On support act duties were Roads, fresh from the Larmer Tree Festival of the week beforehand, where they’d played a couple of times. Being a trio specialising in reggae-infused pop inevitably leads to comparisons with the Police; even teasing the crowd with the intro to ‘Message In A Bottle’ at one stage. ‘Don’t Cry For Me’ got a good reaction and they ended with ‘Boo Mugabe’ that had an Afro-funk edge to it and stood out as their best song. Prior to that, party band Alfalfa peaked with their version of ‘Mirror In the Bathroom’ but will mostly be remembered for the guy in the gorilla suit.

The Black Seeds, having spent the afternoon chilling out on the golden sands in the sun (seemingly the only place in the country that didn’t get any rain yesterday), perhaps they weren’t prepared for such an up for it crowd, but as soon as the horns blasted in on the first track, we know we were in for a good night.

Live, The Black Seeds are immense as we heard tracks off the first two albums, the forthcoming European release of the mighty Into The Dojo and, as yet an unrecorded track, ‘Sling Shot’.

It would be easy, if not premature, to think that their transition from funk reggae to their own dubbed out reggae process was complete, but it’s certainly come a long way. At one stage, bare in mind that we’re performing at the end of a 100 year old pier here, the drums got as much echo thrown at them it was as if Lee Perry decided to take on King Tubby, Scientist and the Mad Professor all at the same time. Still not sure how the place didn’t drop 30 feet in the sea but even so, it would have been a good way to go.

This sound extravaganza was towards the end of the night as the band put on a ‘dance’ set to satisfy the party crowd. I must admit, after Fat Freddy’s Drop the other week up the road at the Opera House, I was most surprised we weren’t again surrounded by Kiwis on tour. OK, there was the juggling crew (who went head to head with the hula-hoop crew led by silver sparkly dress girl; I thought I was back in the activity tent at Lamer Tree for a minute) and a few Kiwis ‘On-tour’, but not the same type of domination.

A local crowd was fine, as I don’t suppose the idea of the tour is to preach to the converted anyway. So, back to the stars of the show, as soon as we heard the big sax sound of Mr Jabin Ward, we knew we were in for some quality. Kicking out with ‘Cool Me Down’, it wasn’t long before Andrew Christiansen blew a mean trumpetand there were some Fred Wesleyesque moments later on.

Considering most of the crowd (95% anyway) probably hadn’t heard Into The Dojo, they really were up for it and easily took to ‘The Answer’, ‘Love Of Property’ and ‘The Prince’ which I’d say was their best track live. Apart from the dubby drum EFX, new guitarist Ray Prebble went into a very Apocalypse Now helicopter/machine gun action a couple of times which was also hugely effective.

I love this band. Can’t fault any of them and with a few days to get to Newquay Surf Centre for thier next scheduled gig at the Walkabout, that’s surely going to be a home from home for them.

Interview with Barnaby and Dan to come shortly.

The Black Seeds on Tour:
Barnaby Weir — Vox & Guitar
Daniel Weetman — Vox, MPC & Percussion
Ray Prebble — Guitar & Vox
Bret McKenzie — Keys & Vox
Jarney Murphy — Drums
Tim Jarray — Bass
Jabin Ward — Saxophone
Andrew Christiansen — Trumpet (and trombone in the near future)
Matt — CD’s & T-shirts.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘The Answer’, ‘Cool Me Down’, ‘Way The World’, ’ Heavy Mono E’, ‘Sometimes Enough’, ‘Sometimes (Dub)’, ‘The Prince’.

Reviewed: The Black Seeds — Into The Dojo (Best Seven) Cat No. SBCD0008 Release date: 20th August 2007
Tracklisting
1 The Answer
2 Cool Me Down
3 Way Of The World
4 Got A Girl
5 Love For Property
6 Good People (Get Together)
7 Heavy Mono E
8 The Prince
9 Sometimes Enough
10 One By One
11 Sometimes (Dub)
12. Tuk Tuk (Originally released on the album On The Sun)

Links:
www.theblackseeds.com
www.myspace.com/theblackseeds
www.myspace.com/jabinward
www.bestseven.de
soundofmusic.com — booking until March 2008
www.thebournemouthpier.com
mugabe.netfirms.com