Touring NZ - by Mike Keenan (Guitarist of John Brown’s Body)

10/27/09 Oamaru, NZ
“Sad to say I must be on my way, so buy me beer and whiskey 'cause I’m going far away…” An immortal and appropriate Shane McGowan lyric that applies today. I left Saturday night at about 7:30 to catch a train to Boston, a car to NY, a flight to LA, a flight to Auckland, a flight to Christchurch, and finally a 4 hour drive to Oamaru. Almost exactly 48 hours after leaving home we got a bit of rest and our first taste of NZ. It’s a beautiful country. As is customary after travel most of us went out for a pint, this night at a place called The Last Post. We found out there is an endangered Blue Penguin colony here. We split off into groups and wandered around town trying to find the penguins without paying the $20 entrance fee. Tommy, Drew and I walked through the historic Victorian part of town and spoke to some locals that said if you wait until dark the penguins are all over the streets.

10/28/09 Invercargill, NZ
We met the Black Seeds in this working class town that we have heard playfully referred to as the armpit of New Zealand. It seemed cool to us. It was great to see and hear the Black Seeds again. The crowd was rowdy from the first note on. It was great to start the tour with a warm reception.

10/29/09 Queenstown, NZ
We woke up early today because Barnaby had arranged for a group of us to go Bungy jumping. Elliot, Matt, Daniel, Barnaby and myself were the lucky ones. I am happy to say the barter system is alive and well in New Zealand. We successfully traded guest list spots for bungy jumps at AJ Hackett Bungy. I’ll be honest, my legs went a little weak as I prepared to jump but I somehow managed to step off a 300’ bridge. We hear this is the small jump.

Later in Queenstown the Black Seeds' manager Chris surprised us with a traditional Maori greeting ceremony. Pretty amazing. Queenstown is posh and mountainous and reminded us of Park City , UT. Minus Robert Redford of course.

This has been a sick day. The gig should be icing on the cake.


Credits:
Blog by Mike Keenan (Guitarist of John Brown’s Body). Bungy photo of Matthew Goodwin (keyboardist of John Brown’s Body). Maori greeting ceremony photo by Chris Gee.

NZ Tour - Invercargill

Invercargill.

Home of the Ranfurly Shield. Tens of thousands on the streets, they said. When we arrived, there was only two people on the street, and they were having a brawl.

Many more showed up to our gig, later that night. No brawls that I know of. Marcus Luch was there. I dedicated a song to him, "Sometimes Enough". I hope he heard it.It was wonderfully strange to see the boys from JBB removed from their American context and placed deep into Southland. The audience loved them.

The next day as we drove to Queenstown on State Highway 6 I stopped in front of an incredible mountain and was pleased that they would be witnessing such kick arse wilderness so early on in the journey.

Mike Fab.

USA Tour Video Final

Thanks very much USA. You were awesome!

LIVE ALBUM ARTWORK – SNEAK PREVIEW

Hey guys
The Black Seeds Live. Vol 1 will be released in just a few weeks time and here’s a sneak preview of some of the amazing artwork!

The montage style artwork is made up from hundreds of our favourite images that we’ve collected over the past years from around the world. The limited edition deluxe CD/DVD package is released 28/10 (NZ/Aus) but will only be available from our website, and at our live NZ shows this Oct/Nov.

It includes 12 live songs recorded from shows both in NZ & around the world, each with personal comments from us, plus a bonus DVD with some new material and some of our finest audiovisual content to date. You can get it delivered to your door on release date (28/10) by pre-ordering @ http://www.theblackseedsmerch.com/, but get in quick.

We’re in Berlin right now finishing off what has been an awesome five week tour of the U.S. and Europe… but we can’t wait to get back home. Our NZ tour starts in just a few weeks time with very special U.S. guests John Brown’s Body! (New Zealand, you’re in for a treat. These guys are great!!). See you in a few weeks time New Zealand! See full tour & ticketing details @ http://www.theblackseedsmerch.com/

More soon, The Seeds

LIVE U.S TOUR VIDEOS

Hey guys,

Check out these new live videos from our show at The Gothic Theatre in Denver in September, and produced by Moboogie. The featured tracks are ‘Afrophone’ and ‘Come to Me’ off Solid Ground. Enjoy!

http://www.moboogie.com/TheBlackSeeds

We had an amazing time in the U.S.A. Thanks to everyone who came to the shows and we promise we’ll be back soon! (Canada included!)

