Les Claypool and Robert Trujillo’s bass-slapping face-off is the funkiest thing you’ll see today

By Scott Munro
( Metal Hammer )
last updated

The Primus and Metallica bassists get gold rush fever in the Spaghetti Western-inspired short film Precious Metals - directed by Claypool’s soon, Cage

Les Claypool and Robert Trujillo
(Image credit: EMG Pickups/Primus)

Primus have shared a short film titled Precious Metals which stars the band’s very own Les Claypool and Metallica’s Robert Trujillo. 

It was directed by Claypool’s son, Cage with the Spaghetti Western-inspired film receiving its premiere through EMG Pickups at this year’s virtual NAMM Show.

The Californian gold rush tale sees the two bassist squaring off over the shiny stuff – on this occasion EMG’s very own pickups – but before things get too nasty, they dust themselves off, ditch the duel and indulge in a 90-second bass-off which takes funk to a new level.

Les said in a statement: “As a veteran music video director and wannabe filmmaker, it swells my chest with puffy pride to see my son Cage delve into the world of cinematography and excel at it. He blows me away with his skill set, perspective, work ethic and ease of collaboration. That’s my boy!”

Primus are due to head out on the road on their rescheduled Rush-themed Tribute To Kings tour this summer, while Metallica made their first live appearance of 2021 last weekend on a special Super Bowl edition of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.