Sowing The Seeds

Twenty-fourteen has been a relatively quiet year for New Zealand funk/dub/soul band The Black Seeds. Now five albums deep into their career with a sixth on the way, there are the inevitable life changes that start impacting on the way a band operates, which have given them an opportunity to take stock and plan their next route forward.

"It’s been a weird but good one. There have been three babies produced by The Black Seeds family this year so touring Europe wasn’t on the cards in 2014 without a new release. That’s what we’ve been working on this year, a new album which should be released in the first half of next year. It’s getting exciting because we’ve done some work on it and now we can start putting it together and sitting back and listening to it and choosing the best bits to work more on. We’ve been jamming for three years on this album so I just decided to take the reins and do all the production this time and I’m enjoying it. I’ve got a lot of freedom to do what I envisage is the best idea for the album. We’ve got a lot of tracks coming out of it and all our summer gigs will start ramping up now so it’s heading into a busier time.”

"Some people have given up on the album as a format but I haven’t, I still believe in it."

With more of an autonomous role Weir has taken the opportunity to think outside the standard parameters of writing and recording the new album and his excitement quickly becomes apparent.

“I’m approaching it in a different way; we’re not going into a single studio and recording songs in a group like most of our albums. It will involve quite a variety of work and different studios and sounds that we’ve been working on. This next one will be more of a Black Seeds fully original mixtape. We haven’t changed our taste for grooves or anything but it is a cool way to do it. I’ve been discovering everything from full 24-track recordings to eight-track sessions and even mono recordings. I’m feeling excited about the way we’re doing it.

“A band has to produce and record music and that’s still a big part of it. Some people have given up on the album as a format but I haven’t, I still believe in it. It shows your direction and how you’re feeling and sounding. In terms of the live aspect it’s even more important to have a great live show so it’s a bit of both – releasing albums and touring. It comes down to the ideas you make and what they’re worth to people. There are more opportunities now to find your audience and if you keep staying true to your music and doing it for the right reasons there’ll always be an audience and the value of your ideas won’t decrease. We’ve still got the opportunity to get more fans, make a better album and play bigger shows so we’re in a pretty good spot for next year.”