Drinking a courageous amount of black coffee with John Bonnel of Primitive Heads.

Keil Cronin Primitive Heads is a Califonia band made up of musicians from the Swingin’ Utters, toyGUITAR, and Nothington. They have a new record out on Strange Club Records called Beak Wyatt!.

I met up with singer, John Bonnel, at It’s Alive Kombucha in Bayside, CA to discuss the record and ponder bacterial life. Since the first song out from the record is called Black Coffee, I thought it fitting that we would drink an assortment of black coffee to fuel our discussion.

FIRST CUP; Mill City Roasters, Guatemala - Huehuetenango Quetzal What are the origins of Primitive Heads? Luke, who is in the Swingin Utters, he was the main dude that asked me to join. They didn’t have the name Primitive Heads yet. It was him, Kyle and Alex (from toy Guitar). All Santa Rosa guys. They didn’t have a drummer at the time but they weren't worried about that so much for recording processes. They mentioned they had a shitload of songs and they kept sending them to me. Isa from Dead To Me has joined the band recently as well.

The new record, Beak Wyatt!, is out Oct 24th Strange Club Records @strangeclubrecordsofficial. How did you hook up with Strange Club? Brian has been a friend for awhile, since the 90’s I believe. He was in bands in Sacramento, Hanover Saints… His new band is False Flowers, who are playing on these string of shows in November. I talked to him about how he runs his record business. He’s doing it how every label should be doing it. The artist comes first. This is exactly where I would like to put out records from other projects. I’m excited to release new songs, I wish it didn’t take so long…

SECOND CUP; Black & White Coffee Roasters, Huver Castillo-Anerobic Honey Gesha Where was this recorded? I recorded my vocals for these songs in Kyle’s house in Santa Rosa, in his bedroom. He lived on this that had no neighbors. It was this little cul-de-sac, but with like two houses on it. Pretty private. I’d drive from Albany to Santa Rosa and spend a day there and knock out all seven songs. These songs are real angular and tense. They’re celebratory, celebrating your mental health issues. We all have this shit.

You moved up to Humboldt CA a few years ago. How has that altered your process working with your projects? The only thing worse off is I’m too far away to practice, so it’s getting to figure that shit out before we go on tour or play any shows. But, the isolation up here has made me write more so it’s a catch 22. It’s better for me for writing but I can’t make it to practice as much.

THIRD CUP; Calisto Café Natural de Origen, Cosautian Veracruz What is your personal creative process for writing? How I usually work out songs is like a puzzle almost. With Primitive Heads, Kyle will sometimes send me music with a title, I’ll take that title and try and write the words using that title. It forces my brain to work a little harder. Something will grab me from a song and I’ll just start trying to fit lyrics into it. I leave all the decisions for this record up the other guys in the band. It’s their music, just my lyrics and melody. I didn’t want to be the weird “I’m the singer and we’ll do all my stuff for the record!” That’s why we have Luke’s drawing on the back of the record and Kyle’s done the graphics for the inner sleeve. I enjoy their art.

Any thoughts and advice for aspiring and fellow writers? Do you ever get writers block? How do you push through? John: Yeah, I totally get writers block. I get through it by mellowing out and not stressing about it. When I stress about it is when the block comes. Go to sleep, next day you’ll be alright. You know you’re not in the right frame of mind if you’re saying “Fuck, I can’t think of anything!” The beauty of it is, my ideas for songwriting are infinite. I can just switch to a different way of writing if I’m having a block. It’s rearranging new and different ways to explain and express yourself and write a story.

FOURTH CUP; Finca Campo Hermoso Strawberry Co-Fermented, Circasia, Quindío What is your go to coffee of choice while on the road? Convenience? Routine? How do you prefer your coffee? I’ve been into Flat Whites lately, it’s like a red eye with a floater of milk or creamer, I’ll choose coconut milk if available. On the road, we’ll hit up a Starbucks out of convenience but I’ll try and find mom and pop cafe’s to get a good cup of coffee.

Best Cup of Coffee you’ve had on the road? In Europe, the truckstop coffee is amazing! It’s like this (gesturing to the coffee we’re currently drinking). Clubs in Germany and Europe have the best coffee. After a long drive, you’re sitting down to relax, and they have the best coffe right there…it tastes so good and refreshing. The little cups, there’s something about it. It’s so inviting and comfortable. Of course I shoot it down ‘cause it tastes so good…

FIFTH CUP; Humboldt Bay Coffee Co (Best of the Best), Peru- El Palto What’s your warmup routine before playing shows? I usually try to be quiet (Beak Wyatt!), do some vocal exercises and drink honey and lemon.

Shows on the Horizon? Primitive Heads have a string of shows in November. Thursday November 13th at Cafe Colonial in Sacramento, CA with Danbert Nobacon. Friday November 14th at 2790 Santa Rosa Ave Santa Rosa, CA. Saturday November 15th at 228 College Ave San Francisco, CA. Record release show Sunday November 16th at The Ivy Room Albany, CA.