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Seeeds Info |
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Alfi Trowers - percussion |
 Seeed |
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Dancehall Caballeros |
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Founded in '98 and gigging from early '99, Seeed might be aptly described as a product of
multi-ethnic, multi-lingual Berlin and the citys burgeoning, club-based dancehall scene
that came of age at around the same time. Much of the initial attention the eleven-piece
unit managed to grab was down to the hyper-energy whipped up by that terrible threesome
splitting vocal duties between them - Pierre Baigorry (aka Enuff, half-french),
Frank Delle(aka Eased, half-ghanaian) and Demba Nabe (aka Ear, half-guinean).
But - truth be told! - it wasn't smooth sailing from the word "go". Dabbling with
a lot of competing influences and absorbing a range of cross-fertilizing musical
backgrounds from hiphop to plain ol' stinkin' rock, Seeed - at least in their
very first incarnation - was supposed to be, believe it or not, a gumbo-styled
street-carnival marching-band, big truck in tow manned with a sound-engineer mixing
and dubbing an assortment of drums, bass, guitars and horns live; sort of a
New Orleans-second-line-with-a-caribbean-boom-bap-in-the-trunk type of experience.
Sounds kinda quaint in the 2K6, granted. But that concept was buried as quick as
it was devised. "In the end reggae turned out to be the lowest common denominator",
offers Pierre Baigorry by way of explanation. "So you could say we established
ourselves as a reggae band... well, kinda. After a while dancehall just asserted
itself. Me, my brother (Seeed drummer Based) and (former Seeed DJ) Illvibe
championed that sound first and sort of imposed it on everybody else. Getting
gradually more exposed to cutting-edge dancehall in clubs and at reggae-parties,
the other's just had to follow. I mean, for anybody who's involved in the creation
of music it's impossible to dislike dancehall. Quote that! The layout of this
music might be devastatingly simple. But the directness of the production
and the aggression of the vocals pushes you over immidiately once you hear
it boomin' out of a big sound system."
Establishing themselves first as a live act with supportig slots for visiting Jamaican
supes like Buju Banton, Seeed soon mustered a repertoire of old-school reggae classics
like "The Tide Is High", "Chase The Devil", "No, No, No" and "We Seeed", the latter
a re-vamped "Police & Thieves". Today Pierre calls songs like these matter-of-factly
"crowd pleasers", noting dryly that in Germany, France and Spain people are still
swept off their feet once the band tears into those tried & tested covers. But it
was to be their original material that payed the highest dividents. Propelled by
the runaway success of their turbo-charged turf-anthem "Dickes B", Seeeds 2001
debut album "New Dubby Conquerers" notched up sales in excess of 150.000 units.
Translating the kinetic exuberance of their live-act on record, the band managed
to blend their unashamedly roots-rock retro-integrationist flavour with a
hi-tech dancehall bottom, the off-kilter flows and slang-tangy rhymes of
the three Es bouncing across the beat peaks in a mad rush.
Summer 2003 saw the release of their sophomore joint "Music Monks". This time state-of-the-art
dancehall swept the board, the band breaking somewhat with their trad-reggae template,
customizing a glossy, highly produced sound. More in sync with current Jamaican standards,
they build a partnership with producer Pionear of German dancehall label
Germaican Records and started to "voice Jamdown artists on their new crop of riddims."
A surprisingly lucrative spin-off, as their "Water Pumpee" riddim (now christened
"Doctor's Darling") was to prove. Taking off first was Tanya Stephens with her
blistering No. 1 reggae single "It's A Pity", with Sizzla, Luciano, Capleton,
General Degree and Michael Rose giving her a run for her money. Mrs. Stephens,
Sizzla and Degree also rip-roared across the loopy "Pharao" riddim, whereas
Jamaicas "energy god" Elephant Man left his unmistakably lispy voice-prints
on the "Electric Boogie". Finally, preceding their Red Bull of a new album
- unceremoniously titled "Next!" - Seeeds recent "Rodeo" riddim was once
again saddled by the usual suspects, Elephant Man, Degree, TOK, Lukie D and
Wayne Marshall being amongst them. "Next!" firmly consolidated the bands
dancehall base with only the lead-single "Rise & Shine" hitting a rock-hard
one drop groove, marked by a scratchy delay-guitar, drunken horns and a soulful
sing-songy guest-appearance by Cee-Lo Green of Atlantas infamous Dungeon Family
(that loose rap coalition that includes members of Outcast and Goodie Mob).
