Four and half years since Same as it Never Was, England’s the Herbaliser is back in ferocious form for There Were Seven, which is out now on the band’s newly launched label, Department H. You can stream There Were Seven here until Nov. 13.
ListenThere Were Seven by the Herbaliser
Streaming until Nov. 13
Tracklist
Band founders Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba simply could not ignore the power of numerology on There Were Seven, their seventh LP made by a group of seven men who are on a bit of a Magnificent Seven kick right now. The album’s loose concept follows seven renegades who return home to discover that all sound has been processed and cleaned up by a machine controlled by “The Lost Boy.” Their mission (manifested by song titles about the aforementioned villain, including “Take ‘Em On,” “A Sad State of Affairs” and “Inside the Machine”) is to destroy the contraption and give the world its true sound back.
“There’s been this whole Simon Cowell–Pop Idol–X Factor talent shows thing — it’s getting worse and worse, mainstream music,” Wherry says over Skype. “Likewise, the whole dubstep thing hasn’t really turned our heads particularly. It’s good for what it is but as people who grew up listening to hip-hop in the '80s and TV and soundtrack music from the '70s, we’re staying true to our influences.”
Wherry is back in fighting form after two bouts of Hodgkin’s lymphoma (“The ‘good cancer’” he calls it because of the high rate of success for afflicted patients), which stopped the father of four sons in his tracks. Luckily, he’s in remission and feeling fine now.
“I have to deal with a lot of anxiety but you live with that,” he says. “Try and eat healthily and not get too stressed out, which doesn’t really go hand in hand with setting up a record company and releasing a record. And having four children as well, four boys, but I do the best I can. Having kids is great and making great records is great too so I’m very positive.”
After exploring more of a soul-pop framework for Same As it Never Was in 2008, the Herbaliser was determined to get back to the core of its approach while still staking out uncharted musical territory.
“Speaking to some old-school fans, they were like ‘It was OK but we miss that dark, moody Herbaliser sound,’” Wherry says of the band’s last release. “At the end of the day, Ollie and I are ultimately doing this for ourselves but we were very conscious of wanting to move away from where we were with the last record and create something heavier with more atmosphere with this record.”
Among the hallmarks of the Herbaliser is exposing their audience to talented but obscure voices, particularly in the realm of hip-hop. Before they were well known, MF Doom, Jean Grae and Roots Manuva all played a part on Herbaliser records and tours. This time around, there’s a particular emphasis on Canadian hip-hop, with Ghettosocks, Muneshine and Timbuktu all trading verses throughout the record in their collaborative projects, Twin Peaks and Teenburger.
“We’ve had a few journalists with this record say, ‘Oh, who are these guys? You usually work with such big names,’ but, we have to stress that a lot of these names weren’t big when we first worked with them and they will go on to be big names,” Wherry says. “What we look for is talent and Ghettosocks, Muneshine and Timbuktu have got oodles of talent for sure.”
Having changed the game when they burst onto the scene in the early '90s with their fusion of vintage hip-hop, jazz and funk, the Herbaliser is held to a high standard. Fans who’ve been onboard for the whole journey will recognize something powerful about There Were Seven.
“Some people have said with this new record, ‘It’s not revolutionary,’” Wherry says. “We’ve never really tried to be genre shapers or pushing new boundaries or anything. We just do what we do and what you get is a lot of honesty in our music.”
JWTo hear the full conversation, you have two options. You can download an MP3 if you right-click and “Save target as.” Or to stream it, press play.
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