Musical Stew

For the past four years, the New Primitives have won the Minnesota Music Award for “best reggae band.” Frontman and band founder Stanley Kipper is pleased, but points out that reggae is only one part of the band’s style. Dubbed “world beat,” the band’s sound is also composed of ska, rock, Afro-Cuban, Caribbean, and Mexican music. “We have so many influences,” says Kipper, who’s also the band’s lead vocalist and timbalist. “We don’t play one-drops all night. We’ve got cumbias, we have straight-up R & B, folklorista. Our music is a stew”—one that brings to mind the legendary San Francisco sound in its heyday, when seminal Afro-Cuban bands War, Santana, and Mandrill held sway.

In that stew for New Primitives, the band’s recording debut from 2003, was a mix of inventive originals (“Bring Me Down,” “Bangkok Elle”) and fresh covers (Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire,” The Youngbloods’ “Get Together”). The lineup for the album—which hit Midwest charts and garnered coast-to-coast airplay—was Kipper, Chico Perez (congas, vocals), Brian “Snowman” Powers (tenor sax), Joel “Family Man” Arpin (drums), Zack Lozier (trumpet), DJ Triochrome (turntables), and alternating bassists Matt Stevens and Tommy Peterson.

This month, the New Primitives release their second album (it was untitled at presstime), reinforcing their presence and deepening their range. Now in the ranks is guitarist and second lead vocalist Javier Trejo, who joined after New Primitives had been recorded. “Our new album is still gumbo,” says Kipper. “The flavors are again deep, rich, and soulful. But it’s spicier. Jav’s rhythms make a huge difference. We waited for him to show up for a long time. No disrespect to our previous guitarists, but Jav was the missing link.”

“The way we play drums is how Jav plays guitar,” says Perez. “We’ve finally found a guitarist who is comfortable with the bed of drums.” That bed of timbals and congas drives the music, to which Trejo adds sinewy, blistering guitar. “Working with these cats, we just think alike,” says Trejo. “They hear my rhythms. I can hear theirs. It’s the same band as before, just with another flavor in the mix.” Standouts on the new album are the swaggering funk of Kipper’s “Didn’t I Tell You” and Trejo’s Latin-rock gem “Buscando La Gente,” plus a guest appearance by Tickle Fight guitarist Park Evans, who sat in on New Primitives.

From 1991 to 1999, Kipper, Perez, Arpin, and Peterson were in the popular outfit One World. In 1999, Kipper formed a spinoff, the New Primitives, which played the same Afro-Cuban rock, and for a year both bands put on shows. Then, he fired a few people and, since 2000, the New Primitives have been knocking out crowds all over the Midwest.

The name comes from Kipper’s appreciation of the elements and life’s simple pleasures—“love, drum beats, laughter, rain, sun”—and his respect for the “tribe of mankind—ancestors, family, what holds us all together.” Since 2000, the band has had significant exposure, performing at the Minnesota Zoo, Taste of Minnesota, The Fine Line, The Cabooze, and numerous colleges and universities across the nation. In addition, Kipper used to back up Barry Gibb, Minnie Ripperton, Bill Withers, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry, among others, and those associations have brought attention to the band. The New Primitives have also opened for Taj Mahal, The Neville Brothers, and ex–Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart.

As for what Kipper wants in the band’s future, he says, “We would like to [get tighter], reach a wider audience. Make better records, do better live shows, and make our family and friends proud. [And] bring it with heat and passion daily.” Available Feb. 14. Thursday nights, The Cabooze, 917 Cedar Ave., Mpls., 612-338-6425, newprimitives.com