Col. Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains set club trek

Col. Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains--one of Primus frontman/bassist Les Claypool's long list of projects--will back its forthcoming debut studio album with a fall tour of U.S. clubs.

The group--with a lineup that's rounded out by eccentric guitar virtuoso Buckethead, Primus drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia and founding Parliament/Funkadelic bassist/keyboardist Bernie Worrell--launches the eight-week outing on Sept. 24 in Minneapolis.

CCBBB, which Claypool describes in a press release as "a traveling, oversized sock-puppet show spawned by the characters of a Tobe Hooper film and scored by Danny Elfman on bad acid," first played live at 2002's Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee.

A Sept. 21 release date is scheduled for the group's first album, "The Big Eyeball in the Sky."

"The majority of the lyrics on this record were written at the onset of the Iraq confrontation," Claypool said, "so it was very difficult not to be influenced by the frustration and confusion that was felt by myself and the people around me--though somewhat dark, I tried to cloak my angst, conveying thoughts through the eyes of colorful and satirical characters."