Primus & The Chocolate Factory With The Fungi Ensemble

Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble is the eighth studio album by American rock group Primus. The album is a re-imagining of the soundtrack of the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The album was released on October 21, 2014. It is the first full length album with Tim "Herb" Alexander since 1995's Tales from the Punchbowl.

Lead singer and bassist Les Claypool told Rolling Stone of his fascination with Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: "I don't think it was until Jaws came along that I was more obsessed with a film, when I started drawing sharks all over my binders and notebooks. Prior to that it was everything Wonka." This tribute - fleshed out with help from Critters Buggin percussionist Mike Dillon and Frog Brigade cellist Sam Bass - is a logical extension of Primus' Wonka-themed performance in Oakland last New Year's Eve.

To tie in with the album's Wonka theme, Primus began selling exclusive chocolate "Primus Bars" at live performances. The varieties are named after Primus songs: "Mr. Krinkle Bars" (from Pork Soda), "Professor Nutbutter Bars" (from Tales from the Punchbowl) and "Bastard Bars" (from Sailing the Seas of Cheese). "The tour and the album are solely a marketing tool just so we can sell candy bars," jokes Claypool. "That's the whole impetus of this entire project. Because the fucking recording industry rolled over and let this Internet shit all over us. So we had to come up with another income stream, so we're making chocolate bars because you can’t digitize a chocolate bar - yet."