New Primitives

12. Must Be Love
From the album American Nomad - Self released

New Primitives is a world-pop band that explores blended styles heavily influenced by reggae, R&B and Afro-Caribbean music. Their sound also reflects ska, rock and Mexican music - a soulful simmer of worldly harmonies and instrumentation. New Primitives' sophomore album, American Nomad, which was released this November, includes "Must Be Love." - Relix Magazine

The New Primitives serve up a new album full of Caribbean, Mexican, and Afro-Cuban flavors

By Dwight Hobbes
February 2007

For the past four years, the New Primitives have won the Minnesota Music Award for “best reggae band.” Frontman and band founder Staley Kipper is pleased, but points out that reggae is only one part of the band’s style. Subbed “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 timablist. “We don’t play one-drops all night. We’ve got cumbia, we have straight-up R&B, folklorist. 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 Madrill 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 Tickel 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 hold us together.” Since 2000, the band has had significant exposure, performing at the Minnesota Zoo, Taste of Minnesota, The Find 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.”
- Mpls St. Paul Magazine - www.mspmag.com

The New Primitives serve up a new album full of Caribbean, Mexican, and Afro-Cuban flavors

By Dwight Hobbes
February 2007

For the past four years, the New Primitives have won the Minnesota Music Award for “best reggae band.” Frontman and band founder Staley Kipper is pleased, but points out that reggae is only one part of the band’s style. Subbed “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 timablist. “We don’t play one-drops all night. We’ve got cumbia, we have straight-up R&B, folklorist. 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 Madrill 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 Tickel 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 hold us together.” Since 2000, the band has had significant exposure, performing at the Minnesota Zoo, Taste of Minnesota, The Find 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.”
- Mpls St. Paul Magazine - www.mspmag.com

Southeast getting more Bohemian
By Carrie Guenther
December 2004

It’s a Wednesday night. I am sitting in the bar and band-performance section of Nye’s Polonaise Room, watching a reggae band. It’s 10 pm and the place is packed; two 40-something suburban moms, a guy with hair down to his waist; a couple in their 60s tearing up the tiny dance floor; a very amorous hipster couple’ some blue-collar baby-boomers; a couple of punk rockers; a wildly dancing hippy-chick; three white guys, one with blond dreadlocks and the other two with full, almost Amish-style beards; two black men with bald heads and leather jackets; a laughing East Asian beauty; and a woman who looks like she just stepped off a private jet from Manhattan. Just about every one of them has a smile on his or her face.

Why? The New Primitives.

Stan, the band’s lead vocalist and also a percussionist, is a tall black man with dreadlocks. As we talked, he told me something I didn’t expect to hear: these guys are all family men, with kids ranging in age from 2-30. When I met the band members, I couldn’t get over their sweet, down-to-earth niceness. Chico, a Latino-American with long hair, is a percussion master. Jeff is a large stoic gentleman who will blow you away with his sax and flute playing. Javier, also Latino-American, plays guitar and has a killer falsetto that will have you searching for the female backup singer. Jeff plays the trap drums, Tom plays a very mod-looking upright bass, and both could pass for Midwestern bookish grad students, rather than the funky Caribbean Latino music masters they are.

So, what affect does this odd assembly have on their listeners? Have you ever seen someone not really intending to dance but starting to anyways, almost involuntarily? I’m seeing it all over this place. “Our fans say it wipes out the blues,” said Stan. “People have fallen in love at our shows and gotten married.”

The set started out with an energetic instrumental jam that instantly caught everyone’s attention. Next was a slowed down, reggae version of “How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You).” Chico belted out a Carlos Santana-flavored original song entirely in Spanish. Stan singing Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” got even more people dancing. Mixed with the energetic ska, soothing Caribbean and spicy Latin sounds of their music, there were strong elements of jazz, rock and ‘70s-era funk.

Being a resident of Southeast Minneapolis, I asked Stan what he thinks of the area. “It’s become a lot more Bohemian,” he said, “which I think is a good thing.” He also felt very strongly about what diversity in music can add to communities. “Music definitely shows the common ground we all have,” he says. “People will walk in and be all freaked out by the way we look,” he laughed. “But our common ground is what we choose to focus on. It’s like a cool, healing vibe.” As a living example of “walking, talking diversity,” the band has done work in conflict resolution at high schools from the suburbs to the inner cities.

