• Primus

Back in 1984 — with a head full of the sounds of Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd — bassist Les Claypool started fooling around with a drum machine and a few different band mates. He was trying to make a baby out of the musical DNA of James Brown and Eddie Van Halen with a focus on the bass line. No easy task. Eventually a musical genius popped out and they named it Primus.

The group quickly started selling out Berkeley Square with its freaky funk metal fusion. In 1989, Claypool recruited Larry LaLonde from the group Possessed and Tim Alexander from Major Lingo. The sound they made together strayed from anything out there at that time. And back then, a ton of music was really far out there. Today the sound is still so distinctive it has become its own musical category.

The San Francisco-based group will bring its bass-heavy, weird and experimental sound to the Eureka Municipal Theatre on Friday, May 10, with some additions that you might find, well, weird and experimental. Claypool, LaLonde and Alexander will use a special three-dimensional backdrop screen as well as a quadraphonic sound system to create what Claypool calls "a really trippy" experience. Tickets are available on the promoter's website, www.jmaxproductions.net, for $36.50.