Though I’d been immersed in his music for weeks before our interview, I wasn’t prepared for the voice that greeted me that early morning. Stan Kipper, founder of the New Primitives, spoke with a tone as deep and rich as a well-seasoned drum, both friendly and inviting, with just a touch of playful mischief.
In just a few introductory words, the percussionist, singer, songwriter, bandleader, mentor, and writer shifted my heartbeat momentarily. I’m a sucker for a good voice, and Kipper has one I’d happily listen to read the phone book from cover to cover. As I settled in, ears tuned to the man behind the band, I caught the syncopation in his speech, the rhythm of someone who has truly lived his story on stage. (No exaggeration, he’s taken the stage in more ways than one.)
Kipper’s voice reflects the sound of the New Primitives: inviting, playful, and impossible to ignore. A 2020 promo for the band on YouTube opens with a fan’s quote: “At one point I was convinced they were going to levitate off the stage and take the audience with them. The audience was in a total trance.”
I believe it. That energy comes through in recordings of live shows, and I can only imagine how much more powerful it is to be near the music as it’s created.
That opportunity is coming soon to Silver Bay as part of Rocky Wall Entertainment’s Music in the Park Concert Series. The New Primitives will perform Friday, August 1, at the City Center Park Stage from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m., a free event open to the public. They will play again the following night in the Rocky Wall Benefit House Concert Series, with tickets starting at $25. Proceeds help bring more live music to Silver Bay.
“I’m really excited about it. We’re so looking forward to coming up. Nelson and his friends put on this great thing,” said Kipper. “We’re going to have a great time. We’re going to throw down.”
Nelson French, president of Rocky Wall Entertainment’s non-profit organization, has been friends with Kipper for years. They first worked together on benefit concerts to restore the historic Armory in Duluth.
When I spoke to French after the summer lineup announcement, he said, “The New Primitives are a great band and they’re going to be a lot of fun.”
The fun began for the New Primitives in Minneapolis when Kipper co-founded the band with Mark “Chico” Perez. Their name reflects their music, a blend of old and new. Their performances often kick off with rhythmic grooves that draw from the deep roots of percussion, setting the tone for a sound that honors the past while pushing forward.
As Kipper explains, “We generally start every show with some kind of drum grooves. A lot of these beats that Chico and I are playing, we used to laugh because some of these beats are so old. They were there before us, they’re gonna be there well after we’re gone.”
Perez and Kipper have been collaborators for a long time. They share deep roots in the band Gypsy, which was inducted into the St. Louis Classic Rock Hall of Fame. But they didn’t start out on the best foot when they met around age 14 or 15.
When I asked if the initial animosity was due to competition amongst drummers Kipper laughed.
“We were punk kids,” he explained. “Couple of knuckleheads. The only people of color in the building, in the middle of the afternoon, and we’re sizing each other up.”
By the end of the day, Kipper had tuned up Perez’s new drum set and even played it in a show before Perez himself debuted it. That beat was strong then, and it hasn’t skipped since, despite times in their lives when the musicians and friends have lived far away from each other.
“We have this language between us. We said the other night when we were playing, we’re the only ones who can do it like that. We finish each other’s sentences,” Kipper said.
By the mid-1970s, Stan’s musical path led him to Gypsy. Originally formed in the late ’60s from the ashes of Minneapolis groups like The Underbeats and The Escapades, Gypsy had evolved into a progressive rock outfit with a soulful edge. When Stan joined as drummer and vocalist alongside Perez, the band was entering a new phase, leaning into groove, grit, and rhythmic complexity.
Over the next decade, Kipper remained deeply embedded in the Gypsy fold. From electrifying stadium shows, like the 1977 concert at Busch Stadium, to studio sessions blending soul, rock, and storytelling, he helped guide the band through its reinvention.
Kipper recalls that Busch Stadium show with particular fondness, a highlight amid the band’s ups and downs.
“The band was kind of broken up, but we were still doing an occasional show around Los Angeles. Then we got this offer to come to St. Louis,” he recounted. “We played in front of 65,000 people at Busch Stadium. We were blown away. People had banners in the audience saying to get back together. That’s the kind of history that Gypsy had.”
As Gypsy continued to evolve over the years, Kipper and Perez found themselves craving a new sound less tied to any one genre. In the early 2000s, they channeled their energy into forming New Primitives.
Their first, self-titled album came out in 2003, followed by American Nomad in 2012. Their third album, Live at A440 Studios (2018), captured the energy of their live performances, while Primitive Road, their latest release, came out just last year. The band has won the Minnesota Music Academy Award for Best Reggae Artist/Group four times.
Kipper is also a successful playwright. His autobiographical play Behind the Sun tells the story of his family’s move from 38th Street to 45th Street in Minneapolis when he was in third grade.
“It’s less than two miles away,” Kipper explained. “We were the first Black family up on 45th. Think about the geography and how different it was racially during that time. That’s what the play is about.”
He has additional plays in the works and finds there are similarities in writing plays and writing songs.
“Writing plays is a whole other thing. Playwriting is so different, it took me a while to get to that common ground between the plays and the songs in terms of the language and writing part of it,” he said. “There’s a lot of common ground about it, especially when we were making records. I’ve learned there’s some similarities in terms of the beginning, the middle, and the ending.”
Just as Kipper found rhythm and structure in playwriting, his musical stage with the New Primitives supports a cast of characters from all walks of life.
The band’s saxophonist, Brian “Snowman” Powers, hails from Louisiana. Powers has played with Blues Traveler and Dave Matthews, among other headlining acts. On lead guitar is Andrew Wozniak, a musician from Michigan who brings Americana and rock influences. Joseph “Lightnin” Peterson plays the B3 organ and harmonica; he’s from New Mexico and has a background in blues and gospel soul. Rounding out the sound on bass is Wisconsinite Tom Peterson.
“We come from such different things, but we have that common ground,” said Kipper. “We all connect, and I think that’s what makes the chemistry of it.”
Kipper encourages everyone to come and experience the chemistry and sound of New Primitives in Silver Bay.
“It’s going to be heavy. The shows are intense and super cool,” he said. “Everybody really plays their hearts out.”
Just as Kipper’s voice lifted my spirits that morning, the New Primitives are set to levitate Silver Bay and throw down beats that will have everyone rising to the occasion. Get ready for a show that’s truly uplifting and can’t be beat.
Learn more about New Primitives at newprimitives.com. For more information about Silver Bay’s Music in the Park Series, including purchasing tickets for the Benefit House Concert, visit rockywallentertainment.org.