They have also done corporate gigs for large, successful companies, when sometimes “people can’t get along with each other,” says Stan. “We come rolling in and help to reconnect them all.”

Since the New Primitives started playing at Nye’s three years ago, their audience has changed and expanded along with the neighborhood. Stan says he is happy to see the transformation. “It’s really diverse. You have older people with ties on, all the way down to tie-dye shirts and everything in between.” From the beginning, the band loved the informality of Nye’s, and the miniature performance space had its advantages: “People would have to walk through us to get to the bathrooms. I used to be on the floor with my stuff and I would make people sing as they walked through – Nye’s is something else.”

I asked Stan what he like best about being a part of the New Primitives. “I like the friendship that we have,” he says, “It makes you feel like you can make cool stuff happen, love up the neighborhood, roll into a roomful of people and make them feel like a million dollars, you know? It makes you fearless like that.”

And what about the name? “It means a combination of old and new. New Primitives, it’s like, stuff that our parents were teaching us that was cool before we were here, that’s gonna be cool after we’re gone. [There was music] that was happening before we were here, that everybody dug – we’re stil rewinding it, and we’re passing it on.”

The band formed in 1999 and their second CD is in the works. They have played in Japan, Mexico, Canada and across the United States.
- Southeast Angle

Southeast getting more Bohemian
By Carrie Guenther
December 2004

It’s a Wednesday night. I am sitting in the bar and band-performance section of Nye’s Polonaise Room, watching a reggae band. It’s 10 pm and the place is packed; two 40-something suburban moms, a guy with hair down to his waist; a couple in their 60s tearing up the tiny dance floor; a very amorous hipster couple’ some blue-collar baby-boomers; a couple of punk rockers; a wildly dancing hippy-chick; three white guys, one with blond dreadlocks and the other two with full, almost Amish-style beards; two black men with bald heads and leather jackets; a laughing East Asian beauty; and a woman who looks like she just stepped off a private jet from Manhattan. Just about every one of them has a smile on his or her face.

Why? The New Primitives.

Stan, the band’s lead vocalist and also a percussionist, is a tall black man with dreadlocks. As we talked, he told me something I didn’t expect to hear: these guys are all family men, with kids ranging in age from 2-30. When I met the band members, I couldn’t get over their sweet, down-to-earth niceness. Chico, a Latino-American with long hair, is a percussion master. Jeff is a large stoic gentleman who will blow you away with his sax and flute playing. Javier, also Latino-American, plays guitar and has a killer falsetto that will have you searching for the female backup singer. Jeff plays the trap drums, Tom plays a very mod-looking upright bass, and both could pass for Midwestern bookish grad students, rather than the funky Caribbean Latino music masters they are.

So, what affect does this odd assembly have on their listeners? Have you ever seen someone not really intending to dance but starting to anyways, almost involuntarily? I’m seeing it all over this place. “Our fans say it wipes out the blues,” said Stan. “People have fallen in love at our shows and gotten married.”

The set started out with an energetic instrumental jam that instantly caught everyone’s attention. Next was a slowed down, reggae version of “How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You).” Chico belted out a Carlos Santana-flavored original song entirely in Spanish. Stan singing Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” got even more people dancing. Mixed with the energetic ska, soothing Caribbean and spicy Latin sounds of their music, there were strong elements of jazz, rock and ‘70s-era funk.

Being a resident of Southeast Minneapolis, I asked Stan what he thinks of the area. “It’s become a lot more Bohemian,” he said, “which I think is a good thing.” He also felt very strongly about what diversity in music can add to communities. “Music definitely shows the common ground we all have,” he says. “People will walk in and be all freaked out by the way we look,” he laughed. “But our common ground is what we choose to focus on. It’s like a cool, healing vibe.” As a living example of “walking, talking diversity,” the band has done work in conflict resolution at high schools from the suburbs to the inner cities.

They have also done corporate gigs for large, successful companies, when sometimes “people can’t get along with each other,” says Stan. “We come rolling in and help to reconnect them all.”

Since the New Primitives started playing at Nye’s three years ago, their audience has changed and expanded along with the neighborhood. Stan says he is happy to see the transformation. “It’s really diverse. You have older people with ties on, all the way down to tie-dye shirts and everything in between.” From the beginning, the band loved the informality of Nye’s, and the miniature performance space had its advantages: “People would have to walk through us to get to the bathrooms. I used to be on the floor with my stuff and I would make people sing as they walked through – Nye’s is something else.”

