Unstoppable Aotearoa eight-piece The Black Seeds, return with the invigorating new single ‘Bring The Sun’, the third release from their upcoming new album.
Following on the release of last year’s single, the perfect summertime banger ‘Let The Sunshine Through’, the new single sees The Black Seeds set out to further their quest to produce the perfect mix of reggae, funk, afrobeat and dub.
‘Bring The Sun’ features a stellar debut guitar solo from new guitarist Ryan Prebble and was written by frontman Daniel Weetman and The Black Seeds. The tune started from a demo Daniel wrote using an app on his phone, and the band then rebuilt the track in Pro Tools.
“It was a classic COVID co-lab effort,” says Daniel; “A week-long marathon Zoom session that had everyone sending in their tracks and giving their feedback as me and Nigel sculpted the track into place”.
The video accompanying the single is a light take on how people have picked up new digital habits during the pandemic. Cleverly directed by Garth Badger of Thievery Studio it plays with some of the new trends that have evolved around online, from live streamed concerts to virtual meetings. Talking about how the video concept relates to the song, Daniel explains; “My eldest son lives in Sydney and due to the Covid restrictions with travel I started to wonder and worry about when I would see him again. We keep in contact a lot over video calls and when we speak it is for hours and we connect really well through this technology at a distance. So the song revealed itself to be about the strong bond my son and I have and that the distance between us is nothing when our love for each other is unbreakable”.
Long established as one of New Zealand’s finest bands and with a solid foothold in Europe and North America, The Black Seeds have carved out their reputation on the back of multi-platinum selling albums, and a masterful live show that has been filling dance floors across the globe for years. While firmly based in the island grooves that inspired the birth of the band over a decade ago, The Black Seeds’ sound casts a wide net, layering funk, soul, Afrobeat, and other eclectic elements over their dub/reggae foundations.
The Black Seeds released their debut album KEEP ON PUSHING in 2001, which despite a minimal marketing budget, went on to reach platinum sales in New Zealand. The second album, 2004’s ON THE SUN, added a heavy dose of funk and soul to their dub reggae sound. Third album INTO THE DOJO, signalled the beginning of the band’s introduction to the rest of the world. 2008’s follow-up SOLID GROUND, 2012’s DUST AND DIRT, and 2017’s FABRIC continued to build the band’s global following after they were successfully released through trailblazing North American label Easy Star Records. Easy Star subsequently re-released the entire catalogue from the band in North America.
Consistent touring throughout Europe, North and South America has led to over 60 million Spotify streams since 2015, as well as placings on the US Billboard Reggae chart, and the iTunes Reggae Charts in the United Kingdom and Germany. Their tracks have found placements on cable classics ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Weeds’,as well on the big screen in movies like ‘Eight Below’ and ‘The Inbetweeners II’. Highlights from two decades of international press have included The Huffington Post describing their sound as “thick, bottom-heavy, and melodic,” and Clash Music deeming them “one of the best live reggae acts on the planet”.
The Black Seeds Live are:
Barnaby Weir (Vocals/Guitar)
Daniel Weetman (Vocals/Percussion)
Jarney Murphy (Drums)
Nigel Patterson (Keyboard)
Ryan Prebble (Guitar)
Francis Harawira (Bass)
Barrett Hocking (Trumpet)
Matthew Benton (Saxophone)
