Primus frontman Les Claypool has released a new song in support of Ukraine as it continues to fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion.
The track, which Claypool co-wrote with Ukrainian musician Eugene Hütz of the band Gogol Bordello, is titled “Zelensky: The Man with the Iron Balls” after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Along with Claypool and Hütz, the song features The Police drummer Stewart Copeland, Sean Lennon, bluegrass musician Billy Strings, and Gogol Bordello violist Sergey Ryabtsev.
“The night of the invasion, I was dining with close friends of mine from Poland who were hosting their family visiting the US from their town, which is 50 kilometers from the Ukraine border,” Claypool says. “Needless to say, they were stressed and concerned about what was happening in their homeland. After a few vodka shots of solidarity, I started texting with my buddy Eugene from Gogol Bordello to get his perspective and insight.”
“In that vodka-laced dialogue, we started mutually praising Zelensky for his surprisingly epic display of courage,” Claypool continues. “‘Zelensky has balls of steel!’ we agreed. It was then that we decided that some freaky, ‘East meets West’ art needed to be thrown that way.”
“Zelensky: The Man with the Iron Balls” is available now via digital outlets. Proceeds will be donated to the humanitarian aid organization Nova Ukraine.
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