Why I love the Black Seeds

I FIRST came into contact with Kiwi legends The Black Seeds in 2007, when they approached Trouble (the club-night-come-promotional-organisation I started with fellow DJ Erik d’Viking in 2002) about us providing DJ support for them at a trio of Edinburgh festival shows.

We’d had an amazing experience working on a sold-out show at The Liquid Room by another incredible dub-reggae outfit from New Zealand called Fat Freddys Drop, in 2006. The Black Seeds had popped up on our radar simultaneously, due to third album Into The Dojo being released in Europe by Sonar Kollektiv (the label run by Berlin-based DJ & production outfit Jazzanova, who inspired us quite a bit in the early days and who have performed as guest DJs at various Trouble nights over the years).

The two acts are undoubtedly similar but The Black Seeds have distinguished themselves from their peers by bringing a different energy and rhythm to the proceedings, incorporating elements of afrobeat, funk and blues/rock in the mix with their native brand of ‘South Pacific soul’ and vintage reggae.

But, while this experimentation may have helped the band to broaden their fan-base in Europe and North America and also appealed to me personally (I’ve always had a real soft spot for afrobeat and funk as well as artists who push the boundaries and fuse different styles in a modern way), ultimately, the band’s core soul/reggae sound seems to endear them most to their fans back home.

Reggae is basically pop music in New Zealand, indigenous music is given major airtime on national radio, according to local law, and The Black Seeds’ second and third albums (On The Sun and Into The Dojo) have both gone double-platinum over there. So, new album Dust And Dirt (their seventh) sees them continue to work some of those other styles in but it sounds more rounded, more accomplished and perhaps more conscious of where their core audience lies. Little wonder it’s already been tipped as their finest album yet.

Much like here in Scotland, New Zealanders are a very warm-hearted, proud race, unafraid to show their emotions. If you then also factor in that there are lot of them living here, they are seeing one of their most iconic contemporary groups (who seem to get better with every tour) thousands and thousands of miles from home, you’ve got the recipe for an extraordinary atmosphere and a truly dazzling live show.

• The Black Seeds play the Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh, on Friday 20 April.