Seeed is back! Right in the middle of their recording sessions for their 2nd album, wich gonna be released later this year, Peanut Vendor teamed up with mastermind
Pierre Baigorry aka Enuff for an exclusive insight view on the project "Seeed 2003".

Germaican Observer: When we met in summer 2001 while Seeed were touring with the "New Dubby Conquerors" album you told me that you had already started focusing your mind on the next record, the one which is to be finished very soon. You said, then, that in some aspects you were not satisfied with the sound and again would like to change certain things. Are you a hopeless perfectionist and therefore eternally driven by your own high demands? Have your (personal and those of the whole band) musical ambitions been expressed in a better way on the upcoming release?
Seeed: Both. On one hand I'm a true born perfectionist and a grumbler about music and also other things - especially if it's my or our own stuff. Just a few hours after finishing a mix, or playing a concert, I find some aspects to change. If you're on tour that's cool because you can immediately react on the experiences from the night before and change things or include new elements in the very next gig. Working on an album is different. You have to meet a deadline and simply for financial reasons you can't mix each song ten times... On the other hand we've learnt so many things while working on the last album and at present I think that our new songs have reached a new level in respect to the sound and also stylewise. I was determined to avoid putting any song on the new album which is not 100% cool or which I'd like to delete from the CD before I gave it to someone.
There are no such tracks this time which isn't meant to say that I feel ashamed of any song of the last album. But it contains a few songs which I personally would say are rather mediocrish or latently unimportant.

G.O.: Summing up 2002 - are you content? Which things do you hope to turn for the better in 2003?
S.: In 2002 we didn't do so many things together after I got seriously ill at the end of 2001. I spent three months in Asia. After that we played a few festivals which was very cool and wrote new songs.

G.O.: What's the difference between Seeed in 2003 and Seeed in 2001? Will you have more Dancehall tracks on the new album? Did you find a more specific own style as you said you had been searching for already two years ago? If so, how would you describe it?
S.: It's gonna hit you straighter in the face! The songs are more Dancehall, there are more computerized beats on the new record. Whilest others, e.g. Gentleman or Silly Walks, go more or totally in the Roots direction we've chosen the opposite path what we actually had decided to do already when working on the last album. But then, we still recorded songs from our early days which were two years old by then and from a period when we were looking for a proper style. In the meantime we've found our own way and we've convinced the sceptics in the band who in the beginning had their problems which digital Reggae. But there are still tunes which are based on tracks that we've played with the band in the studio. And there are still the harmony vocals - I mean we have three singers and that's always giving us good vibes. But after all, it has become a bit tougher, or more CONSISTENT to put it that way. What else? This time we've also been producing in Kingston, recording some features with Jamaican artistes there, mainly for our new 7"-selection, but there are also some recent voicings for "Doctor's Darling". That riddim (of the track "Waterpumpee") had been layed already the year before but is currently getting unexpected popularity in the U.S. Concerning all these things we cooperate very well with Pionear of Germaican Records, our 7"-label.

G.O.: How about the current line-up - is it still the same musicians and to which degree the success of a band depends on this factor? Do some of you still find time for, and fun in, doing other projects?
S.: No changes in the line-up. The vibe between all 11 of us is still right. Concerning the production, of course some are not as much involved as others and therefore have time and energy left for other projects. Demba for instance does some solo activities called "Boundzound". Rübi's still playing hard rock with two old mates, and Based and Illvibe have Lychee Lassi being a "turntable- instrumental HipHop-Dub-Funk live project". Reibold in the meantime did some movie and theatre music, the horns are also blowing even if Seeed's not playing, and Alfi still runs his "Reggae Station" club in Berlin.

G.O.: How did you distibute the labour in producing the new record? How much did singular members of Seeed bring in their own musical ideas and take part in the making? Do you sometimes argue heavily over certain details or is everything getting through your hands in the end?
S.: Well, in the end most things are coming together in my hands, but nonetheless we do argue heavily. Particularly between the three singers, it's about lyrics, pronounciation, the sequence of verses and stuff like that. On the new album, Frank and Demba have one track each where they take the final decisions. Moreover, especially Vincent (Illvibe) is involved "constructing" the beats, for instance the beat of Demba's track is his'. Based and Rübi now also have computers and assist when it comes to cutting the band studio tracks. Chief Olsen is very important, actually it's him and me working the longest time of all in the studio. He's our all-time live-, recording-, and mixing engineer. Without him it na work...

G.O.: Are you now feeling a greater pressure for success than before, because everybody is expecting only high quality output from you? Do you see a kind of risk to get reduced to certain stereotypes by the media and part of the audience - stereotypes which you will have to follow to a certain degree to keep on being successful but which could also lead you to a point where this style is not en-vogue any longer and another trend is declared hip?
S.: Of course the record company is expecting higher sales than last time. But first of all that's their job and second neither do we mind selling more copies - as long as the music which we play is OUR music. So, if there's pressure it's we who create it - we want the album to become the MEGA-SHIT, not just some EVERYDAY-SHIT.

G.O.: How much do you experiment with other musical influences?
S.: We always experiment with everything! It's uncool to be purist, purists are obstructing and they trod on the spot! I mean, for instance tablas and Bhangra-elements have been used more than ten years ago in Reggae, and now it's the latest thing. I like it - it's adding a nice colour. But sometimes there are elements coming into fashion which I find horrible, like all this 80ies-crap!
In the past we've heard from some people that they didn't like that Seeed had some DJ-sounds and scratches in the music and that this was "totally un-Reggae-like" - arrgh, shut up...!

G.O.: There will be a tour after the release of the new album - with much more gigs abroad?
S.: Yup!

G.O.: Are you already making planes beyond that tour which is supposed to keep you busy - if the album is selling well - until the end of the year?
S.: No, it's not predictable at the moment how long it's gonna take. Our hope is that we play not only outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland but that the album will be released maybe in France and England, too. If so then promoting the album and touring can be extensive...

G.O.: Are you very impatient to go on tour again?
S.: It's always the greatest thrill to play live! Bet you we're impatient but mainly for the album to be finished 'cause then we can start rehearsing for the concerts and finally work all 11 together which is much more fun than working the nightshifts in the studio alone or two of us.

G.O.: Will Seeed in two years time still exist more or less the same way it does now?
S.: Who knows? But there are plenty of indications in favour...

Peanut Vendor/ G.O. Leipzig

www.seeed.de

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