I asked Stan what he like best about being a part of the New Primitives. “I like the friendship that we have,” he says, “It makes you feel like you can make cool stuff happen, love up the neighborhood, roll into a roomful of people and make them feel like a million dollars, you know? It makes you fearless like that.”

And what about the name? “It means a combination of old and new. New Primitives, it’s like, stuff that our parents were teaching us that was cool before we were here, that’s gonna be cool after we’re gone. [There was music] that was happening before we were here, that everybody dug – we’re stil rewinding it, and we’re passing it on.”

The band formed in 1999 and their second CD is in the works. They have played in Japan, Mexico, Canada and across the United States.
- Southeast Angle

Nine-piece reggae band New Primitives fuse the sound of Kingston with ska, blues, calypso and more.

You probably don’t know the name Stanley Kipper. What you may know are names of the geniuses that the lead singer has worked with: Joe Walsh, Bo Diddley, Barry Gibb and Little Richard, to name a few.

Kipper, along with his Minneapolis-based reggae ensemble, New Primitives, will bring their unique sound to the Halling Recital Hall for students and Mankato’s public Tuesday.

Formed in 1999, New Primitives boast a deep musical rap sheet accompanied by multiple talents for creating the beach-side reggae that they so effortlessly seem to play. The band is comprised of nine members, playing instruments that range from trap drums and trumpets, to saxophones and bass guitars. They were voted Best Reggae Band four straight years (from 2003 to 2006) for the Minnesota Music Awards.

When it comes to their history, many of the band members have sprung from several recognizable musical acts. Saxophonist and producer Brian “Snowman” Powers has seen stage-time with Blues Traveler and The Spin Doctors. Dee Jay Trichrome, who provides the hip-hop beats in many of New Primitives’ songs, is direct offspring of William Nevious – world-famous drummer for hippie-era group, “The Egyptian Combo.” Bass guitarist Matt Stevens is regularly involved with Wookiefoot – a band that has played at Mankato’s “What’s Up Lounge.”

And then there’s Kipper, who is possibly the most connected and famous member, without being in the center of that spotlight.

“My experiences have definitely made the music more accessible. They’ve also made it more powerful, you know, definitely more global,” said the singer, whose brushes with rock ‘n’ rollers Richard, Diddley and the great Chuck Berry hold the most weight as well as appearances on Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show.

Kipper is still an active member in the renowned Midwest band Gypsy and has musically contributed to award-winning television ads and Hollywood films.

Besides being included in the same context as other notables, the band isn’t comparable to any single mainstream artist, aside from Kipper sounding like a raspy double of Matisyahu. From song to song, you can hear a constant changing from hip and lusty salsa to speakeasy-style brass to something contemporarily casual like the tunes played on metro radio stations like Cities 97. Still other songs send you into a baseball stadium organ jive. The New Primitives even reach back to Johnny Cash with a reggae-infused version of “Ring of Fire.”

MSU Performance Series director Dale Haefner knows their college following is one that holds a lot of weight.

“This is their third year running. It’s such a popular act that I just keep bringing them back. Students love them,” Haefner said.

Haefner expects it will be close to a full house when the New Primitives hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. As of Monday afternoon, out of 340 available seats in Halling Recital Hall, 150 had been sold.

“We’re real excited to come back to MSU,” Kipper said.

Citing his brother’s membership on the MSU Board of Athletic Directors, Kipper spoke fondly of his ties to Mankato, where his son Miles currently goes to school.

“I even remember coming here when I was a young kid and my brother was going to school here. I remember listening to Bob Dylan songs on the way down from the Twin Cities.”

When asked about a United States tour with New Primitives, he said, “We’ve been getting out there a lot. We’re definitely doing more nationwide, especially with the release of our new CD. With the new management and new business coming in, we’re getting larger. Chico (Perez) and I have been running across America for a long time.”

If nothing else is clear, at least many know the kind of impact this band has had on previous crowds.

“The response we got at 10,000 Lakes Festival was without a doubt the biggest we’ve got so far. We played in front of 4,000 to 5,000 people. We must be doing something right,” Kipper said.

With the following that they have, the New Primitives must be doing those “somethings” right, often. - Minnesota State University - Mankato Reporter

Nine-piece reggae band New Primitives fuse the sound of Kingston with ska, blues, calypso and more.

You probably don’t know the name Stanley Kipper. What you may know are names of the geniuses that the lead singer has worked with: Joe Walsh, Bo Diddley, Barry Gibb and Little Richard, to name a few.

