The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, April 7, 1994 - 3 San Francisco-based Primus spawns Prawn Song label By TOM ERLEWINE Over the last decade, the San Fran- cisco-based group Primus has become one of the biggest acts in rock 'n' roll and one name is synonymous with the h'and: bassist Les Claypool. With Claypool's astonishing musicianship and bizarre sense of humor, °Primus has become virtually a household name without selling out in the slight- est. As their latest record, "Pork Soda," proved, their music continues to be experimental and innovative, slyly merging several different musical styles in the guise of a rock song. "Les has taken this music that is very out of the ordinary to these white suburban crowds," explained jazz guitarist ,Charlie Hunter. Now that Claypool has gained that mainstream audience, he is choosing to put his resources in his pet project, Prawn Song. Primus' first album, "Suck on This" appeared on the independent Prawn Song label when first released. Over the years. the label metamorphisized intothe band'smer- chandising company. "When I de- cided to make my own label we were going to use the Prawn Song name and logo because that was something I came up with and did all the art work for. And we already had the fictitious business statement and all that stuff, so it was easier," Claypool laughed. Over a year ago I had the idea," he recalled. "It was always something that I wanted to do because I knew so many talented people that had oh- ,cure approaches most labels wouldn't w it to he involved with. And if they di, they would probably want to change it or alter it in some way." On Prawn Song, the artist retains com- plete artistic control, allowing them to drift as far away from the main- stream as they would like. "I want to do whatever the artist wants to do." said Claypool. "I'm invoWI ed as much as I can possibly he inlolsed At this point F'm try ing to taper ff on some of it just because it was bec ininc to consu me me and I was becominc astiressed-out cuv who wasn't very fun to he around." he laughed. "My life was being neglected because I was doing so much produc- tion and playing. We had to hag a couple projects recently because it was just getting too busv. I'd rather thin it out and do some quality stuff than try to do everythin and do it half-assed." SPrawn Song released its first two recordsinJanuary: ex-[I mbomaniacs guitarist M..R.V.'s 'Cosmodrome' and the self-tilled debut disc by the Charlie Hunnter Trio. Taken together. the two albums illustrate the musical depth of the record label. "Cosmodrome' is a shatteri uily funn tribute to rock concept aibums and '"Charlie Hunter Trio" is an excellent. 11riving record led by Hunter's eight- tring guitar that manages to be both 'traditional and experimental. "I started recording Charlie and *recorded M.I.R.V. in my basement and it came out good, so we decided to release it all,' explained Claypool. "It was very low-budget stuf'. The Charlie record cost us 100 dollars to make." The money in the Hunter "project alone covered the cost of the recording tape. That sort of off-the-cuff, minimalist approach suits Hunter fine. *Aflter playing with the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, he is doing .what he originally wanted to do - ;play jazz. The Hunter Trio played on some Lollapalooza second stages last year and were well-received. Now. with a tour underway and their debut ,disc gaining favorable attention from some major jazz publications, the combo i making an impact. According to Hunter, the disc was recorded quite spontaneously. "I've known Les for a while," he recalled. 'My drummer used to play in his band. Les just said. 'Hey, I know you have the trio. Do you want to make a record, like a one-off"?' And I said 'Sure, it'd be great.' It was just an easy way for us to make a record fast without having to wait for the whole label thing. So now we have this call- ing-card disc, which is actually doing a hell of a lot better than we ex- pected." "For this particular group," he explained, "I try to write tunes which are more or less in a song-form struc- ture that can be written out on a lead sheet. Some of the people who I think are the best and the greatest that I listen to - like Monk and Mingus and Wayne Shorter - I try to emu- late them and don't even come close to achieving what they did." Even if Hunter doesn't come close to their achievements. "The Charlie Hunter Trio" is full of fresh. inspired playing and is a very impressive debut effort. Prawn Song's second release is also by a virtuoso guitarist .although not in the same vein as Hunter. M.I.R.V. is a thrilling guitarist. ca- pable of some astonishing pyrotech- nics, yet possessing enough musical sense to know when to hold back. He also has a wicked sense of humor. as his debut alhum. "Cosmodromse.ow shows. "The whole thing has got the cli- ches of the '70s rock operas." he ex- plained. "but it's kind of a tongue-in- check thing. When I decided to do this solo thing I was hasvinc a beer with my brother and he said. 