactly why the band remains essential instead of merely respected. Plenty of veteran acts age gracefully. Primus continues aging like a raccoon that learned jazz theory and escaped into the sewer system.
About Primus & ‘A Handful of Nuggs’
Primus has announced A Handful of Nuggs, a new special EP available now digitally, with a special-edition 12-inch vinyl release arriving July 22nd and pre-orders live now. Leading the release is the EP’s focus track, “The Ol’ Grizz,” among the first new studio recordings to feature drummer John Hoffman. “The Ol’ Grizz” finds Les Claypool, Larry LaLonde, and Hoffman locking into the kind of twisted rhythmic chemistry that has long defined Primus – shifting between high-speed bass runs, warped psychedelic textures, and explosive percussion with the band’s unmistakable mix of technical precision and off-center groove.
A Handful of Nuggs also features Primus’ cover of Dio’s “Holy Diver,” sung by Puddles Pity Party, alongside two recent fan favorites from the band’s current era: “Little Lord Fentanyl” featuring Maynard James Keegan and “Duchess (And The Proverbial Mind Spread),” recorded live at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia, PA.
The announcement arrives amid a particularly active stretch for Claypool. Today also marks the CD release of The Claypool Lennon Delirium’s The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, which arrived on vinyl on May 8th and digitally on May 1st via ATO Records. The sprawling 14-song concept album from Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon explores A.I., empathy, mortality, free will, and the dangers of optimization without human feeling. The CD edition arrives in an enlarged gatefold 7-inch jacket that highlights the album’s artwork and 24-page companion comic created with longtime collaborator Rich Ragsdale.
The Delirium also released a new animated video piece today in collaboration with Paste Magazine, featuring actor, comedian, writer, and musician Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows, Toast of London) alongside animation by Ragsdale, offering another glimpse into the project’s surreal visual world. At the same time, Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade are gearing up for the May 22nd release of Return Of The Live Frogs: Volume 1, a new live collection capturing the band’s expansive, improvisational return and the loose, exploratory spirit that has made the Frog Brigade one of Claypool’s most beloved and unpredictable projects for more than two decades.
Next week, all three projects converge with the launch of the Claypool Gold Tour, a full-evening summer run bringing together Primus, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade for one genre-bending night. The coast-to-coast tour begins May 20th in Reno, NV, and runs through July 4th in Napa, CA, giving audiences a rare chance to see Claypool move through three distinct corners of his musical universe in a single evening.
LINKS:
https://www.primusville.com
https://www.lesclaypool.com/
https://www.theclaypoollennondelirium.com/