The Black Seeds tour

The Black Seeds play one night at Mount Maunganui, Saturday 23 September 2017. Photo/supplied

The Black Seeds' frontman, Barnaby Weir, recalls early days gigging at Wellington's pub scene ... they were the lone reggae act among a sea of hard core metal and rock bands.

"We had just started at end of the 1990s, there was more of a cold guitar-based rock thing going on and we were doing something different. We just wanted to play at parties and we wanted to make people feel funky," he says.

"We had a culture of not being too cool and so we were playing roots reggae covers and a few originals, doing our own thing."

It's a thread which has run through their entire music ethos - they just want to make people feel good.

"Our albums are not like - what's the trend, let's make more money - so far it makes more sense for us to follow our own direction and not be too serious. We want to be entertaining."

Barnaby has described the Black Seeds' music as a "musical remedy for everything but death".

The band have been together nigh 20 years and have evolved their dub/reggae foundations to encompass funk, soul, afrobeat and other genres.

The Seeds have released their sixth album Fabric and are on an eight-date national tour to promote it.

Barnaby believes the band has evolved from its early days to a songwriting powerhouse. Lyrics from Fabric reflect Barnaby's eternal optimism and positivity.

Better Days was the first single.

"On lots of different levels people are under pressure, so it's good to have an idea that you can change what's around the corner. Through your visualisation you actually make that change."

Barnaby says his optimism is nothing new, it's been there since he was a teenager, but over the last five years he has been inspired by knowing he can change through visualisation.

The album's namesake Fabric relates to the notion that we are all part of one thing.
"The fabric refers to the fabric of our lives, the fabric of our love, the fabric of time in the fabric of our existence."

Second single Freakin is more of a party track with the idea of not being too hard on yourself, and relax.

Since 1998, Barnaby and Daniel Weetman have been the driving force behind expressing The Black Seeds' message. Early fans may remember that Bret McKenzie from Flight Of The Conchords fame was also a previous band member and co-founder.

the fine print
*What: The Black Seeds
*Where: Totara Street venue
*When: Saturday, September 23, 8pm
*Tickets: From theblackseeds.com