Les Claypool’s San Franciscan rock band Primus announced this morning that the recent Grammy-winners from Mastodon will be joining them on tour this summer, as they continue supporting The Desaturating Seven, their ninth studio album. The album is out now on ATO Records, but pre-sale tickets for the upcoming tour will be available on Tuesday, January 30th.

Primus’ crawl across the country will commence at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. The tour starts to head southeast, hitting Texas, Alabama and Georgia before heading up north on the east coast then west again. They’ll end up in Phoenix, Arizona, playing a final show at Comerica Theatre.

The Desaturating Seven feels more like Primus’ early work even though it is a new album. Consequence of Sound, Rolling Stone, and AV Club have nothing but great things about it. The group hasn’t recorded an album with its original lineup—Larry “Ler” LaLonde, Tim “Herb” Alexander and Claypool—since 1995. Their return to earlier sounds could be a result of simply working together creatively for the first time in two decades.

Claypool found inspiration for the album in a 1978 children’s book called The Rainbow Goblins by Ui de Rico, an Italian author. The story tells of seven goblins that try to steal rainbows from a valley that produces them. The valley predicts the goblins’ attack and traps them. After drowning the goblins in color, the valley releases them into the sky as birds.

Claypool explains that “It’s a story about gluttonous individuals sucking the colors out of the world. The overuse of resources by the greedy elite, and how the meek masses can overcome them in the end by unifying. It seemed pretty relevant these days.”

Primus and Mastodon Dates:

May 06 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheater
May 08 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion
May 10 – Dallas, TX – Southside Ballroom
May 11 – Austin, TX – Austin 360 Amphitheater
May 12 – Rogers, AR – Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion
May 14 – Birmingham, AL – BJCC Concert Hall
May 15 – Nashville, TN – Nashville Municipal Auditorium
May 16 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theater
May 18 – Portsmouth, VA – Portsmouth Pavilion
May 19 – Charlotte, NC – Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre
May 20 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater
May 22 – Reading, PA – Diamond Credit Union Theater @ Santander
May 23 – Lewiston, NY – Artpark Amphitheater
May 25 – Glen Falls, NY – Cool Insuring Arena
May 26 – Providence, RI – Bold Point Park
May 27 – Portland, ME – TBA
May 29 – Boston, MA – Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
May 30 – Philadelphia, PA – Penn’s Landing – Festival Pier
Jun 01 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony Summerstage
Jun 02 – Baltimore, MD – Pier 6 Pavilion
Jun 03 – Brooklyn, NY – Ford Amphitheater @ Coney Island Boardwalk
Jun 05 – Columbus, OH – Express Live! Outdoor Amphitheatre
Jun 06 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Jun 08 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
Jun 09 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheater at Freedom Hill
Jun 10 – Indianapolis, IN – Farmer’s Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park
Jun 12 – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center
Jun 14 – Minneapolis, MN – MYTH LIVE
Jun 15 – Bonner Springs, KS – Providence Medical Center Amphitheater
Jun 16 – Camdenton, MO – Ozarks Amphitheater
Jun 18 – Lincoln, NE – Pinewood Bowl Theater
Jun 21 – Bonner, MT – Kettlehouse Amphitheater
Jun 22 – Seattle, WA – Marymoor Park
Jun 23 – Bend, OR – Les Schwab Amphitheater
Jun 25 – Troutdale, OR – Edgefield
Jun 28 – Avila Beach, CA – Avila Beach Resort Amphitheater
Jun 29 – Berkeley, CA – The Greek Theatre
Jun 30 – Lincoln, CA – Thunder Valley Resort Casino
Jul 02 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Great Salt Air – Outdoors
Jul 03 – Las Vegas, NV – Downtown Event Center
Jul 05 – Los Angeles, CA The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley
Jul 06 – San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theater
Jul 07 – Phoenix, AZ – Comerica Theatre

Photography Credit: Marv Watson