Here’s a crossover nobody had on their 2026 bingo card. Les Claypool of Primus, Justin Chancellor of Tool, and Mike Dirnt of Green Day joined forces for a crowd-melting jam at the Bass Magazine Awards on January 22 at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California.
The unlikely trio tore through Primus‘ classic “Too Many Puppies,” delivering a rare meeting of three radically different bass styles — Claypool‘s elastic funk-metal weirdness, Chancellor‘s brooding progressive power, and Dirnt‘s punk-rock propulsion. It also helps that all three are really damn good at their instruments.
The jam took place as part of the evening honoring Les Claypool, who was awarded the Bass Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award. The accolade was formally presented by Justin Chancellor alongside Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo.
The night was also stacked with bass-heavy significance beyond the Claypool celebration. Mike Dirnt was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by blink-182‘s Mark Hoppus, recognizing his decades of anchoring Green Day‘s sound with melodic aggression.
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