Prawn Song Records

Prawn Song Records is an independent record label owned by Les Claypool of Primus. The name and logo are a parody of Led Zeppelin's label Swan Song Records.

Prawn Song is based in San Francisco, California, and distribution is handled by The Orchard in the United States and Cooking Vinyl in Europe.Copyright information, '' Purple Onion'' (European issue), 2002.

History

The label was created in 1989 for the initial limited release of the Primus live album ''Suck On This''. The band borrowed $3,000 from Claypool's father to fund the release and pressed 1,000 vinyl copies of the record.Illustrated Discography, ''Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People'' DVD, 2003. They then used the profits from those sales to keep pressing the album, one thousand copies at a time, and signed a distribution deal with Rough Trade Records. The album was later licensed to be reissued by independent record label Caroline Records in 1990, 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 were released in CD and tape formats by Interscope, with double-LP pressings of the albums issued on Prawn Song.

In 1998 and 1999, 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,Copyright information, '' Live Frogs Set 1'' and ''Live Frogs Set 2'', 2001. 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. Claypool alleged in 2018 that Mammoth severed ties with Prawn Song as a result of their refusal to release an album by his side project Beanpole, which he worked on with Larry LaLonde, Adam Gates and Mark Greenberg among others. The album was later released by Prawn Song and Sean Lennon's imprint, Chimera Music in 2018.

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'',Overview
''Green Naugahyde''
Discogs. 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''.Overview
''Four Foot Shack''
Discogs.

Catalog

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 of 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'' DVD (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 of 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)
* ATO0404 – Primus – ''The Desaturating Seven'' (2017)

See also

* List of record labels

References

External links

Official site

{{Authority control

Record labels established in 1989
American independent record labels
Vanity record labels
Les Claypool