It was 1989. My senior year in high school. Chris, Pat, and Andy had a band called Terminus. I took photos for them and hauled Chris' drums to shows. We weren't your typical metalheads. We loved metal, but none of us really cared for the metal hordes. While we loved the music, the crowds were always full of meatheads and we were a bunch of weirdos who just wanted to have a goofy, fun time.
Terminus was very metal influenced but peppered with the myriad other influences each of the three members brought to it. Rap, jazz, prog, whatever the glorious hell Zappa was, classic rock, punk, funk... you name it.
Sometime in early December of 1989, I walk over to Chris' house to watch them practice and they're trying to play this loping stomper of song in 5/4. All three of them just kept screaming, "Here they come!"
"What the hell are you guys doing?"
"Trying to remember this song by the band that opened for the Limbomaniacs the other night."
"Who?"
"The Limbomaniacs! They have this great song about a flooded toilet and one about lattes!"
This goes on for a while. It's soon dinner time and everyone disbands and heads home.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers "Mothers Milk" had just come out. Love that album! Was worried about it since it was the first album without Hillel and Jack, but that was unfounded. It's a great album!
One of the local high schools had a radio station that played a lot of the alternative music I liked at the time. They frequently had call in contests to win tickets to shows. One day they have a call in for tickets to see the Chili Peppers are The Warfield in San Francisco. No one really listened to this station, so I called... BOOM! Two tickets to the Chili Peppers.
It was just after Xmas and our dear family friends, The Ellingsons were out visiting from Minnesota. Sarah, the youngest of Ellingsons and probably my first non-familial friend in the whole world and I had a great time hanging out together during the trip. Luckily her parents were cool with her going to San Francisco with me and my friends.
At this point, the drive to San Francisco was old hat for me. Just shoot up 101, take exit 2 off 80 and then pray for parking somewhere near 6th and Market.
I was driving our family's 1981 Toyota SR5 pickup with a shell on the back. Sarah was sitting up front and I think Pat, Chris, and Andy were in the back. As we drive past The Warfield, Chris throws open the window from the back and shouts right in my ear, "Holy shit! Primus is opening!!!!!!!!"
"Who?"
"That band! The one with the "Here They Come" song!"
My only thought is, "That's cool. New band, but I can't wait to see the Chili Peppers!"
We park, get donuts at the shop that was across the street from the venue. Wait in line for a bit. Then enter The Warfield. To this day, still one of my favorite venues of all time.
It's packed. It's a typical SF crowd. Weirdoes, hippies, goths, metalheads, punks, straight laced college kids, classic rockers. A melting pot.
I remember spotting Kirk Hammett as well as Rick Hunolt from Exodus in the crowd.
Sooooo excited for the show.
The lights go down. Some weirdo in a fishing hat and black and white checkered pants comes out, flashes an odd hand gesture while saying "Hey hey!" into the mic. The guitarist has long purple hair and says nothing. A shadow lumbers behind the drum kit.
I couldn't help but think the guitarist and bassist looked familiar. Where had I seen them before? Oh yeah! That band Blind Illusion that opened for Flotsam and Jetsam that one time at The Stone!
Then, I hear this bruising thumping sound come out of the bass, a dissonant ring of the strings above the nut on the guitar and some seriously pounding drums.
IT'S PUDDING TIME CHILDREN!
The first song I ever heard Primus perform was Pudding Time and it blew my mind! I had a hard time comprehending what I was hearing. I was mesmerized by their set. It was like nothing I had ever heard before. Hard edged which I liked. Loud thumping bass which I liked. Weird guitar "solos" which I liked. And drums that sounded like a combination of Stewart Copeland, John Bonham and Neil Peart.
IT WAS GLORIOUS!
Then they played "Here Come the Bastards" and what Chris, Pat and Andy were trying to play from memory made a lot more sense.
It was 45 glorious minutes of new sounds. Weird, funny, heavy, funky, whacky songs about fishing, crackheads named Harold and a lascivious cat named Tommy. This was my new favorite thing!
Seriously. I've kept count of every Primus show I've been to since December 28, 1989 and as of June 22, 2018 the tally is 55 shows. They played 2-5 times a week in the extended Bay Area between 1989 and 1992 with some extended breaks for touring with anyone and everyone.
Oh yeah! The Chili Peppers played too. They were really good! They just didn't have the same brain melting effect on me that Primus did.
One week later, I would go see Primus again at The Stone in SF and Fungo Mungo would open. A whole new world of music and live experiences was opening before me. My senior year was fucking awesome from a music perspective! So much good music and performance and I met a ton of super cool people that are friends to this very day.
FISH ON! my friends!
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