Today, with three certified gold-albums under their belt, the scale of Seeeds success
is truly mind-boggling. Touring major venues up and down the Country and topping the
bill at many high-profile festivals around Europe, the band managed to sell out even
the type of olympic-size theatres usually reserved for all those stadium-rock bores
y'all love to hate (peaking with a show at Berlins Wuhlheide in september 2004 in
front of a capacity crowd of almost 14,000; for the record: this being a single
Seeed show, not a big reggae festival!). They also made their presence felt at
Englands prestigious Glastonbury festival, one of the most memorable performances
the band cares to remember. Still Pierre takes the all-too-obvious trappings of
"pop stardom" with a pinch of salt. "We have no illusions about being an act with
a mass-following in Germany", he reasons soberly. "Kids buy our records,
secretaries, everybody. Little kids in particular... they adore Seeed, cherish
us for our German lyrics, queue up hours before show-time, tripping over each
other to get closest to the stage." (Something this writer can testify! Quite
a common sight at Seeed concerts are hordes of de-hydrated 13, 14 year olds
passing out in the front-rows and then discreetly whisked off on stretchers
by a veritable army of red cross paramedics!).
As for "adapting" their act for international audiences, Pierre is all too keen to
clarify his own take on the matter. "There’s people around who get a little exotic
milage out of interpolating a few snatches of, say, Spanish or Indian in the mix.
We decided to keep a few German sound-bites, in an ID sort of way. But I wouldn't
want to listen to a Portugese reggae band struttin' their stuff in Portugese. It'll bore
me silly. That's why we felt compelled to do our lyrics over in English. General Degree
helped me to render mine into straight English. I didn't ask him to turn them into Patois.
I'd be acting the fool if I would sing like I'm born and bred in Jamaica."
(At this point it's worth mentioning that percussionist Alfie Trowers is the only
Seeed member with the distinction of true Jamaican ancestry!).
Pierre is willing to concede that there is an element of untranslateability that might
throw a wrench into inter-cultural comprehension. In other words: stripped off their
(s)language, a vital component of Seeed is missing. That sense of place, that idiosyncratic
tossing-about of different accents, that brash, street-smart snottiness that almost
screams "fat B" in your face, as Seeed prefer to dub Germanys capital city - all of
that is just very difficult to make transparent in another tongue. "To us that means
we have to emphasize our own peculiar musical qualities even more. When it comes to
staccato flows and sheer furor I can't compete with the likes of Elephant Man. So
I'm not even tryin'. And that goes for all of us. Matter of fact, I think we sound
positively un-Jamaican. We're annoyingly meticulous about every arrangement,
we're spending an excessive amount of time crafting memorable songs. That's
something that's lost in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of Jamaican dancehall
these days. Songwriting is just not as high on the agenda as it once was. So
for us to bring our production and writing chops to the table is the only way
to get people to say: 'OK, I'll buy that!'
Having had the opportunity to vibe in Jamaica while producing "Next!", Pierre is quick
to acknowledge the respect he gets from the yardcore but remains somewhat aloof, steadfastly
harping on his bands unique identity. "We're not tryin' to beat the yardies at their own
game. Gentleman is a mass phenomenon in Germany, but outside of this Country he operates
within the confines of the traditional reggae market. He might just collect his girls
and fly out to a reggae festival in California or in Jamaica, supplies any given
back-up band with a list of riddims and represents to the fullest. But that shoe
don't fit us. We're tryin' hard to be different. With Seeed you'll need the whole band,
not just the three vocalists to get that specific sound. There's fifteen of us if you
include the dancers and Olsen, our man at the mixing console. All of them contribute.
You'll need the horn-section, the costumes, the showmanship. I mean, we burn a
lotta money on lights and clothes. I myself like the idea to get knocked over
by exciting visuals. Jeans and t-shirt, man - that's just not on. Ours is an
altogether different experience, a different sound esthetic, a different vibe.
We're a live band, first and foremost. That's our main asset. Live we can
bring the ruckus and lock off almost any other act, reggae or non-reggae,
I'm sure."
Ulli Gueldner 2006
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