Surviving a fire that destroyed most of the
store and its stock in 1994, the store built a loyal staff
that included discerning SF DJs such as Solar Langevin and
imported San Diego rave scene stalwart Mark E. Quark. In 1997,
Primal Records debuted its new label with The Lumpheads "Disco
Recovery," a touchstone for the West Coast house sound
which was still primarily a DJ style rather than a fully formed
genre.
The future "Bridges" in Fries and Bridges, Hector
Moralez, joined the staff as an up and coming DJ in 1998.
While Primal had a nascent online presence by 2000, Norman
Arenas was brought on to run the online business full time
in 2001. Norman and Barrie have also been working on reviving
the formerly sporadic Primal releases, as well as Norman's
new tech-house imprint PR2.
I caught up with Norman on his past, present, and future
with Primal as well as what his very talented co-workers have
been up to...
I know that you started out playing in a rock
band. You were touring, you had records. What first turned
you on to dance music, and what made you decide to get involved
as more than just a fan?
I think that growing up in New York City, I’ve pretty
much always been a fan of underground music, period. There
was always so much going on, from hip hop to disco to punk
rock.
But punk rock and New York City hardcore
just really grabbed me by the throat in 1986, and I spent
a lot of time pretty dedicated to that. By the time I started
making my own music in 1990, I was fairly over hardcore as
a musical genre, but I continued to see its relevance to me
personally and politically. I was exposed to New York’s
early rave scene—spaces like NASA or Save The Robots
or Michael Alig’s Limelight parties—but that stuff
made me depressed. It was so apolitical and drug-addled, and
I’ve always been primarily a music fan.
So it wasn’t until 1995, when
I was over in Europe touring with a band that I was in, that
I really made a connection to dance music. I started going
to parties after our shows, just listening to the music and
trying to read the vibe. A lot of the parties I was going
to were in Germany, so the music was probably somewhere between
techno and early trance. I really liked that sound at the
time. When I got home to New York, I started going out a bit
and I was finally meeting other people who weren’t just
junkies; people who really seemed to care about this music.
That’s about the time I started buying records.
The move from fan to active participant
was basically inevitable. The hardcore punk scene practically
revolves around the do-it-yourself ethic; it’s about
being pro-active and not apathetic. I was doing bands, writing
for music magazines, publishing my own fanzine—things
I’ve been doing practically my whole life. It was natural
for me to take those ethics with me into house music.
Why did you come
out to the West Coast, and how did you end up working for
Primal?
I had been living
in Chicago for a couple of years after one of my bands broke
up. I started working at Gramaphone Records, which was kind
of like House Music High School for me. I was just a freshman,
but it put me in contact with the alumni—so many producers
and DJs that were so inspiring to me like Derrick Carter,
Ralphi Rosario, and all the staff there. Everyone had such
an influence on me.
At the end of 2000, I was talking with a friend of mine in
San Francisco about starting another band and I decided to
take a trip out West to check out the city. My friend Rebecca,
who also worked at Gramaphone, was dating Guy (Rasoul) at
the time, so we all went to Primal to go shopping. Guy introduced
me to Hector, Solar, and Barrie, the owner.
And it was strange how fast everything happened after that.
Before me, no one new had been hired at Primal in years. I
remember Hector used to tell me how kids in the store were
mad, like, “Who the hell is he? We’ve been asking
for jobs for years!” But as Barrie tells me now, he
just had a hunch and he went with it. I was working full-time
at the store within a few weeks of meeting everyone.
Primal has been around for awhile, and has a whole history
with its label, from before you started working with them.
What brought about the decision to get the label going again?
I think I’m a bit ambitious. I can’t help it.
I came to Primal to really get the online retail aspect on
its feet, so once that started happening in a big way, I convinced
Barrie to restart the label. By this time, Hector had just
released a record with Phil Weeks as Fries & Bridges for
MFF, so they were the obvious choice for the relaunch.
I think that Barrie approached putting
records out before in a very casual way, and I can say that
between Primal and Primal Breaks, he did an amazing job. There
were some incredible records out before I ever stepped into
the picture. But I’d really like to keep the momentum
going this time, and I think Barrie is excited about that—especially
because he doesn’t have to do all the work.
What
distinguishes PR2 from Primal?
Umm,
well, I guess Primal is a democracy and Barrie has the veto
vote! PR2 is basically my republic,
and I’m the dictator! No, but seriously, the lines are
blurring every day. I have a feeling that Primal will wind
up doing a lot of the deep and dubby house, whereas PR2 will
basically reflect what I’m playing and into—whatever
that is.
What
is currently ready for release from Primal and PR2?