Kipper, along with his Minneapolis-based reggae ensemble, New Primitives, will bring their unique sound to the Halling Recital Hall for students and Mankato’s public Tuesday.

Formed in 1999, New Primitives boast a deep musical rap sheet accompanied by multiple talents for creating the beach-side reggae that they so effortlessly seem to play. The band is comprised of nine members, playing instruments that range from trap drums and trumpets, to saxophones and bass guitars. They were voted Best Reggae Band four straight years (from 2003 to 2006) for the Minnesota Music Awards.

When it comes to their history, many of the band members have sprung from several recognizable musical acts. Saxophonist and producer Brian “Snowman” Powers has seen stage-time with Blues Traveler and The Spin Doctors. Dee Jay Trichrome, who provides the hip-hop beats in many of New Primitives’ songs, is direct offspring of William Nevious – world-famous drummer for hippie-era group, “The Egyptian Combo.” Bass guitarist Matt Stevens is regularly involved with Wookiefoot – a band that has played at Mankato’s “What’s Up Lounge.”

And then there’s Kipper, who is possibly the most connected and famous member, without being in the center of that spotlight.

“My experiences have definitely made the music more accessible. They’ve also made it more powerful, you know, definitely more global,” said the singer, whose brushes with rock ‘n’ rollers Richard, Diddley and the great Chuck Berry hold the most weight as well as appearances on Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show.

Kipper is still an active member in the renowned Midwest band Gypsy and has musically contributed to award-winning television ads and Hollywood films.

Besides being included in the same context as other notables, the band isn’t comparable to any single mainstream artist, aside from Kipper sounding like a raspy double of Matisyahu. From song to song, you can hear a constant changing from hip and lusty salsa to speakeasy-style brass to something contemporarily casual like the tunes played on metro radio stations like Cities 97. Still other songs send you into a baseball stadium organ jive. The New Primitives even reach back to Johnny Cash with a reggae-infused version of “Ring of Fire.”

MSU Performance Series director Dale Haefner knows their college following is one that holds a lot of weight.

“This is their third year running. It’s such a popular act that I just keep bringing them back. Students love them,” Haefner said.

Haefner expects it will be close to a full house when the New Primitives hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. As of Monday afternoon, out of 340 available seats in Halling Recital Hall, 150 had been sold.

“We’re real excited to come back to MSU,” Kipper said.

Citing his brother’s membership on the MSU Board of Athletic Directors, Kipper spoke fondly of his ties to Mankato, where his son Miles currently goes to school.

“I even remember coming here when I was a young kid and my brother was going to school here. I remember listening to Bob Dylan songs on the way down from the Twin Cities.”

When asked about a United States tour with New Primitives, he said, “We’ve been getting out there a lot. We’re definitely doing more nationwide, especially with the release of our new CD. With the new management and new business coming in, we’re getting larger. Chico (Perez) and I have been running across America for a long time.”

If nothing else is clear, at least many know the kind of impact this band has had on previous crowds.

“The response we got at 10,000 Lakes Festival was without a doubt the biggest we’ve got so far. We played in front of 4,000 to 5,000 people. We must be doing something right,” Kipper said.

With the following that they have, the New Primitives must be doing those “somethings” right, often. - Minnesota State University - Mankato Reporter

The calendar reveals six weeks of winter remain, but Minnesota State will get one last reprieve from the January doldrums, as Minnesota reggae kings the New Primitives bring their sweltering sonic carnival to Halling Recital Hall tonight for a 7:30 p.m. performance. Their last appearance at MSU in early 2005 was arguably the pinnacle of the year’s Performance Series, an eclectic and frenzied set marred only by its unwarranted brevity.

2006 finds the New Primitives, who have swelled to a bulging nine members at times, starting anew on their second record after technology waved its ugly, destructive hand at frontman Stanley Kipper and his cohorts.

“We had one of those things happen where a computer messed up and literally dumped our whole record,” Kipper said in a resiliently optimistic tone. “So we started all over. But we’re now 10 songs into it.”

Kipper said the unnerving experience paved the way to more satisfactory and collaborative results the second time around, and hopes to get the record “on the streets” within the next couple months.

“We re-recorded some of the old ones and then we got a bunch of new ones, as well,” said Kipper, the band’s chief songwriter. “It sounds so much better than the stuff before.”

