Les Claypool's Duo De Twang at Ace of Spades

If you're at all a fan of music, talented musicians, and technical guitar and bass work, you need to listen to any of Les Claypool's many projects…if you haven't already (hopefully you have). The man is seriously a creative genius - he can wail away on the bass in just about any style, he has written a book, he's done scores for movies, and toured the country with about five different groups fronted by none other than himself. I will always gladly give him money to see him perform live. Always.

So when I heard he would be in Sacramento at none other than my very favorite local venue, Ace of Spades, there was no way I wouldn't be going to the show.

Les Claypool and Bryan Kehoe twanging away in front of a fireplace. Low lighting made the image pretty blurry - sorry about that!

The Duo De Twang is a bluegrass country-style act, and Les Claypool himself has quite a prominent sense of humor, so it made sense that The Reformed Whores would be the opening act. I've gotta say - usually I'm sitting through opening acts just waiting for them to finish. The Reformed Whores, however, were able to hold their own and kept me quite entertained.

The group consists of two women dressed in old-style country dresses crooning away a la June Carter Cash. The only difference is that the Whore's music is quite raunchy. They happily sing away about very vulgar topics and the juxtaposition of the genre in which they sing and the topics that they sing about creates an amazingly humorous atmosphere.

The Reformed Whores 

Les and his pal Bryan played pretty much the entirety of the only existing (currently) Duo De Twang album entitled "Four Foot Shack." The stage was set up like they were playing at a campfire and the banter between the two was a welcome addition to the set. The show really did play out as two really good friends enjoying each other's company while messing around on their instruments of choice. It was a really laid-back performance without all the hoopla and aggressive energy that comes along with a Primus show.

The highlights for me were when Les played the South Park theme song and a cover of "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees. Check out the videos below to watch.

Kyle and I had a really amazing time at this show and both of us hope to see Mr. Claypool again soon, whether he's playing in Primus, performing as Les Claypool, or with one of his many other projects.

For more videos from the show, check out my Youtube page.

Thanks for reading!