The Fries & Bridges “Affiliated Drums Vol. 1”
EP just came out on Primal this week, which is thrilling.
I really think it’s the best thing they’ve done
so far. In February, PR2 Recordings will have the full release
of DJ Adnan & Amit Shoham’s “Searching,”
which has Jay Tripwire remixes. I’m really proud of
that record; I mean, I practically started the label just
to put that track out.
In early March, PR2 will have a new
EP from Wyatt Earp & DJ Foxx, which again, is something
that I just adore. I think it’s one of my favorite tech-house
records ever. And then the next two things after that are
Il Stefano & Mr. Fantastic’s “Dread”
for Primal, which is a really cool dubby breaks track that
Joshua remixed for us, and Trey Smith’s “Freak
Of Space” on PR2, which is a really leftfield track
for us. It’s not quite techno, not house, not really
progressive... I don’t know how to describe it except
to say that it’s really versatile on the dancefloor
and it’s a really unique record. Solomonic Sound are
currently working on the remix for that.
What
else should we expect from PR2 and Primal in 2003?
I’ve got a couple of things that I’m looking into
signing, and I’d like to keep a consistent release schedule
for both labels. At the same time, I am really biting my lip
to sign stuff that I am only head-over-heels in love with,
and if that means that things slow down, then so be it.
I really feel confident that we can
do something really great with these labels. It’s also
a bit of an ambition for me to resurrect the Primal Breaks
label at some point as well, but that’s going to take
some time. It seems like the UK nu-school breaks sound has
really cornered the market on breakbeat, and it would be nice
to see some West Coast funky breaks records coming back.
Primal
has a lot of in-house talent - what are your coworkers up
to in 2003?
Hector
is really busy in the studio. Besides Fries & Bridges,
he’s been doing a lot of stuff on his own and has been
casually working with other really well-known producers for
future projects.
Solar is pretty busy with his weekly
parties and seasonal Sunset parties, but he’s threatening
to go into the studio this year himself, which I think would
probably be incredible. Anyone who’s seen him play will
know what I’m talking about.
Justin has started a label of his
own called Slow Motion Sequence, and the first two releases
for him will be his own track called “Monolith,”
which is being remixed by Gray Area, and a new EP from Jeff
Bennett, which I’ve been playing off CD-R. It’s
really good.
And Rebecca is probably the hardest
working promoter in the Bay Area. Her Get Underground! parties
have just totally inspired me, and she’s really made
a name for herself in such a short amount of time. It’s
awesome.
There
is a lot of gloom and doom in the dance industry at the moment.
How do you feel about the current state of the industry, and
where do you think its going? Where do you think it should
go? Where does Primal fit into all of this?
It’s tough, because we feel it on so many levels—we
have the labels, the store, and the online store. But honestly,
I think the problem is that a lot of labels and stores really
set themselves up for a fall by following the corporate model
for how to run a music business
I mean, people had real investors
who wanted real bottom lines, they were spending money on
major-label level marketing and promotion campaigns, they
were engaging in pointless bidding wars for tracks, they were
wasting a lot of money on things you just don’t need.
We’re talking about 12-inch records here! There is practically
no profit margin on a 12-inch, whether you’re a label
or a retailer, so how can you expect to spend that kind of
money and not run into financial trouble?
If I have any goal with the business
that I do, it’s to do things fair and responsibly. Artists
who work with our label will be paid fairly, but we are not
interested in handing out grossly exagerrated advance money.
Any profit that we do make on a record is split with the artist
on a 50/50 basis, so we’re trying to keep costs low
while selling more records.I
want to be able to hand out royalty checks. I want to eradicate
the corporate concept of advance money that says that you
have to take all the money that you can get up front because
you’ll probably get ripped off anyway.
For us, that means that we have to
find like-minded artists who are in tune with our ethics,
and so far, we’ve been lucky enough to have that. There
have been other things that have contributed to the current
industry lull—the economy and the onset of a pointless
war, for starters—but for the most part, I really feel
that most of our problems are based around the fact that people
are emulating a model that just doesn’t work.
Alright,
last one... Just for fun: give me your five desert island
discs.
Tough.
For albums, I’ll go with these:
Beatles - Revolver
Murk - Miami Deep
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2
David Bowie - Low
Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden
My Top 5 dance singles are on the Primal website, but for
simplicity, here they are:
The Fog - “Been A Long Time” (Original Club Mix)
Danny Tenaglia - “Elements” (The Chant Mix)
Robert Owens - “I’ll Be Your Friend” (Dead
Zone Mix)
Cheryl Lynn - “Got To Be Real”
First Choice - “Armed & Extremely Dangerous”
(Cevin Fisher’s Classic Club Mix)
Thats that. Thanks!
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