Yahoo!Xtra Music News

The Black Seeds tour blog

(Yahoo!Xtra, Tuesday November 24, 8:00 AM) Members of The Black Seeds and John Brown's Body will be blogging exclusively for Yahoo!Xtra as they embark on their nation-wide tour of New Zealand. Catch up on their latest antics.

From Burlington U.S.A to Opononi - The end of the NZ Tour - Barnaby Weir - (The Black Seeds)

Wow, what a choice time we had finishing off our NZ tour with John Brown's Body.

The last leg of the tour saw us play Auckland's Powerstation. I still think this is one of the best venues in the country because it's very pro, you can see and hear from anywhere, and the stage is wide and high. It sold out on the night which made for even more good energy in the room.

Then we headed to the wonderful Hokianga, to Opononi, where we played under the stars on a beautiful Saturday evening. The crowd heaved and swayed and I had a few moments while listening to John Brown's Body for the last time of the tour, they really crushed every gig.

After the show Nigel instigated a jam in one of the units we were staying. This meant unpacking some of the gear and lighting again (thanks Tony and Don).

Before you knew it, 2am, we had a hot jam going which was now well lit by Don our Lighting artist. We were just rotating on the instruments with the guys from JBB for hours...drinking and playing and enjoying the freshness of the music that seemed to be gushing out of us... I guess we had just done 40 shows with mostly the same music so now it was time to let out all the other ideas that were hiding in our skulls. There couldn't have been a better way to end our massive mission from Burlington Vermont U.S.A to Opononi in the Hokianga.

A big shout out to John Brown's Body, who took a risk with The Black Seeds, they took us literally to the States for a tour and then ventured down to N.Z to share their conscious roots with us all. Overall it was pretty mega, so thanks to all the new and old fans that supported us through it.

7/11/09 Napier

Andrew Christiansen - (The Black Seeds - Trumpet):

After the amazing night that Wellington put on for us, and a decent after party, we made the drive to Napier. The further north we went the nicer the weather got. We got there early evening and it was straight into a sound check. A few hours later, and a few technical difficulties later, we were off to our amazing dinner at Loan Star yeya, it was delicious! The gig was great - it was in a wool shed by the port with wool bails as the punter barrier and walls - was a great vibe and always good to play music with the JBB.

6/11/09 Wellington

Andrew Christiansen - (The Black Seeds - Trumpet:

What a good gig, as always the Town Hall never disappoints. The vibe was well high this night was extra special for me coz my parents attended their first ever Black Seeds show.

My mum truly represented the family with boogying right down the front whilst dad appreciated from the stands - Chur mum and dad for enjoying it!

The crowd was amazing and extremely vocal - what a gig Wellington!

Another factor that contributed to it having such a great vibe was the incredible lighting and visual show - it was hard to not turn around and vibe out at them - good work Gareth and Don, and of course Chris and Tony for always making us sound great! Checkout some footage @ http://theblackseeds.blogspot.com/

4/11/09 Ferry crossing/Wellington

Mike Keenan (John Brown's Body - guitarist):

After having a little too much fun in Golden Bay we realized we had missed our ferry to the North Island. We drove to Picton first thing in the morning and the people at Apex helped us sort out our mistake. Thanks for that. We had 'moderate' seas in the notorious Cook Strait for our crossing. Where I in familiar territory I might have taken a knap for the three hour journey but New Zealand in general is so beautiful that I dared not miss a second. I was also hoping to catch a glimpse of the Sperm Whale pod that resides in the strait. No such luck.

When we arrived in Wellington Nigel from TBS had the complete hook up for us. He had done an interview with a local radio station that gave a pile of tickets to see 'The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnasus'and tickets to the Wellington Phoenix vs Newcastle (Australia) Jets game. Well done. The movie is brilliant and the game was a 3-0 route for the home team. The level of skill on both teams was impressive but as the NCJ seemed to play a little dirty I couldn't help but join in taunting the Ozzies. I will confess I even brought a few applicable taunts from the brutal Fenway Park stands. A killer night courtesy of Nigel.

3/11/09 Takaka/Golden Bay

Mike Keenan (John Brown's Body - guitarist):

After a bit of rest I spent the morning doing guitar maintenance and playing. By early afternoon a small group of us hit Pu Pu Springs. By one of the observation decks there was a sign that said the spring pumps out 40 bath tubs of water a second. Apparently the 'Bath tub' is a standard unit of liquid measurement here. The water looked amazing but sadly could not be touched. They take invasive species and all environmentalism seriously here. Later in the day another group of us drove out to Golden Bay. The road out there was a precarious, one lane, meandering, cow path cut in to the edge of the sand stone hills. I half expected a Pterydactil to come swooping down pick up the car. Drop it down the ravine and return to eat the squishy inards like a seagull dropping an oyster on a rock. When we arrived we had one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen almost completely to ourselves. Amazing.

29/10/09 Queenstown

Mike Keenan (John Brown's Body - guitarist):

We woke up early today because Barnaby had arranged for a group of us to go Bungy jumping. Elliot, Matt, Daniel, Barnaby and myself were the lucky ones. I am happy to say the barter system is alive and well in New Zealand. We successfully traded guest list spots for bungy jumps at AJ Hackett Bungy. I'll be honest, my legs went a little weak as I prepared to jump but I somehow managed to step off a 300m bridge. We hear this is the small jump.

Later in Queenstown the Black Seeds' manager Chris surprised us with a traditional Maori greeting cere mony. Pretty amazing. Queenstown is posh and mountainous and reminded us of Park City , UT. Minus Robert Redford of course.

This has been a sick day. The gig should be icing on the cake.

28/10/09 Invercargill

Mike Fab (The Black Seeds - guitarist & vocals):

Home of the Ranfurly Shield. Tens of thousands on the streets, they said. When we arrived, there was only two people on the street, and they were having a brawl.

Many more showed up to our gig, later that night. No brawls that I know of. Marcus Luch was there. I dedicated a song to him, "Sometimes Enough". I hope he heard it.

It was wonderfully strange to see the boys from JBB removed from their American context and placed deep into Southland. The audience loved them. The next day as we drove to Queenstown on State Highway 6 I stopped in front of an incredible mountain and was pleased that they would be witnessing such kick arse wilderness so early on in the journey.

Mike Keenan (John Brown's Body - guitarist):

We met the Black Seeds in this working class town that we have heard playfully referred to as the armpit of New Zealand. It seemed cool to us. It was great to see and hear the Black Seeds again. The crowd was rowdy from the first note on. It was great to start the tour with a warm reception.

27/10/09 Oamaru

Mike Keenan (John Brown's Body - guitarist):

"Sad to say I must be on my way, so buy me beer and whiskey 'cause I'm going far away" An immortal and appropriate Shane McGowan lyric that applies today. I left Saturday night at about 7:30 to catch a train to Boston, a car to NY, a flight to LA, a flight to Auckland, a flight to Christchurch, and finally a 4 hour drive to Oamaru.

Almost exactly 48 hours after leaving home we got a bit of rest and our first taste of NZ. It's a beautiful country. As is customary after travel most of us went out for a pint, this night at a place called The Last Post. We found out there is an endangered Blue Penguin colony here.

We split off into groups and wandered around town trying to find the penguins without paying the $20 entrance fee. Tommy, Drew and I walked through the historic Victorian part of town and spoke to some locals that said if you wait until dark the penguins are all over the streets.