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Les Claypool's Frog Brigade in St. Louis

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Les Claypool's Frog Brigade
The Factory — Saint Louis, MO
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About Les Claypool's Frog Brigade

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade is the project where Praxis and Praxis-adjacent bass weirdness meets actual songs. Starting in the late 90s, Claypool gathered musicians who could keep up with his amphibian-fixated vision — people like Bryan Patrick Martin on drums and various rotating members including Gill Peled. The Frog Brigade treats improvisation like it's mandatory but not required to sound like free jazz. You get structured weirdness, the kind where "Brain to Mouth" somehow becomes a vehicle for both groove and chaos. Unlike Claypool's main gig with Praxis, the Frogs lean more towards maintaining songs while deconstructing them. The band's recorded output bounces between studio clarity and bootleg-quality live captures, which seems intentional. They've never cared much about smoothing the edges or making sense to casual listeners. It's jamming for people who actually want something to grab onto.

People stand around confused for the first two songs, then gradually realize they're watching something genuinely weird happen. Claypool's bass does impossible things. Crowds get quietly invested in where this is going. No mosh pits. Mostly just sustained attention and occasional bursts of recognition.

Known for The Big Eyeball in the Sky, Holy Mackerel, Brain to Mouth, Rhinosaur, Me in Honey

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade + St. Louis

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade brings the weird to St. Louis with a particular flavor of controlled chaos. When they rolled through The Factory in October 2023, they opened with the Civil War march of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" before diving into the funky sprawl of "Thela Hun Ginjeet." The set veered between psychedelic deep cuts like "Thai Noodles" and an ambitious run through Pink Floyd's "Pigs on the Wing" suite, with "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" sitting right in the middle as the centerpiece. They closed it all out with "Pure Imagination," turning Willy Wonka into something genuinely unsettling. Twenty-one songs that somehow made sense as a whole, even when they shouldn't have.

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade in St. Louis News

Live Music in St. Louis

St. Louis has always had a taste for the unconventional—from Chuck Berry's innovation to the city's thriving hip-hop underground. The Frog Brigade fits naturally into a scene that's never been afraid of left turns. The Factory crowd gets what Claypool's doing: bass lines that defy logic, prog-rock ambition mixed with funk grooves, and the kind of musicianship that rewards repeated listens. It's a city that can appreciate technical mastery wrapped in genuine weirdness.

St. Louis road trip to see Les Claypool's Frog Brigade?

Base yourself in the Central West End, where the tree-lined streets and converted lofts give the neighborhood a genuinely livable vibe. Hit Broadway Oyster Bar for something with actual character, or Park Avenue Coffee if you need to ease in. Spend an afternoon at the City Museum—it's genuinely weird and worth your time, not a tourist trap. The Pulitzer Arts Foundation is also worth an hour if contemporary art is your thing. St. Louis takes itself less seriously than most cities, which makes it easy to move around and find decent food without overthinking it.

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