One brotherhood (Herbs) (LP 2759 - 2760)

Herbs  Whats' Be Happen? (Vinyl EP, Warrior Records, 1981) ***  

Herbs  Light of the Pacific (Vinyl, Warrior Records, 1982) **** 

Genre: NZ music, reggae

Places I remember: Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: French Letter

Gear costume: Dragons and Demons

Active compensatory factors: Growing up in Auckland in a middle class white family and going to Mt Albert Grammar was an education in more ways than one. MAGS introduced me to Pasifika from an early age. It even introduced me to reggae!

Pacific Island students from Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue were a small percentage at MAGS in the early seventies but it felt like there were masses of them. A few were bullies, but mostly they were warm, noisy, boisterous boys. And they sure could sing! 

Reggae and the rhythms of Pasifika and waiata are an adopted part of my DNA.

These were the first two releases by Herbs, the first of NZ's home-grown reggae bands, and an inspiration to other musicians, but also to middle class white kids like me. French Letter became an anthem to all of us in Aotearoa.

Whats' Be Happen was their first EP - three songs each side (apart from Dragons and Demons it sounds a bit tentative) and set the template for Light of the Pacific (a much more confident set), their first real album but still with only 7 songs on it!  

Where do they all belong? The CD Listen: The Best of Herbs is probably the first place to go.