Les Claypool's Fancy Band was a lineup of musicians on tour with Les Claypool

Les Claypool

Leslie Edward "Les" Claypool is an American musician and writer, best known as the lead vocalist and bassist in the band Primus. Claypool's playing style on the electric bass mixes tapping, flamenco-like strumming, whammy bar bends and slapping.Claypool has also self produced and engineered his...

 from 2005 to 2008. The band consisted of Claypool on bass, Skerik

Skerik

Skerik is an American saxophonist from Seattle, Washington. Performing on the tenor and baritone saxophone, often with electronics and loops, Skerik is a pioneer in a playing style that has been dubbed saxophonics. He is a founding member of Critters Buggin, Garage a Trois and Skerik's Syncopated...

 on tenor and baritone saxophone, Mike Dillon

Mike Dillon (musician)

Mike Dillon is a percussionist, vibraphonist, bandleader, vocalist and songwriter born in San Antonio, Texas. He is a member of Critters Buggin, Les Claypool's Fancy Band and Garage A Trois...

 on vibraphone

Vibraphone

The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....

, marimba

Marimba

The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...

, tabla

Tabla

The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...

, cuíca

Cuíca

Cuíca , or "kweeca", is a Brazilian friction drum often used in samba music. The tone it produces has a high-pitched squeaky timbre. It has been called a 'laughing gourd' due to this sound....

 and percussion, Gabby La La

Gabby La La

Gabby La La, is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist , signed to Prawn Song Records. Her music is self described as "fun, unique, crazy kooky". La La's eccentric debut album, Be Careful What You Wish For..., is a collaboration with Les Claypool that though "peculiar.....

 on sitar

Sitar

The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...

, ukulele

Ukulele

The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....

 and theremin

Theremin

The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...

 and Paulo Baldi

Paulo Baldi

Paulo Baldi is an American rock drummer and percussionist from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is currently a member of Cake, Les Claypool's Fancy Band, Deadweight, The Faraway Brothers, and the Eric McFadden Experience....

 on drums. The Fancy Band's first appearance was 2005. They toured nationally in 2006 promoting the album Of Whales and Woe

Of Whales and Woe

Of Whales And Woe is a solo album by Les Claypool, the bassist of Primus. The album was released on the May 30, 2006. The album features Skerik , Mike Dillon , and Gabby La La . "Back off Turkey" also features Les' children, Cage and Lena...

. They toured the early Summer of 2007 with the release of the DVD Fancy

Fancy (DVD)

Fancy is a DVD of live concert footage compiled from the Les Claypool's Fancy Band 2006 tour. Filmed by Jim "Jimbo" Charna, Jeremy "staunchy" Sewell and Crew, it was released by Prawn Song Records on May 29, 2007...

. The band toured a fourth year Spring 2008 accompanying the release of the DVD Electric Apricot

Electric Apricot: Quest For Festeroo

Electric Apricot: Quest For Festeroo is a mockumentary film by Primus lead-man Les Claypool, featuring himself as well as others using pseudonyms. The band Electric Apricot played occasional shows in 2004 and 2005, unannounced, in the California area for footage. The Electric Apricot also made an...

(another Claypool project).

A variation of the Fancy Band is the "Fancy Trio" including Claypool, Skerik and Dillon. The Spring 2008 lineup was a quartet including Claypool, Skerik, Dillon and Baldi.

Much like with his Frog Brigade

Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade

Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade is one of many musical projects involving Primus bassist Les Claypool. The original band was formed in summer 2000 and consisted of: Les Claypool , Todd Huth , Jay Lane , Jeff Chimenti , Skerik , and Eenor...

, Claypool's Fancy Band performed a variety of songs from his various side projects. They did not usually play Primus

Primus (band)

Primus is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, currently composed of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde and drummer Jay Lane. Primus originally formed in 1984 with Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, later joined by Lane, though the latter two departed...

 songs apart from an occasional riff teaser. However, as of 2008 the band was playing "John The Fisherman

John the Fisherman

"John the Fisherman" is the first single by the alternative rock band Primus, released first live in 1989 on Suck on This, then re-released a year later, this time studio recorded, on Frizzle Fry....

", "Duchess And The Proverbial Mind Spread", and "Fisticuffs".