Oysterhead - And a pun about pearls October 5, 2001 - HearSay by Jesse Jarnow "Let me find a quieter spot," drummer Stewart Copeland says as a ghostly guitar sound rises in the background. He stumbles out onto the autumnal Vermont hillside. "Ach, there is no quiet spot here, the doors are all open!" The former drummer for The Police is camped out at The Barn, a farmhouse turned playpen-for-rock-stars owned by Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, where he is in rehearsal for a tour with Oysterhead, a power trio comprised of himself, Anastasio, and Primus/Frog Brigade bassist and commander weirdo Les Claypool. "I haven't played in a band for ages and I've forgotten what it's like," Copeland admits. "I have to say I kind of enjoy it. It's actually the best formula, personality-wise, for a band that I've ever been in, I think. In The Police, it was a fight to the death. It was a struggle. And, out of that struggle, we achieved incredible results. But the struggle, as I've now learned, is not necessary to do really radical stuff. [You can do it] with a really cheerful atmosphere." The atmosphere seeps through the phone. As Copeland wanders around outside, Claypool can be heard cackling in the background, his falsetto laugh piercing the line like The Joker. Claypool -- who, like Anastasio with Phish, has put his main gig Primus on indefinite hiatus -- is jazzed to be playing with Anastasio and Copeland again, who first collaborated at a one-off New Orleans gig in May of 2000, before reconvening earlier this year to write and record The Grand Pecking Order, Oysterhead's studio debut. "It's gonna be incredibly fun," Claypool says of the upcoming tour. "We're at the state in our careers where the purpose of doing this stuff is for enjoyment. We all know how to make a living other ways." More reflectively, he compares Oysterhead and his collaborations with the Frog Brigade (his self-described "mid-life crisis" band) to "socializing." "The more conversations you have with people, the better you'll be at socializing and a more well-rounded individual you're going to be, and more knowledgeable about various culture and attitudes and whatnot. And it's the same with music." "I've played with a lot of famous people," Copeland admits. "I was pulled in because they [were] getting a lot of marquee names on the list. They're always sort of marriages of convenience. This really isn't. In fact, it's not convenient at all. We all live in three different cities. It's the X-factor that pulls us back together. At the back of my mind, I'm always thinking 'one more week 'til Oysterhead,’ 'three days 'til Oysterhead.' Every time, it's like waiting for Christmas. It's a strange, euphoric feeling."