“Some of the true musical stars of that time got the First Ave crowd moving in a major way, as the Twin Cities Funk and Soul All-Stars delivered a jubilant, upbeat set”
Things have been moving ahead at full steam around here at Secret Stash. We have so many projects in the works and shows coming up that we are shaking with anticipation to even just tell you about them. Let’s just get started then as this week will in many ways spark the explosion of sweet funkiness that will be bound to tire all y’all out by Summer’s end around here.
This Wednesday we’ll be returning once again to the Icehouse with another new band we’ve recently assembled to kick off the season for Secret Stash Records Presents: Sonny Knight and the Lakers.
Sonny Knight has a long history as a singer in the Twin Cities. Sonny cut his first 45′, “Tears on My Pillow” b/w “My Darling” as Little Sonny Knight and the Cymbals in 1965. His youthful energy and dynamic voice come across wonderously on the swinging track of vintage vocal soul that Sonny recorded when he was just 15 years old. Similarily, the flip side slows things down allowing Sonny to lead his band with a soft soulful ballad that no doubt made the audience swoon. Eventually Sonny would be a part of several other groups in the 60’s and the 70’s Twin Cities cult favorite funk band, Haze.
Last year when it came time to put our Twin Cities Funk & Soul revue band together for the release of that compilation we became good friends and really close to Sonny Knight as he was enlisted to be a part of the reformed Valdons. With his vocal chops stronger than ever he’s been a key part of the group and helped bridge the 60’s soul spirit with 70’s funkiness singing on several other songs from the era including crowd favorites originally done by Prophets of Peace.
We’ve been long wanting to showcase Sonny’s energy and talents on his own and so it was with great inspiration that we’ve put together a band to back him up and allow for him to dominate the stage. Things really came together after the Secret Stash Soul Revue were invited to record a song, “Sorry” for the Beck “Song Reader” project where Sonny applied his signature voice to some new music for the first time.
Eventually it became necessary to assemble a group of budding talents to surround Sonny’s own unique abilities and bridge the past and present generations to resurrect those early songs but to create new grooves and melodies in what has turned out to be an inspiring combination that we can’t be more eager to share.
Thus it is with great pleasure we are able to introduce for the first time to the stage, Sonny Knight and the Lakers This Wednesday night, April 3rd at the Icehouse in Minneapolis.
As rehearsals have indicated it will be an amazing debut and particularly historic night not only for Secret Stash, but in Twin Cities music as well.
We kicked off our series at Icehouse last month with our very own Afro-Peruvian band, Peña.
This month Secret Stash Records and KFAI Radio are proud to present THE DÉROBÉ DANCE BAND!
The Dérobé Dance Band is a Minneapolis based group that plays West Africa music of the 1970s. Started by Secret Stash Records co-founders Eric Foss and Cory Wong, the catalyst for their founding was Secret Stash’s ongoing series of Ghanaian and Nigerian album reissues. During the reissue process they have spent hundreds of hours listening to and researching Afrobeat, Afro funk, and Highlife. Motivated by the music that has consumed their lives, Foss (drums) and Wong (guitar) called on a host of local Latin, Jazz, and R&B musicians to assemble their own West African dance band. Inspired by the works of K Frimpong, Peter King, Dr. K. Gyasi, Ebo Taylor, Fela Kuti, and many others, The Dérobé Dance Band delivers a heavy danceable mix of funk, rock, and African rhythms. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see live West African music in the Twin Cities.
With Secret Stash DJ’s on hand all night this is sure to be a funkin’ good time.
See you there!
Wednesday December 5th 10pm $6
The Icehouse is located at 2528 Nicollet Ave in South Minneapolis.
In September we released Twin Cities Funk & Soul. It was by far our most ambitious release to date. We are thrilled to see how many people from around the world are digging into the compilation and truly enjoying the rich music history of our home town. This 45 is the first in a series of follow-up releases aimed at going deeper.
To celebrate this release, The Twin Cities Funk & Soul Allstars featuring the Prophets of Peace will be performing at the Electric Fetus in Minneapolis onBlack Friday at 2:00 PM.
In 1974 The Prophets of Peace hit ASI studios with engineer David “Z” Rivkin (Prince, Lipps Inc). They recorded 4 songs. One of them, “You Can Be,” was released on the flip side of their 1975 single, “The Max.” The rest were held back for inclusion in a full length LP that was sadly never completed. In April of 2012 Secret Stash Records joined bandleader Anthony Scott at Essential Sessions Studios in St. Paul, MN to listen to the master tapes from the ASI sessions the first time in 38 years. In an effort to stick with the tracks most significant to the scene, we opted to include the previously released tunes on the Twin Cities Funk & Soul compilation. But, we never really stopped thinking about the rest of the material we heard that day.
This 45 includes two of those unreleased gems. The band’s theme song, “P.O.P.” is featured on side A and the instrumental jam, “46th Street Bump Time” is on the B side. The record its self looks like it just rolled off the press in ’74. Adorned with the band’s own Maxx Records logo, it is an exact replica of what it would have looked like had it been released in the ‘70s. This limited edition 500 unit pressing is available on November 23rd, 2012 (AKA Black Friday). It can only be purchased here or in Twin Cities based record shops on Black Friday. These babies are sure to sell out. When they’re gone they’re gone, so don’t miss your only chance to get one!
We have several titles back in stock! In addition, we are offering up to 33 1/3% off our records, beginning Black Friday and ending at the stroke of midnight on Cyber Monday (November 23-26). Now is a great time to fill in the gaps in your Secret Stash collection. We’ll have Persian Funk and Gospel Funk back in stock for the first time in a long time!
It was awesome hanging out with the crew from American Hipster this weekend. Our man, Paavo and the gang filmed a bunch of cool people and places in the Twin Cities this past week for future episodes of their amazing show. We were so honored to be included in their visit and can’t wait to see how pretty they make us look when our episode debuts sometime early next year. We’ll let you know when the finished show is posted. In the meantime definitely check out their series on the youtubes! Also a big thanks to all our killer friends at Surly, Galactic Pizza and the super cool peeps that always come out to help put together our records. We couldn’t do it without any y’all!!
We are partnering with KFAI for a special night at the awesome and fairly new, Icehouse here in Minneapolis. We have loved seeing a bunch of live music there and hearing DJ’s that we love spin some great stuff and are very excited to have our own monthly down there now.
Kicking things off this month will be our very own Peña. Peña is a Minneapolis based collective who perform traditional Afro-Peruvian music having studied and performed in Lima, Peru in 2010. Their self titled CD has long been a listener favorite from the Secret Stash catalog.
With Secret Stash DJ’s on hand playing funky cuts from all around the world this promises to be the perfect time to grab your dance shoes for a super groovy night at the Icehouse.
See you then!
The Icehouse is located at 2528 Nicollet Ave in South Minneapolis.