'You gottado arock opera.' AndI said. 'All right! I'll take the challenge.' The surgcstion came at the ril01 time because M.I.R.V. wasn't clear about what direction he wanted to take on his first solo album. "I didn't want to do a solo-oriented fret-hoard work freakout thing."' he said. "I wanted to do somethin, more the- matic. My favorite groups are like the Who and Pink Floyd and stuff like that. I thought ( their albumis ) were Lreat w orks. bigx rorks that were prentr dain touch to attain. So I decided to take a smiall stah at something.'' '( Cosmodrome' xxorks sturpri,- ingly well. Its plot line may get lost in the music. but t hat happens in 'TonmnIy.''"Quadroplhenia and "The Wall." too. What makes M.I.R.V.'s "rock opeira'' such fun is the sheer lelight he takes in twisting the genre conventions and placing them into unfamiliar settinrgs. And he doesn't treat them as seriously as Pete Townshend or Roger Waters. After all. this is a man that covers the "Cantina" theme from "Star Wars" in the middle of his serious work of art. "I was scared because it doesn't sound like an album like The Wall."' admitted M.I.R.V. "We recorded most of it on Les Claypool's broken eight- track. It's not like two 24-track tape machines running with extreme bud- gets flying by. But I guess it came out in the mastering sound ing pretty good." Despite all the sly gags on the album, only one song was planned as a specific tribute. "The most inten- tional moment was 'The Walk Back Home.' he said. "That was kind of likea Who song. I wanted tocue in the album like that. The rest of it is not too intentional: it's sort of steeped in that kind stuff." Like Hunter's record. the M.I.R.V. project effortlessly fell into place. "I brought a guitar over one day (to Claypool's house)." recalled M.I.R.V.. "and it sounded better than I thought it was gonna sound. And I said. 'Well, shit! Let's record some stuff.' In the midst of that recording. which was basically fooling around. we got some tracks done. And I was coin c to take those tracks and shop ihem. In the midst of that recording. he decided to start this label. And he actually got this label coini. It of worked out all real nice with him starting the label. There's not a lot of money. but I always wanted to be in contact wiith my label and hasve a very good working rclationship. almost like a friend. .I hasc complete artistic control.'' M.I. R.. Veealed. "It's whatever you want to do. I imcan. there's a lot of work to be done on the artist's end because it is not a milajor corporation. But it's better that way because cv- crybody helps out. 'laypool intends to keep Prawn Sontc rather small for the time being. Presenty. the company only consists of three employees (lay pool. label manager I)ax id Ie fk os it/ and A<&R man Scolti (J. Prrxs n Sonri aims to rcleise six to sexen albums a ear. x hileconstamtly keepmig on the search for ness artists. Praw n Song's third release. Sausage's "R iddles are Ahound Tonight.' hits the stores this week. Sausage is a side project of Claypool's."Basicall y. Igot together With a couple of the old members o Prinius.'' lie explained. ''arid we did a record ofold Primus songs we used to do nine. I yveat's ago that nobodys heard since the little.tins. sm.noky clubs we used to pla\ .' Not surprisinls. M.I.R.V. has "complete artistic control" when recording with Prawn Song. Les Claypool, Song's owner, decrees that. Sausace sounds a lot like Primus. although slightly less frenetic: for milost tans. it's as good as a hranid-ne w limtus albutm,. Prawx n Song's roster is currentl s compri sed of Bas Area artists hut. as Claypool pointed out, that was part of the intention of tlie label. "I know so man) people from playing in this area for the past I15. 16 years that I almost hase an agenda in my head of who I xxant to talk to next when the time is rici.' he said. "Hope fully, in a year or two I' II have a lot of this done and I can start branchintig out a little more. But that's what I brought Scott- ( Mar. so he can ferret through all this other stuff and if he finds something that's really. really appealing. we can try and msake room lot' it. "At this point, there are so many things that we wantit to release and we don't w ant to put out too maim inigs. Claypool explained. "because then people get neglected and that's a big problem with a lot oflabels. (Scotty ( has) actually brought us one group already that we're going tow ork with. I had seen (them) years ago but I just See PRAWN. 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