Primus drummer Tim Alexander has suffered heart attack and will be having open heart surgery early next week. The news came yesterday via a post on Puscifer’s Facebook page (Alexander played on three releases for the Maynard James Keenan project), which reads:

Calling All Cars! Rough news. @timalexander suffered a heart attack. Open Heart Surgery on Mon/Tues. Global Positive Thoughts, Por favor….We need our Herb the Ginseng Drummer aka Peter Merkin alive and thieving.

As previously reported, Alexander rejoined Primus last fall after longtime drummer Jay Lane announced his return to RatDog. Alexander played with the band from 1988 until 1996, eventually reuniting with the group for the 2003 EP Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People before parting ways again. Primus have not yet released a statement on Alexander’s condition.

Les Claypool took to his Facebook page to discuss the news:

Hello all,

As some of you may already know, our friend and über drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander is having a bypass procedure to remove blockage from arteries near his heart. He is a strong Herculean fellow and we all expect him to be up and around in no time but with all surgical endeavors we want to make sure he has the best energy working for him so let’s all throw our coins in the nearest fountain, wish on the first star of the night, blow out the birthday cake candles with him in mind, pray to whichever deity seems appropriate and generally send good thoughts his way so we can soon, once again, experience the glory that is the magnificent percussive rhythm of the mighty Tim Alexander.

Les Claypool