Fresh from their latest European tour, The Black Seeds are back in their hometown of New Zealand. The lads from Wellington are headlining again, after a four-year absence, at the 2009 Marlborough Wine Festival in the South Island's idyllic wine country.
With drinks in hand and the delicious smell of seafood in the air, we sat down with the bands resident percussionist and vocalist Daniel Weetman to catch up on their latest tour, the idea of playing live shows as a form of baptism and plans for the new album.
yourGigs (yG): Your latest album, Solid Ground, was released in late 2008; how has the tour been?
Daniel Weetman (DW): We've been to Europe twice, did the NZ tour before that, we did a few gigs in Aussie that has been really good, really busy. It's been well received and we're happy with it ... when you've finished one album you're thinking of the next one, and now we are already doing demos for the new album and been excited about that; but Solid Ground is a good album to push and we love playing the songs live.
yG: Do you think fame has changed the band in anyway? Are you travelling first class and touring on luxury buses now?
DW: No, no, we don't fly first class, no luxury bus. Still in the van, pretty much the tours we do in Europe are exactly same as in NZ. It makes you stronger and more determined with what you want to do when you've been in a band for so long. I think in those ways it's changed us. I think we're just more focused on what we need to do and what we want to get out there and how different things work in the industry.
yG: With eight people in the band how do you deal with creative differences?
DW: We find now that we need to just get everybody else's input into the band and its happening along the way but with members changing and chopping along the way. You have founding members and then people who are just introduced to the band and it's hard for them, even though you're open to get your feelings and songs out there. It's still fairly daunting for them to step up to what's already been laid down with the rest of the songs and the album. So now with the new album we are demoing earlier and getting everyone's input and been able to chop and change ideas without time constraints, so that makes the next album really exciting for us.
yG: Is the next album going to be a bit different in terms of musical style?
DW: It's too early - it's a little baby, not even a month old. We definitely love progression and we all come from different angles of music, and it's just jamming and trying to voice your opinion and express what you want to get out there.
yG: You've been together 10 years now and you are more popular now than ever. What's your secret to why you're still reaching out to the fans?
DW: I think we are a great live band and I think the repertoire that we have now is quite diverse. I think a lot has come from doing the live shows and a good few singles but it's probably the live stuff: it's what we know, and we hear the response from the crowd and afterwards, reviews of shows. It's good management also, keeping us in people's faces and not overdoing it and overexposing yourself, knowing when we've played too much and keeping people hanging and not pushing too much to make a whole shitload of money. We'd love to be on a commercial radio and would love The Black Seeds' music to be all over the world, but as well holding back and not pushing yourself too much. It's like not doing your encore. I find that the public ... get everything they want; why not give them everything and maybe they'll come to the next show?
yG: What is the best thing about playing live?
I think it's about the energy you get from the crowd and turning around and seeing the rest of the guys being really into what we are doing. It's a real buzz and gives us this unity. Getting out your energy, shaking off your day and week and getting everything that you want out, and you come off and feel cleansed almost - like baptised or something.
yG: What's the worst thing that's happened to you on stage?
I think a bottle at another food and wine festival was a real surprise. Somebody threw up a bottle heading towards me and I dodged it and I wasn't going to say anything, and looked back and it was a glass bottle and I just gave them a few nice words and carried on.
yG: I thought you were going to tell me something juicy like underwear being thrown at you.
DW: Yeah well there's been all that but you asked for the worse thing. [Laughs].
yG: Who is the biggest party animal in the group?
DW: Biggest party animal: sometimes it can be me, sometimes it can be Jaybin [Ward, saxaphonist], sometimes it can be Barnaby [Weir, vocalist and guitarist]; sometimes ... it could be many of the guys.
yG: So basically all of you! Then who's most likely to get drunk and arrested?
DW: Well, that would be me and Jaybin. That has happened to us; happened in Auckland for me and for Jaybin in Brisbane.
yG: What did you do?
DW: Ah, drunk and disorderly.
yG: That's not too bad is it?
DW: It wasn't too bad at all, not like Jaybin, but let's not go there! [Laughter]
yG: Finally, what is the most ridiculous rumour you've heard about the band?
DW: I think that we are a 14-piece band. We've never been a 14-piece band!
Jo Pham
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