New Primitives: Boogie on reggae front man
Thursday 15 June @ 15:56:35 |
  by Dwight Hobbes
Over coffee with New Primitives’ Stanley Kipper at e.p. atelier I had, to say the least, not the average interviewing experience. Try for the life of me, I can’t recall the last time I was gleefully pummeled and kicked by a grown man so giddy over his passion for music that, verbally and physically, there’s simply no containing it. The amiable assault comes as we’re talking about New Primitives’ CD, specifically their cover of “Get Together” by The Youngbloods. Kipper, who sings a fine rendition, is stoked by the original and can’t say so quite hard enough. So, he resorts to, well, body language.
All this is in contrast to the persona I’ve witnessed when powerhouse Afro-Cuban rockers New Primitives are in effect. Onstage, front man Stan (vocals, timbales, percussion) is the quintessential image of cool, calm and collected: tall, reed-thin and laidback as the day is long.
 The
comfortably appointed South Minneapolis coffeeshop feels like somebody’s
living room and Kipper is right at home. Long frame tucked in an armchair, he
exchanges warm words with owner and fond acquaintance, Marie, clues me in on
what’s what with his band and, in general, is not so much doing an interview
as simply sharing space. Shifting in my chair, hopefully out of striking distance,
I switch subjects. New Primitives have, three years running, walked off with
the Minnesota
Music Award for Best Reggae Band. As founder and driving creative force,
how does he feel about that? “I’m glad,” he promptly responds,
then pauses. “But it’s almost not fair. We don’t play one-drops
all night. We have the African thing going, the Cuban thing. Folk-larista. Our
stuff is a big old gumbo. Man, Snow [saxophonist Brian “Snowman”
Powers] is from Louisiana. We got all that goin’. I got the West Coast
thing. It’s a melting pot. American to the bone.”
Not to mention strong as sulfuric acid. Their self-titled album is nothing if
not innovative; There’s a second cover, Johnny Cash’s “Ring
of Fire,” which gets treated to a true south of the border interpretation
that respects the timeless standard while putting a distinct flavor on it. “Once
we bring that food into our kitchen,” says Kipper, “if you don’t
like chilis. you better back up.” There are also nine Kipper originals,
including what has to be one of the weirdest funk excursions this side of George
Clinton. Infectious as the clap, “Bangkok Ellie” insinuates itself
into your head, noodling keyboard segueing into a percussion cascade and tight
guitar. Kipper’s languid delivery sets up the downright sinister vocal:
“It was hot and steamy like the 4th of July/ I was standin’ on the
corner, killin’ time to get by/ When a little two-ton lady I happened
to not know/ Came up from behind me and put on a show.” From there, it
gets nasty and nastier, a New Orleans-style, starkly sparse rhythm section raising
hell at the chorus, with Kipper libidinously lauding the virtues of being “drunk
as a skunk.” All told, it hits home, reminding one of those best wild
times you barely remember even having. Proving that the Minnesota Music Award
judges did not miss the boat, there are several reggae gems, not the least being
“Bring Me Down.” Slap it on the headphones at home or boogie to
it at the club: This jam is the proverbial sugar-honey-iced-tea, with textured
finesse that goes straight to your hips. You’ve got a polyrhythmic thing
going on and counterpoint all over the place, complementing Kipper’s sinewy,
plaintive query, “Why you wanna bring me down?/ Never wanna touch the
ground/ Don’t need sorrow comin’ around/ Why you wanna bring me
down?” Accorded the airplay it deserves, this cut would be a classic.
Stan Kipper readily acknowledges that New Primitives is nobody’s one-man
show. “Calling me the leader,” he attests, “is not really
appropriate; everybody’s worth listening to. I have the yes or no thing
goin’, final decision, but all these cats are so bad. Everyone represents.”
Chico Perez, Stan’s homeslice from junior high in Minneapolis, kills on
percussion. Joel Arpin anchors on drums, locking the pocket with ace bass man
Tom Peterson. Powers, who blows sax to the nitty-gritty, co-produced the album
with Kipper. DeeJay Trichrome augments the beat. And then there’s Javier
Trejo (guitar, second vocalist), who wasn’t on New Primitives, but is
on the recently completed follow-up (no title yet, but look for it in the fall).
Trejo, distinguished by his tenure leading The Beads (now defunct) and a Twin
Cities club fixture in his own right, was drafted after Kipper and company ran
through a bunch of cats who couldn’t cut it in the studio. Kipper recalls
that a few years ago he, Perez and Arpin were in their dressing room at the
Cabooze, when they heard
The Beads starting up their set. “We heard homeboy playin’. We all
give each other a sideways look and basically said at the same time, ‘Who
in the fuck is that?’ We got up and went to go watch and that was it.
We said, ‘He should be rollin’ with us.’ We knew he was us.”
No small compliment, considering they fired three guitarists before they swiped
Trejo from The Beads.
New Primitives are back at the Cabooze every Thursday and coming up, they’ll
be at the 10,000 Lakes Festival (which, this July, is headlined by Phil Lesh).
So there’s no lack of opportunity to catch this powerhouse in action.
Your music loving pleasure will be all the better for it. ||
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