Winners of the Minnesota Music Award’s Best Reggae Band three years running, the New Primitives are an age-defying blend of diverse cultures and musical backgrounds. The valiant pledge of the band’s surname is not meant in arrogance, but rather in the steadfast belief that music is a universal blessing, intended to heal and revive the people.

The Minneapolis-based band is relentless in its pursuit of ridding the world of the melodramatic, processed drivel suffocating modern popular music, one fan and a single show at a time.

“We’re a working band. We tour and we play – this is all we do,” Kipper said. “The world doesn’t need another mediocre band, and we’re certainly not going to be that. The band sounds better than it ever has.”

Though the Primitives are a reggae band at their core, they seamlessly incorporate into their music various reggae elements, such as ska, calypso, spry R&B, hip-hop (a turntable player was recently added to the fold) and country music.

There are no “anything but country” barriers in this band. Contrarily, Kipper and the Primitives welcome and nurture all breeds of music like stray dogs wandering up to their doorstep. Johnny Cash’s country standard. “Ring of Fire” is an essential chestnut in the Primitives’ repertoire, a nod to the subtle country overtones in reggae music.

“It’s the songs; they’re so cool,” Kipper, 55, said of his love for old-time country and Western. “‘Ring of Fire’ is such a great song. Songs like that span genres, and nobody expected us to do stuff like that.”

An engaging and alluring presence, Kipper, a native of Minneapolis, grew up absorbing and studying his parents’ record collection, eventually angering his athletic coaches in high school when his interest in music began outweighing sports.

For 20 years, he lived in Los Angeles, where he worked alongside a stellar array of established artists, including blues-rocker Joe Walsh, The Bee Gees, reggae bass maestro Aston “Family Man” Barrett and the legendary Bo Diddley (who is himself an innovator of the familiar “chick-a-boom” reggae beat).

Upon his return to Minneapolis in 1990, Kipper created One World, “a big world dance thing.” The short-lived group spawned Kipper’s initial musical kinships with current New Primitives band members Tom Peterson (bass), Chico Perez (percussion) and Joel Arpin (drums).

Kipper, deciding he “wanted to change the sound of it all,” formed the New Primitives in early 1999, and since their inception, they have cultivated a renowned reputation as the Midwest’s premier reggae band.

The band has a weekly residency at the Cabooze in Minneapolis and plans to make stops on the summer festival touring circuit, with future hopes of spreading their word internationally.

Involving their audience through intimacy and interaction is an imperative particle to the New Primitives. The warm, swaggering rapport on stage amongst the band is intoxicating to its audience, as the intense synergy beams, glows and shimmers off the stage.

“The cliche is that ‘It’s for the audience,’” Kipper said. “If someone comes into our show and they’re feeling like shit, I know we got something for them. But without the audience, it ain’t the same thing.”

The band’s percussion setup is paramount to the overall scope of the New Primitives. At certain points during the show, the entire band bangs away in rhythmic unison, until it builds into a joyfully frantic tribal percussive chant. Kipper speaks of the band’s intense reliance on percussion and its universally overwhelming powers in both social and musical terms. Kipper, Perez and Arpin perform at corporate meetings and use their percussion setup as a form of conflict resolution in Minnesota schools.

“ - Minnesota State University - Mankato Reporter

The calendar reveals six weeks of winter remain, but Minnesota State will get one last reprieve from the January doldrums, as Minnesota reggae kings the New Primitives bring their sweltering sonic carnival to Halling Recital Hall tonight for a 7:30 p.m. performance. Their last appearance at MSU in early 2005 was arguably the pinnacle of the year’s Performance Series, an eclectic and frenzied set marred only by its unwarranted brevity.

2006 finds the New Primitives, who have swelled to a bulging nine members at times, starting anew on their second record after technology waved its ugly, destructive hand at frontman Stanley Kipper and his cohorts.

“We had one of those things happen where a computer messed up and literally dumped our whole record,” Kipper said in a resiliently optimistic tone. “So we started all over. But we’re now 10 songs into it.”

Kipper said the unnerving experience paved the way to more satisfactory and collaborative results the second time around, and hopes to get the record “on the streets” within the next couple months.

“We re-recorded some of the old ones and then we got a bunch of new ones, as well,” said Kipper, the band’s chief songwriter. “It sounds so much better than the stuff before.”

