After spending much of the last few years establishing themselves as one of the more enigmatic names doing the rounds right now, Phoenix-based outfit Prime Society are making their eagerly-awaited return with the shimmering new single 'Coffin'.
Capturing a wonderfully warm and soulful aesthetic for their newest outing, 'Coffin' makes for a rousing return to form for the group. While it marks their first piece of new material in almost two years, they are still proving to be one of the more exciting and fascinating names on the rise today.
So with the new single available to stream now, we sat down with them to find out more about their origins and what has been inspiring them most over the years.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
Shy - Violin. It’s always had such a beautiful sound that always stuck with me and to this day I still try to add strings into every song possible.
Infin8 - Piano, it was the first instrument my mom put me in front of. I remember my grandmother playing jazz ear and it always inspired me to play like her.
J. Reid - Guitar was the first instrument I loved. I always thought of the guitar as THE instrument to.
Juan- Unironically, piano was the first instrument I fell in love with. When I was 5 my dad bought me a light up Casio keyboard for my birthday and I turned on the song mode and Fur Elise was the first song I was introduced to and first song I learned following the lights on the keys.
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
Juan- I was into a lot of the oldies. I remember around the time when Limewire was the coolest thing in the world. Back then, my mom and grandma had me download and burn CD’s of all kinds of classics from Michael Jackson, to Stevie Wonder, all the way to the Chi-Lites, the Manhattans and a bunch of other bands in the 70’s.
Shy - Mainly R&B, Gospel, and oldies. But games like Guitar Hero and Smackdown Vs. Raw helped me branch out into other genres.
Infin8- I was always a soul/r&b, hip-hop fan. My dad engrained artists like Marvin and James Brown in my DNA at a young age.
J Reid - Growing up I was exposed to the same music as infin8. Our dad loved Marvin, Ray, Jimi, James Brown and my mother loved Gospel music, Aretha & Anita Baker.
What was the first album you remember owning?
Shy - ‘Stankonia’ by OutKast
Infin8prime - ‘Writing on the Wall’ by Destiny’s Child
J. Reid - College Dropout by Kanye West
Juan- My first record that I purchased in my adulthood was a vinyl of Purple Rain.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
Shy - ‘Pyramids’ by Frank Ocean
Infin8 - ‘Hell of a Life’ by Ye
J. Reid - “Liz” by Remi Wolf
Juan- Harry Hippie by Bobby Womack.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
Shy - Not specifically for writing a new song but whenever an idea comes to me I put a line or two into a note, and if I ever have writer’s block, I try to put the notes together that have similar themes and it helps give me some direction where I had none before.
Infin8 - I just try to visualize the topic, or imagine myself I’m the situation, roll up something nice and usually the ideas flow.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
Shy - Leon Thomas, Disturbed, The Free Nationals, & Prime Society.
J. Reid - Kirby, Emily King, Zack Fox, Freddie Gibbs.
Juan- J Cole, I’ve always loved listening to him, but I’ve found myself in a rotation of his last few albums and it’s made me appreciate his way of storytelling a lot with the state of modern hip hop.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Shy - Tyler, The Creator
J. Reid - Thundercat
Juan- Honestly, Thundercat. I think he makes a lot of music that I feel like my style kinda gravitates towards, so a line up that included us and him would be fun as hell.
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
Shy - I’ve always considered myself a creative and it’s nice to feel that sense of accomplishment from writing a song or having an idea finally click and have it turn out better than you imagined it initially. It’s also a blessing that it turns out to also be a great emotional outlet that can teach you a lot about yourself as you explore it.
J. Reid - Bringing people together who would’ve never met if it wasn’t for your music.
Juan- I feel like I’m blessed to always feel like I’m learning in every gig or performance. Like you play the same songs hundreds of times over and being able to find a groove in playing and new ways to make what you play unique, that’s what I find beautiful about being a musician. Every performance is different, and being able to appreciate that and embrace that makes each gig more fun than the one before because you always get to sneak something new in that you pick up along the way.
And what is the most frustrating part?
Shy - I’d say that occasional feeling of some people not appreciating music or aspects of music as much as you do. I feel like a lot of people take the creative process for granted and don’t see what really goes into pushing your craft to make it the best it can be, really when people treat it more as a commodity to consume instead of valuing it for the art it is.
J. Reid- Probably the fact that strangers will show love faster than people I’ve known my whole life.
Juan - Troubleshooting. I’ve spent most of my life doing technical troubleshooting in so many different facets that I’m happy to just feel like a musician sometimes until problems arise and everyone looks at me to tinker to fix them. But I think what’s even more frustrating is when I get things to work because it only convinces everyone that I’m really the go to guy for fixing things and in the moment, I know it had to either be God or my pride in the moment because I also hate quitting on things once I get started.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
Shy - “Once you free your mind about a concept of harmony and of music being correct, you can do whatever you want” I heard that on Daft Punk’s ‘Random Access Memories’ and it always resonated with me and helped me have more of an open minded approach in creating a song or anything really.
J. Reid “Flowers don’t see other flowers, they just grow”.
Juan- It’s better to be prepared and not have the opportunity than to have the opportunity and not be prepared. That turns into the mantra to motivate everything from practicing to gigs with unexpected variables. Anything can happen, so at the very least, it helps to give your self confidence in what you do by practicing and being prepared.
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Prime Society's new single 'Coffin' is available to stream now. Check it out in the player below.