PureVolume

The story of SEEED is one of those stories that could start with the typical line „ If you had told me this three years ago, I wouldn’t have believed a word of it.” Because in only 36 months, this underestimated local crew has become a double Echo Award winner, a top seller and the biggest dancehall thing in the entire German-speaking world. It was 2001. Only a serious illness cold bring SEEED to a halt, and then only temporarily. Now they’re back, and out of the “new Dubby Conquerors” has morphed the “Music Monks”.

Berlin, late in the 1990’s. Dancehall reggae, the sound of Jamaica, had taken over the city. The scene was booming. It had all begun with the Foundation Sound Concrete Jungle, Supersonic, Such-A-Sound, Urban Bass, Souljah Sistaz, and others all followed suit. Hamburg had been replaced as the capital of dancehall. B-town was out to break the record: not a single weekend without three big dances. Instead of only once a year, Jamaican stars were pouring in every few months. And they were shining out not only from huge posters but were actually making appearances. Around Whitsuntide, when the “Long Night of the Sound Systems” was being paired up with the Carnival of Cultures, thousands were making their pilgrimage to bathe in the bass. The only thing lacking from this perfect picture were singers and bands who were in a position to play dancehall live. That Dilemma would soon be brought to an end, and by a band that had only gotten together for fun: SEEED.

Pierre Baigorry, aka Enuff had been playing in various P-Funk bands around Berlin since his teenage days. CPS, a semi-legendary hiphop band from Kreuzberg was the latest project in a long series of high hopes and belly flops. Actually, he had had enough of constantly chasing the wolf from the door and was ready to hang up his “professional music career” shoes. But it was the Berlin Carnival of Cultures, in 1998 already a mass spectacle for hundreds of thousands, which brought about the origin of a brilliant idea: a band the like of which Berlin had never seen, a mobile reggae commando troop, created on the model of the great marching bands of New Orleans! A whole lot of drums, horns, 3 singers and more would come together to play at whatever place they showed up. But the band wasn’t to play any second-hand New Orleans sound but rather reggae and dancehall. Bringing up the rear would be the sound-truck hauling all the speakers and whatnot, a mobile studio, under the aegis of a live remixer who would do the dub mixes of the marching band in real time. A fantastic and irresistible idea, and, according to Pierre, “naturally an unbelievably crass project which, it was somehow clear to everyone, would never come to anything.” But the members of the troop didn’t have any all-too-pressing plans for the band. The whole thing was put together just for fun, without any dutiful pressure, without a thought to recording it. The intention was just to bring all the musicians together who always wanted to perform with each other. It was this conglomeration that provided the prototype for SEEED’s big bang.

In addition to Pierre, this reggae big band to-be would also bring in the talents of singer Frank Delle, aka Eased, Demba Naé, aka Ear, the percussionist Alfi Trowers (the only real Jamaican on board), DJ Illvibe, keyboarder and dubmaster Reibold, drummer Based, guitarist Rudeboy Rudy, bassist Tobsen, trombonist Jerome Bugnon and saxophonist Moritz Delgado (all born between 1955 and 1980).

After the project of the Marching Reggae Band was sunk in the Spree, the proto-members of SEEED started making a few appearances on the Spree and the SEEED motor finally started to hum. At a benefit concert in 1998 for the legendary “Yaam”, an open air reggae club directly on the banks of the Spree which drew thousands of visitors on summer weekends, the band was such a hit with the audience (and with themselves), that it was immediately clear to everyone that they would keep at it. At that time, the early SEEED sound based itself on models like Lee Perry, Max Romeo, and Bob Marley. On the other hand. SEEED’s own strengths were also there to hear, that is, the power and energy produced by the band, and the seamless combination of electronic and live instruments and of course the harmoniously coiled voices of the three singers who are capable of putting out tons of charm. Finally, a truly deciding factor of their later success is the invention of SEEED-SPEAK, i. e., that particular ability to combine smooth, unembarrasing German lyrics in a pseudo-patois without breaking the flow for a millisecond.

Further hard and successful work in the practice room as well as a number of gigs, gradually turned the professed amateurs into real professionals.

Then SEEED’s development suddenly took a few giant steps. In the summer of 2000 the “New Dubby Conquerors” EP appeared, produced on the downbeat label. In addition to the homage to Lee Perry, “Wee Seeed” (with the genially arranged “Police And Thieves” riddim), there were two of their own pieces, and the South-African-influenced dancehall track, “Yaam” showed where the journey could eventually lead to. Even though the band, which for organisational reasons, made few appearances (they didn’t even have a band bus), they got tighter and tighter from concert to concert. When the “New Dubby Conquerors” EP appeared, the band was touring with the Jamaican dancehall reggae legend, Buju Banton, and in July SEEED appeared for the first time at the “Summer Jam” reggae festival in Cologne.

That’s when the industry knew something was cooking: “The Tide Is High”, their 2nd EP, appeared with WEA just 3 months after “New Dubby Conquerors”. But the biggest SEEED thing yet was still to come.

In the Fall of 2000, a dub plate was making the rounds with choosen DJs, and in that soft wax a time-bomb had been etched which would explode first in the clubs and later in the charts: “Dickes B”. This song, which is partly a broken and ironic hymn and homage to the city of Berlin, established the name of SEEED once and for all in the dancehall scene.
The track functioned everywhere, whether in Ulm, Hanover or Bielefeld. The band became a pop phenomenon. In may 2001, the LP/ CD, “New Dubby Conquerors” came out and surprised even those who in the meantime had gotten used to miracles. First of all, because the album is impressively good and has many more magic moments than flat ones. Second, because it was able to maintain itself in the charts for months. Up to now, around 130,000 copies of “New Dubby Conquerors” have been sold.

What followed was success previously unknown to them: SEEEDs record release party in Berlin led to a major traffic jam in the middle of the city. At the yearly Fete de la Musique, a city-wide series of free, open air concerts in which dozens of German bands make their appearances, SEEED attracted a crowd of 10,000 to Mauerpark, the kind of audience spectacular that the band would have to get used to. Who or what could possibly stop SEEED?

Then it happened. A serious illness struck singer Pierre Baigorry, aka Enuff, and shut down SEEED’s motor for a few months at the end of 2001. Part of a tour had to be called off and the workaholic Pierre had to take a breather. But before Pierre would acquiesce to his long recovery period, there was a track to be made with the Jamaican artist, Anthony B. called, “Waterpumpee”, which appeared in April 2002 on the EP of the same name. In March 2002 the band had just received a valuable award: the Echo for the Best German Newcomer. “Waterpumpee” was also released as a 7-inch by Germaican Records and - this has up to now never before happened with a German band – became a hit in Trinidad and Tobago! The return of SEEED to the stage had been announced for early September. The hall which was first booked for it quickly proved to be much too small, finally moving into the “Arena” to which were added a good number off seats for the event, reaching in the end 7,000. The concert was sold out in no time and was a triumph for the band.

Also on the stage were Black Kappa, Taffari, Gentleman and various other guests. A radio station transmitted the gigantic concert for 5 hours and marked a historic date. Since Bob Marley’s performance in front of 20,000 people at the Waldbühne, there had not since been such a great reggae concert in Berlin.