Solid Ground is now available everywhere through Easy Star Records. http://www.easystar.com/

Thanks for your support, more soon!

The Black Seeds

UK & Europe Tour #1

Getting older twice.

Sometimes having your birthday on tour can be a pain in the ass. This time though, I managed to have two birthdays. We were on a plane from L.A to London and crossed the dateline. Some of the guys had let it slip that it was my birthday to the airline staff and we were well taken care of by our steward Steve. He shouted the guys a round of champagne and best of all a fresh pair of socks and a toothbrush.

We were really tired after a massive post flight drive to the middle of England somewhere and I managed a quick curry and off to bed early. The guys let me have my own room and thankfully we had a primo hotel, actually the ideal birthday treat.

The Picture House- Edinburgh.

I was a bit concerned about this gig as we were playing a much bigger theatre than we have before in Edinburgh. The fact that it was a rainy Tuesday and we hadn’t sold many tickets didn’t help. Walking in I was a bit daunted by the size of the huge open space. The Picture House is like the Powerstation in Auckland but twice the size. A quick prayer to the gig gods and a smooth soundcheck eased my fears. After being treated to Scotland’s notoriously bad food at the local pub I headed back to the accom for a five minute nap.

When I got back to the venue it was as if it had shrunk to half the size. It was packed with people and the crowd was already moving nicely to the opening band. What a relief! We kicked off the set to a heaving room and the Edinburgh massive dug in. As it turns out, this was the biggest crowd we have seen in Edinburgh (check the video below) and they were up for good times.

After a couple of numbers they started firing cardboard cutouts at us (!?). A friend of ours Pat had said to Barney in Wellington that he would’ve loved to make the gig but would have to send a cardboard stand-in instead, so he did, crazy Scottish folk.

As often happens, we had an early start the next day so headed off home for a couple of hours sleep. Don’t worry a couple of the guys pulled an all-nighter and represented for us. No names, they were in reasonable form at 6am for a Ryan air flight to Ireland though. Thanks Edinburgh, awesome crowd, fun times.

Jarney.

Amazing nights in Edinburgh, Dublin & Bristol so far... thanks guys! checkout footage here from the Edinburgh show!

Common Influences...

We had such a blast in the states, mainly thanks to John Brown's Body!

It was so great to arrive in a new country and instantly find yourself surrounded by friends. I really enjoyed being able to watch them after doing our sets, the are all monster players and performers, extremely strong and consistent. It was definitely inspiring.

I was talking to lead singer Elliot about the vocal line from a Lee Perry production that they drop in the last third of their set. It was a really influential tune for both of us, I remember it was one of the first reggae bass lines I ever really 'got'. I played it over and over again until it nearly drove my mother crazy.

It's a beautifully simple and understated song, perfect in so many ways. The dub (which I couldn't find) is sublime as well, and if I remember correctly there's a version with a female vocal on 'Super Ape', one of my all time favorite dub records.

Fab.

Record Shopping In America...

Well, here we are in the UK.

Edinburgh and Dublin totally went off, tonights gig in Bristol is almost sold out as is tomorrow night in London. Yeah!

Didn't really have a chance to go record shopping in America, but picked up a cheap copy of Chic's 1977 debut in Colorado, mainly for this tune.

Oooo, that bassline! Bernard Edwards is responsible for that bad boy, not to mention one of modern history's greatest bass lines on 'Good Times', which of course became Sugar Hill Gangs 'Rappers Delight', the first hip hop tune to go mainstream.

The other Chic tune I love is 'Give Me Your Love', of which there's a great reggae version courtesy of Studio One. This is the dub.

Enjoy!

Fab.