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Prawn Song Records

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Founded
  
1989

Prawn Song Records httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenffePra

Albums
  
Pork Soda, Green Naugahyde, Suck on This, Brown Album, Primus & The Chocolat

Prawn Song Records is the record label owned by Les Claypool of Primus, the name and logo of which are a parody of Led Zeppelin's famous label Swan Song Records.

Contents

Prawn Song is based in San Francisco, California, and distribution is handled by RED Distribution in the United States, and Essential Music & Marketing in Europe.

History

The label was created in 1989 for the initial limited release of the Primus live album Suck On This. The band borrowed three thousand dollars from Claypool's father to fund the release and pressed one thousand vinyl copies of the record. The album was later licensed to independent record label Caroline Records in 1990 for its second pressing, the same label that released the Frizzle Fry album the same year. Primus then signed to Interscope Records, who released the band's third album Sailing the Seas of Cheese in 1991 and all of their subsequent records for the next twenty years.

Prawn Song was resurrected in 1993 as a subsidiary of Interscope (at the time 50% owned by Atlantic Records, the parent company of the original Swan Song label) for the use of Claypool's side projects: Sausage and The Holy Mackerel. At this point, Prawn Song was also made a sister label to the Atlantic imprint Mammoth Records, working together with them to launch the musical projects of many of Claypool's friends and former bandmates, including M.I.R.V. (featuring Mark "Mirv" Haggard), the Charlie Hunter Trio (featuring Jay Lane), Alphabet Soup (also featuring Lane), Porch (featuring Todd Huth), and Laundry (featuring Tim Alexander). During this time, Primus' albums continued to be released solely by Interscope

In 1998 and '99, Primus started utilising the Prawn Song imprint to release the EP Rhinoplasty and the album Antipop, respectively. By 2001, Prawn Song had dropped its association with Mammoth and branched out from Interscope to become a fully independent label, while also co-operating with Interscope for the release of the Primus EP/DVD Animals Should Not Try to Act like People in 2003. The 2006 compilation album They Can't All Be Zingers was released only by Interscope, separate from Prawn Song.

As an independent label, Prawn Song reissued the early, out-of-print, pre-Interscope Primus albums, as well as DVDs of some of their recent live tours. The label also released material from Claypool's more recent side projects Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade and Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, his solo albums, and Gabby La La's debut Be Careful What You Wish For..., on which Claypool produces and provides the rhythm section. The Oysterhead album The Grand Pecking Order, however, was released by Elektra Records.

In 2011 Prawn Song partnered with ATO Records for a joint release of the Primus album Green Naugahyde, and together they subsequently released the band's 2014 album Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble, and the Duo de Twang album Four Foot Shack.

Initial inception

  • RED 22 – Primus – Suck On This (1989)

    • As a subsidiary of Interscope Records

  • INTD-92361 – Sausage – Riddles Are Abound Tonight (1994)
  • INTD-90085 – Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel – Highball with the Devil (1996)
  • 490214-2 – Primus – Rhinoplasty (1998)
  • INTV-90302 – Primus – Videoplasty (1998)
  • 490414-2 – Primus – Antipop (1999)
  • 0602498613603 – Primus – Animals Should Not Try to Act like People (2003)

    • As an associate to Mammoth Records

  • MR0065-2 – M.I.R.V. – Cosmodrome (1994)
  • MR0066-2 – Charlie Hunter Trio – Charlie Hunter Trio (1993)
  • MR0082-2 – Alphabet Soup – Layin' Low in the Cut (1995)
  • MR0094-2 – Porch – Porch (1994)
  • MR0098-2 – Laundry – Blacktongue (1994)
  • MR0102-2 – Eskimo – The Further Adventures of Der Shrimpkin (1995)

    • As an independent label

  • PSR-0001-2 – Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade – Live Frogs Set 1 (2001)
  • PSR-0002-2 – Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade – Live Frogs Set 2 (2001)
  • PSR-0003-2 – Primus – Suck On This (reissue, 2002)
  • PSR-0004-2 – Primus – Frizzle Fry (reissue, standard release, 2002)
  • PSR-0005-2 – The Les Claypool Frog Brigade – Purple Onion (standard release, 2002)
  • PSR-0006-2 – Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains – The Big Eyeball in the Sky (2004)
  • PSR-0007-2 – Primus – Hallucino-Genetics: Live 2004 (limited release, 2004)
  • PSR-0008-2 – Primus – Hallucino-Genetics: Live 2004 (standard release, 2004)
  • PSR-0009-2 – Gabby La La – Be Careful What You Wish For... (2005)
  • PSR-0010-2 – Les Claypool – 5 Gallons Of Diesel (2005)
  • PSR-0011-2 – Les Claypool – Of Whales and Woe (standard release, 2006)
  • PSR-0012-9 – Primus – Blame It on the Fish: An Abstract Look at the 2003 Primus Tour de Fromage (2006)
  • PSR-0013-9 – Les Claypool – Fancy (2007)
  • PSR-0014-2 – Les Claypool – Of Fungi and Foe (standard release, 2009)
  • PSR-0015-1 – Les Claypool – Of Fungi and Foe (limited vinyl release, 2009)
  • PSR-0016-1 – Primus – Frizzle Fry (reissue, limited vinyl release, 2009)
  • PSR-0017-1 – The Les Claypool Frog Brigade – Purple Onion (limited vinyl release, 2009)
  • PSR-0018-1 – Les Claypool – Of Whales and Woe (limited vinyl release, 2009)
  • PSR-0019-2 – Primus – Green Naugahyde (joint release, 2011)

    • As an associate to ATO Records

  • ATO0113 – Primus – Green Naugahyde (joint release, 2011)
  • ATO0223 – Duo de Twang – Four Foot Shack (2014)
  • ATO0250 – Primus – Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble (2014)

    • References

    Prawn Song Records Wikipedia
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