Sean Ono Lennon and Les Claypool Return With “Meat Machines”

The Claypool Lennon Delirium have shared “Meat Machines,” the latest single from their upcoming album The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, out May 1st via ATO Records. Arriving alongside a new visualizer, the song finds Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon digging into some of the album’s biggest ideas – free will, technological control, and what remains essentially human in a world increasingly shaped by automation. The album is now available for pre-order HERE.

Driven by wiry psych-prog tension, ominous groove, and a creeping sense of unease, “Meat Machines” captures the Delirium at their most pointed and unsettling. Where earlier single “WAP (What a Predicament)” introduced the album with a warped meditation on A.I., morality, and what happens when empathy gets optimized out of existence, “Meat Machines” pushes further into the record’s central tension: whether human beings still have agency in a culture that seems increasingly ready to reduce life to function.

“Some people think humans are just biological machines,” shared singer / lyricist Lennon. “They think free will is a hallucination and we’re destined to be replaced by robots. Not only are they happy about this, but they’re actively trying to make it happen as fast as possible. Some of us think we still have a choice. We think there’s something special about living, breathing and feeling. We believe we can shape our own destiny, because we know we are more than just ‘Meat Machines.’”

The new visualizer also offers another glimpse into the album’s larger visual universe. Like the video for “The Golden Egg of Empathy (feat. WILLOW),” it draws from the richly illustrated companion comic created with longtime collaborator Rich Ragsdale, whose work has become a defining part of the project.

“Meat Machines” arrives from what is Delirium’s most fully realized project to date. Recorded at Claypool’s Rancho Relaxo studio in Sonoma County and Lennon’s studio The Farm in upstate New York, the album brings together expansive storytelling with the band’s signature mix of psychedelic-prog theatrics, absurdist humor, inventive musicianship, and off-center imagination.

As Lennon previously explained, the album is “a cautionary tale of what could be in store for humanity if we continue to favor machines over men.” Across the record, Claypool and Lennon build out a warped narrative world shaped by paperclip logic, spiritual collapse, and the struggle to hold onto feeling in the face of cold efficiency.

Available for pre-order on vinyl and CD, the physical edition expands the album’s mythology into a true companion piece: a 2-LP set in a tip-on gatefold jacket paired with a 24-page comic book, with each song mapped to its own illustrated chapter. What began as an idea for a feature-length animated film ultimately became a fully realized graphic narrative.

Following the album’s release, Claypool and Lennon will take this latest chapter on the road with Claypool Gold, a full-evening summer tour that brings together Primus, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade for one genre-bending night. The coast-to-coast run begins May 20th and finds the two collaborators sharing the stage in both the Delirium and Frog Brigade, giving audiences a chance to experience the new album while also seeing Sean and Les move through multiple corners of Claypool’s musical world in a single evening.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit: www.theclaypoollennondelirium.com/

Pre-order The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy HERE.

Claypool Gold 2026 Tour
Wednesday, May 20 – Reno Events Center – Reno, NV
Friday, May 22 – Hayden Homes Amphitheater – Bend, OR
Saturday, May 23 – Marymoor Live – Redmond, WA
Monday, May 25 – KettleHouse Amphitheater – Bonner, MT
Tuesday, May 26 – The Lot at the Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
Thursday, May 28 – Starlight Amphitheatre – Kansas City, MO
Saturday, May 30 – The Factory – St. Louis, MO
Sunday, May 31 – Meadow Brook Amphitheatre – Rochester Hills, MI
Tuesday, June 2 – Jacobs Pavilion – Cleveland, OH
Wednesday, June 3 – Salt Shed – Chicago, IL
Friday, June 5 – The Caverns Outdoor Amphitheater – Pelham, TN
Saturday, June 6 – KEMBA Live! Outdoor – Columbus, OH
Tuesday, June 9 – Thompson’s Point – Portland, ME
Wednesday, June 10 – Leader Bank Pavilion – Boston, MA
Friday, June 12 – Saratoga Performing Arts Center – Saratoga Springs, NY
Saturday, June 13 – Stone Pony Summerstage – Asbury Park, NJ [SOLD OUT]
Sunday, June 14 – All Good Now Festival – Columbia, MD
Tuesday, June 16 – The AMP Ballantyne – Charlotte, NC
Wednesday, June 17 – Firefly Distillery – North Charleston, SC
Friday, June 19 – St. Augustine Amphitheatre – St. Augustine, FL
Saturday, June 20 – Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park – Atlanta, GA
Monday, June 22 – Walmart AMP – Rogers, AR
Tuesday, June 23 – ACL Live at Moody Theatre – Austin, TX
Thursday, June 25 – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory – Irving, TX
Saturday, June 27 – Dillon Amphitheater – Dillon, CO [SOLD OUT]
Sunday, June 28 – Dillon Amphitheater – Dillon, CO
Tuesday, June 30 – Arizona Financial Theatre – Phoenix, AZ
Wednesday, July 1 – Gallagher Square – San Diego, CA
Friday, July 3 – Long Beach Amphitheater – Long Beach, CA
Saturday, July 4 – Meritage Resort & Spa – Napa, CA