“My heart just wasn’t in it”

Drummer Tim ‘Herb’ Alexander has explained his “shock” decision to leave Primus, saying his “heart just wasn’t in it”.

On Tuesday (October 29), the alt-metal band announced that Alexander had departed the band “effective immediately” via an email he sent to his bandmates on October 17. “It came as a complete shock to all of us here in the Primus camp,” the group’s remaining members wrote.

“After several attempts to communicate with Herb, his only response was another email stating that he has ‘lost his passion for playing.’ As disappointing as that is, we respect his choice.”

Now, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Alexander has gone into detail about his decision. “A lot of times, you do something you love for a long time, and sometimes the passion turns into a job, and sometimes that job doesn’t feel like it’s your being anymore,” he said.

“Over time, I started realizing that it was affecting my physical life, it was affecting my mental life, and it was affecting my family life, and my heart just wasn’t in it.”

“When I discovered that I’m struggling with all these things, I had to sit and think about exactly what am I doing,” he continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever chosen my path in life, I think I’ve just always thought ‘I’m a drummer, I’m just gonna do music,’ and things came to me, accepting whatever happens.”

The drummer added that he’s “feeling really good”, although admitted he is “dealing with all the aches and pains”.

“I’m the happiest I think I’ve ever been. I’m not looking at this like, ‘I can’t function anymore, I got to quit’. I feel good, I feel strong, but I’ve had to make these changes to get to this point.”

Alexander also commented on his former bandmates’ public announcement of his departure, claiming he “wrote this letter from my heart to those guys, to let them know. It was very heartfelt, it was very loving, I said positive things about how much I appreciated them and how much admiration there was. So it was very surprising that only certain parts would be released to the whole world.”

Primus’ remaining members Les Claypool and Larry LaLonde have said that as a result of the departure, they’ve had to “make some tough decisions” about upcoming performances.

“We considered cancelling the annual New Year’s show, but after much talk Les and Ler have decided to pivot to an augmented version of Primus featuring members of Holy Mackerel and Frog Brigade,” they write, specifying that it will be “an exciting special, one-time event.”

For their upcoming festival date with Tool, dubbed Tool In The Sand, in the Dominican Republic, their one-time touring drummer, Danny Carey, will step in.

Tool In The Sand, which has been labelled as an “all-inclusive” experience, is scheduled to take place on March 7-9 next year in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic across two resorts; the Hard Rock and Royalton resorts.

Alongside Primus, bands like Mastodon, Coheed And Cambria, Eagles Of Death Metal, CKY and King’s X will be heading to the Dominican Republic for the festival.

Tickets are now on sale via the Tool In The Sand website. You can find more information, including the full lineup, here.