Primus and Tool members Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor are set to host an intimate benefit concert at The Belasco in Los Angeles on April 17 in support of the group’s “close friend, film director, screenwriter, and animator Jimmy Hayward, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment,”
Tickets for the benefit concert are on sale now and the show will also include some surprise special guests.
Hayward has had an extensive career in the animation industry, having notably worked on Pixar films including Monsters Inc., Toy Story, and Finding Nemo, alongside directing his own features such as Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, and Free Bird.
“Every now and again cancer steps into our world and pulverizes the lives of people that are dear to us,” Primus frontman Les Claypool reflects in a press statement.
“Such a thing happened a while back with our good friend Jimmy Hayward. Over the past couple years, Jimmy has undergone many major surgeries to remove and then reconstruct major damage from a cancer that invaded his bones. With a wife and two very young children at hand, Jimmy has shown incredible courage and tenacity in an unbelievably challenging time.”
He continues, “It is at this time that we in Primus and some of Jimmy’s good friends in the music and entertainment world have decided to give a ‘brother a hand,’ and do a live performance in his honor and for the benefit of his family. Please come down and witness a one-time collaborative music event in celebration of our good friend.”
Claypool will continue to perform this summer with his group Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, who have reunited for the first time in 20 years. Their 41-date Summer of Green tour will kick off in Stateline, Nevada on May 17th.
Recently, the band also released their first new music in more than five years, the three-song Conspiranoid EP, which is out now via ATO Records.