Their breakout 2001 debut Keep On Pushing laid down a template for what would become an entire musical movement, and the raw drums-and-bass dub sound that the collective forged quickly became a standard of how vital fusion music can be when it’s allowed to travel on free trajectories – without prejudice or genre restraints. Through heavy, driving basslines, an endlessly punchy horn section and a dense swirl of MPC-rooted electronic percussion, the Black Seeds mirrored the cultural melting pot of their influences and hometown with indescribable gusto and love. 

Since then, the explosive eight-piece powerhouse has changed many members and has gone through periods of informal dormancy between albums. After decades spent on the global stage, multi-platinum success and a mythic Breaking Bad musical cue, its members have all settled into the practical parts of life – family, stability and the pursuit of peace. Yet, the creative roil that made them converge all those years ago is still alive and kicking, and each time the Black Seeds return into the studio and to the road, it’s like a beloved old friend re-emerging – you don’t know how much you missed them until you’re back in the thick of all that intoxicating memory. 

Now, after an altogether too-long absence, the illustrious group are about to roll back into British Columbia, and bring their heady sonic mash to the Victoria Ska & Reggae Festival. As fans giddily await the comeback of the Black Seeds, RANGE sat down with the band’s unostentatious and intensely affable frontman and creative curator, Barnaby Weir, to discuss touring, writing, and continuing to love all things music as time rolls along.

Tell us about the foundation of the Black Seeds, the South Pacific Sound? Has the meaning of what that sound represents changed over time?

I think, going back to the late 90’s in New Zealand and the world, we were obviously coming off the grunge era, but there was also a movement in industrial rock and dance music. Within that, there was an appreciation for dub music, for funk and soul and reggae, inklings of old school genres. The Black Seeds were a part of that. The sound has changed over time. 

Between 1998 and 2010, we started playing more music that we actually wanted to listen to ourselves, and we became more proud of our own music, and over that time, New Zealand artists started to establish a sound that was a Pacific reggae sound with funk-infused soul, something more retro-focused.

We were obviously focused on James Brown and Jamaican artists from the 70’s and 80’s, so we followed that as a journey and came up with our own original version of that, you know, that has our accent on it.

Just practically speaking, what are the dynamics like of writing an album with eight members?

The current band is really tight. We’re really good friends. We all live in different parts of New Zealand, which is obviously not ideal, but we connect so well on the musical level, and in our current sessions, we’re all just coming in with songs that aren’t developed too much, because we want to share the music between each other, create together and maintain spontaneity. 

Like on “8-Bit,” the new single. You’ve been the primary curator of the band since the beginning. And here, you’re integrating Nigel Patterson’s synthetic vintage chiptune synth, and you’ve got Ryan Prebble steering the production. It seems like it’s gotten easier with time to cede some control and sort of step back and let ideas flow? 

Yes, that is a smart thing that you just said. There have been periods of the band’s history where there was pressure to make albums, and I just had the songs. So in years past, I’ve brought in a lot of songs and we’ve had different ways of doing it, but right now we’re engaging with each other so positively. There are no rules, and we’re all investing in our future and our music. We really like letting the ideas and creative energy flow, and it feels really good to function as a team. 

As you said, most of the band members live in different cities, and with the current economic climate, and the fiscal realities of being a musician now, what is it like taking an eight-piece on the road?

We can afford to tour New Zealand and Australia… Coming to Canada is such a great opportunity for us, and we really wanted to come back. There’s not a lot of money to be made on this particular tour, but we get to see fans and have an experience. We get to play new songs, share them with people, and then also share our heritage, our legacy songs as well. But yes, having a band costs a lot of money these days. You can’t just get together and roll up and have a beer and play some songs.

What does it feel like to still be on the road and touring after all these years? The Black Seeds have gone through several iterations, but every one of these iterations has probably lasted longer than most bands do nowadays.

Yes, that’s exactly right. It actually is that. In the initial years, we’d change people all the time. Members would leave, we’d alter the brass section, switch guitarists. But the current band has been together for a decade now. It could have ended a long time ago, after Into the Dojo, after Bret McKenzie left. Time goes by fast, and we’re lucky we get to keep the Black Seeds alive. We’re here, we get to play our cute little version of Pacific reggae. We don’t bend to genre fads too much, to pop music.

You certainly don’t bend to it, but over the years, you’ve integrated a vast array of genres into your sound. The Black Seeds are a fusion band, and you’re being quite modest about the influence you’ve had on pop music over the years.

Well, that’s cool. That’s really cool. We are pretty humble, we just really want to feel that feeling. It’s about feeling human, which is a big subject right now. We come with a lot of humanity, and a lot of love. We aren’t in our 20’s anymore, but we have some wisdom and some skill to offer. We’re just authentically trying to bring ourselves out there.