Winners of the Minnesota Music Award’s Best Reggae Band three years running, the New Primitives are an age-defying blend of diverse cultures and musical backgrounds. The valiant pledge of the band’s surname is not meant in arrogance, but rather in the steadfast belief that music is a universal blessing, intended to heal and revive the people.

The Minneapolis-based band is relentless in its pursuit of ridding the world of the melodramatic, processed drivel suffocating modern popular music, one fan and a single show at a time.

“We’re a working band. We tour and we play – this is all we do,” Kipper said. “The world doesn’t need another mediocre band, and we’re certainly not going to be that. The band sounds better than it ever has.”

Though the Primitives are a reggae band at their core, they seamlessly incorporate into their music various reggae elements, such as ska, calypso, spry R&B, hip-hop (a turntable player was recently added to the fold) and country music.

There are no “anything but country” barriers in this band. Contrarily, Kipper and the Primitives welcome and nurture all breeds of music like stray dogs wandering up to their doorstep. Johnny Cash’s country standard. “Ring of Fire” is an essential chestnut in the Primitives’ repertoire, a nod to the subtle country overtones in reggae music.

“It’s the songs; they’re so cool,” Kipper, 55, said of his love for old-time country and Western. “‘Ring of Fire’ is such a great song. Songs like that span genres, and nobody expected us to do stuff like that.”

An engaging and alluring presence, Kipper, a native of Minneapolis, grew up absorbing and studying his parents’ record collection, eventually angering his athletic coaches in high school when his interest in music began outweighing sports.

For 20 years, he lived in Los Angeles, where he worked alongside a stellar array of established artists, including blues-rocker Joe Walsh, The Bee Gees, reggae bass maestro Aston “Family Man” Barrett and the legendary Bo Diddley (who is himself an innovator of the familiar “chick-a-boom” reggae beat).

Upon his return to Minneapolis in 1990, Kipper created One World, “a big world dance thing.” The short-lived group spawned Kipper’s initial musical kinships with current New Primitives band members Tom Peterson (bass), Chico Perez (percussion) and Joel Arpin (drums).

Kipper, deciding he “wanted to change the sound of it all,” formed the New Primitives in early 1999, and since their inception, they have cultivated a renowned reputation as the Midwest’s premier reggae band.

The band has a weekly residency at the Cabooze in Minneapolis and plans to make stops on the summer festival touring circuit, with future hopes of spreading their word internationally.

Involving their audience through intimacy and interaction is an imperative particle to the New Primitives. The warm, swaggering rapport on stage amongst the band is intoxicating to its audience, as the intense synergy beams, glows and shimmers off the stage.

“The cliche is that ‘It’s for the audience,’” Kipper said. “If someone comes into our show and they’re feeling like shit, I know we got something for them. But without the audience, it ain’t the same thing.”

The band’s percussion setup is paramount to the overall scope of the New Primitives. At certain points during the show, the entire band bangs away in rhythmic unison, until it builds into a joyfully frantic tribal percussive chant. Kipper speaks of the band’s intense reliance on percussion and its universally overwhelming powers in both social and musical terms. Kipper, Perez and Arpin perform at corporate meetings and use their percussion setup as a form of conflict resolution in Minnesota schools.

“ - Minnesota State University - Mankato Reporter

The New Primitives explores popular music through high-energy rhythm & blues, ska, reggae, calypso, and world dance music. The Twin Cities band recently released a new CD called "American Nomad," and they dropped by the show this morning to share a song.

You can see The New Primitives every Thursday night at Nyes in Minneapolis. The music starts at 9 p.m.

For more information about the group, visit newprimitives.com. - KARE 11

The New Primitives explores popular music through high-energy rhythm & blues, ska, reggae, calypso, and world dance music. The Twin Cities band recently released a new CD called "American Nomad," and they dropped by the show this morning to share a song.

You can see The New Primitives every Thursday night at Nyes in Minneapolis. The music starts at 9 p.m.

For more information about the group, visit newprimitives.com. - KARE 11

Hard to believe that the new New Primitives album, "American Nomad," is only the second one in the Twin Cities group's 13-year run. The reggae/calypso/world-beat/rock sextet -- co-founded by dueling percussionists Stan Kipper and Chico Perez -- rolls through cover songs with an impressive zeal at its myriad gigs around town, including its weekly Thursday sets at Nye's in Minneapolis. That good-vibing energy is amplified in such new originals as the hard-funking "Didn't I Tell You" and "Rogues Moon." - Chris Riemenschneider