Sat. Oct. 20

 Les Claypool has had a long antagonistic relationship with two things: Runaway consumerism and the lower rungs of pop culture. "Sometimes it’s disgust and most of the time I just ignore it," said Claypool, 48, singer-songwriter-bassist for the revived trio Primus. "I don’t go traipsing through the kitty litter box unless I have to," he added, on the phone last week from his Sebastopol, Cal. home. "That’s pretty much the way it’s been since I started spewing hunks of vinyl, plastic and now digital dots and dashes."

That would have been back in 1990 when the fractured funk band released the "Frizzle Fry" album and its key song, "Pudding Time." Now, Primus has delivered "Green Naugahyde," its first studio album in 11 years, with songs like "Eternal Consumption Engine" and "Moron TV.’

Claypool on reality TV: "It’s cheap to make and people like to watch car crashes. So when you see these car crash individuals being glorified, what I’m assuming is that’s compelling to certain people. But when I’m watching my kids see something like ‘Jersey Shore’ and looking at the glorification, I get a little miffed."

Frank Zappa is an obvious influence on Claypool. "I grew up on satire and humor," he said, "and it’s an extraordinarily powerful weapon. Standup philosophers as Mel Brooks used to say."

Primus plays the Orpheum Saturday Oct. 20, playing two sets over more than two-and-a-half hours. Ten musicians have been in Primus over the years and band has been up, down, sidelined and resurrected. Claypool has kept busy inside and outside Primus with a variety of musical and non-musical projects. He released scads of albums, penned a novel, wrote and directed a mockumentary and continues to run a small upscale winery, Claypool Cellars.

"Primus is a nice cottage industry," Claypool said of the decision to ramp up the band, "but I do pretty well on my own, too. Either way, it’s not like I’m Daddy Warbucks over here. I gotta work. But for me it’s the creative thing. To get me away from my home, my family, my toys, my cars and things I like to tinker with, it’s gotta be a pretty nice carrot. And the biggest carrot has been creative gratification."

Primus – with longtime guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander – returned to life in 2003 after several years on hiatus, but it didn’t achieve what Claypool wanted.

"Basically, we would do Primus once in a while," Claypool said, "but it seemed like it was more of a nostalgic thing. Great fun for the first few weeks, then it was like hanging out with an old girlfriend again. At first it’s great and then you go, ‘Now I remember why we broke up.’ It wasn’t bad, but creatively it wasn’t moving forward."

"We were passing the ball around in terms of taking solos and whatnot," Claypool recalled, "and I was completely blown away. We’re playing ‘Pudding Time’ and ten seconds into it I’m looking at Ler and he’s looking at me and we’re grinning like bastards. That made us realize we wanted to do it again and do it for real, not just go out and play the old-timey tunes for the old-timey fans. I said, ‘We gotta play with Jay.’ We did and it was unbelievable."

Claypool is a big fan of ‘70s funk, with its prominent bass lines, "With Primus," he said, "it’s always been about the rhythm section and then there’s Ler, who’s a very textural player, throwing these sprinkles on top of the cupcakes."

Earlier this year, Primus recorded the 13-track "Green Naugahyde," a crazy quilt of art-rock and skewed funk with lyrics that can be both scabrous and hilarious. "Hoinfodaman," concerns rock stars who trade credibility for cash, by hooking up with corporate America. "I used to be a pimp," Claypool snarls repeatedly, "Now I’m hoing for da man/I’m hoing for the advertising man."

Friday’s concert will run at least two-and-a-half hours, and include most of "Green Naugahyde." Expect hits like "My Name is Mud" and "Wynonna’s Big Brown Beaver," too.

"We’ve slowly been building up this psychedelic show," Claypool said. "It’s very visual. We’re old guys now and nobody wants to see us jumping around. They want to hear the music and see some fingers wiggling, but I wanna give ‘em a lot of lights and projection type stuff."

"I’ve been trying to step away from some of this silliness," Claypool said. "I love odd and abstract, but wacky-silly makes me cringe a little. Then again, I’m about to put on a lobster suit for the next Primus video. I just can’t help it. Who wouldn’t want to put on a lobster suit?"

This tour is called the 3D tour. (Aren't live bands inherently in 3D?) Well, it would seem, but Primus' people say this is "a first-ever thraveling 3D enhanced live musical performance ... a one of a kind psychedelic experience, further enhanced by the fact that evvery show will feature Quad Surround Sound ... and original 3D content. Audience members will be given 3D glasses to fully experience a visual and audio performance like no other."

Starts at 7:30. Tickets: TBA

1 Hamilton Place, 800-745-3000 www.ticketmaster.com