New Primitives prepared to take stage at music festival

WORTHINGTON — The Worthington Windsurfing Regatta & Unvarnished Music Festival both promises and delivers a rollicking good time each and every year, and this coming weekend’s event should be no exception.

One of the main stage headliners during the festival will be the New Primitives — a Minneapolis-based band that features a curious blend of reggae and Latin rhythms with an extensive percussion beat.

Stan Kipper, lead vocalist of the band, said the group is looking forward to their Worthington performance.

“Our show is like Mardi Gras,” Kipper stated. We’re going to come into town and bring a ton of energy.”

Their songs, all original, are loaded with percussion and very intense, Kipper said.

“We encourage people to get up and dance,” he laughed. “We have a ton of beats — serious beats.”

Several members of the group have been playing together for more than 40 years in a variety of bands, which Kipper said adds to the experience of playing.

“We know how lucky we are,” he explained. “It’s like a celebration for us because we have known each other for so long. No matter how much time we have on stage, it is not enough.”

New Primitives’ members include Kipper, Chico Perez on percussion and back-up vocals, Joel Arpin on trap drums, percussion and back-up vocals, Matthew Stevens on bass guitar and back-up vocals, Joel Schaan on guitar, Daryk Durwood on saxophone and Bruce Jackson on keyboards.

Kipper and Perez are both in the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame. Kipper has toured, played and recorded with artists such as Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Joe Walsh, and has composed several songs for films and commercials. Perez has played with a variety of bands such as Gypsy, 7th Wave and Jump Street, and also makes drums and teaches African and Afro-Cuban percussion at the Minneapolis Drum Center.

The other band members have experience in a variety of endeavors that includes the bands Wallace Hartley, The Beads, Titanic and Test Site 67.

The percussion sounds of New Primitives includes timbales, bongos, trap drums and other hand equipment.

“To be able to bring all this music — all this energy — to Worthington is a real pleasure,” Kipper stated. “It is a time for people to get up and do their thing. Get up and dance. Our songs are so intense we lose weight by the end of each show. It is real music.”

The New Primitives will be on the main stage during the festival from 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday.

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