Review of Electric Apricot (2007) by Michael W — 05 May 2008

Everyone who knows me knows I love everything Les Claypool. From Primus to Frog Brigade to his Fancy Band. I eat it all up. That said, this is a brilliant film. All biases aside, Les Claypool's directorial debut Electric Apricot is a mockumentary on a fake jam band named Electric Apricot. Well, they aren't that fake, they had real concerts and made real songs. Just more of a joke. This film, done in the style of the classic film This Is Spinal Tap, chronicles the bands history, first album recording, and their quest for festeroo, a notable jam band festival. And Claypool captures it brilliantly. He nails the phenomenon known as jam bands perfectly. There's a lot of humor to be found in this film that anyone, even if they don't like or appreciate the genre, can find. Complete with a few cameos from the likes of Seth Green and others, the performances are convincing enough. Les stands out as the bands drummer, Lapdog.

All in all, see this film. The DVD finally hits stores this month so everyone who wasn't lucky enough for the film to come near them can see it. Just a disclaimer: This film thankfully has nothing to do with National Lampoon. They were just nice enough to pick it up and distribute it for us all.