The Herbaliser

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The Herbaliser
Also known as The Herbaliser Band
Origin London, England
Genres Hip hop
Jazz
Funk
Years active 1995 – present
Labels Ninja Tune
Associated acts Kid Teeba
The Process
Website www.herbaliser.com
Members
Ollie Teeba
Jake Wherry

The Herbaliser is a Jazz / hip-hop band formed by Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba in London, England during the early 1990s. Currently one of the most well-known acts from the Ninja Tune independent record label, they have released 8 LPs, including two DJ mixes: one for Ninja Tune's Solid Steel series and the other for Fabric's Live Mix series.

Ollie Teeba has also recorded solo tracks as Kid Teeba and alongside Jonny Cuba of Dynamic Syncopation, under the band name The Process.

Jake Wherry has also recorded solo tracks as The Meateaters, released on the Parisian Big Cheese label, and has worked with The Propheteers.

Contents

[edit] History

Jake Wherry grew up in South West London[where?] and played guitar and bass in a number of jazz, funk and rock bands in his teenage years. During this time, he met Patrick Carpenter aka PC, later one of the DJs behind DJ Food, and through him became aware of the Ninja Tune label. Ollie Teeba, (real name Ollie Trattles) began DJing at 15 and played his first live sets to London audiences a year later.

Wherry and Teeba met years later at Wherry's Traintrax studio, and began recording together, collaborating with DJ Malachi, Kaidi Tatham of Bugz in the Attic and Ralph Lamb of Easy Access Orchestra. They developed a jazzy instrumental style of hip hop, due to an absence of available rappers. They passed their recordings on to Ninja Tune bosses Matt Black and Jonathan More of Coldcut and were signed shortly thereafter.

Inspired by the funk bands of previous decades, when Wherry and Teeba played live, rather than performing simply with turntables, they decided to take a seven piece band on tour, which included Tatham, Lamb, Andrew Ross, Micky Moody Jnr and percussionist Patrick Dawes.

As they progressed, they gained access to guest vocalists for appearances on their records, including What? What? (aka Jean Grae), Roots Manuva, MF Doom, Seaming To, Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated Peoples, Blade, Phi Life Cypher, Bahamadia and Dream Warriors.

The pair were subsequently employed to produce music for the likes of Motorola, the soundtracks to Guy Ritchie's Snatch and the PlayStation 2 game Tony Hawk's Underground. They were also commissioned to write the theme for ESPN's primetime NFL show Sunday Night Football.[1]

The group have also provided production for artists including T Love, Princess Superstar and remixes for artists including DJ Food, Raw Stylus, Push Button Objects, Jaffa and label-mates Coldcut's "Atomic Moog", which reached number one on the UK singles chart.[2]

The band has just released its second live band album, Session Two. This was recorded at The Easy Access Orchestra's studio and mixed at Jake's Train Trax Studio.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Compilations

[edit] EPs

  • The Real Killer/Blow It EP (1995)
  • Repetitive Loop/Scratchy Noise EP (1995)
  • The Flawed Hip-Hop EP (1996)
  • New & Improved/Control Centre (1997)
  • The Blend EP (1997)
  • Wall Crawling Giant Insect Breaks EP (1998)
  • Road Of Many Signs/Moon Sequence EP (1999)
  • Missing Suitcase EP (1999)
  • 8 Point Agenda/Who's Really The Reallest? EP (1999)
  • Good Girl Gone Bad EP (1999)
  • Time 2 Build EP (1999)

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ "The Herbaliser". Biography. NinjaTune.net. http://www.ninjatune.net/ninja/artist.php?id=9. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 
  2. ^ "The Herbaliser". Biography. AllMusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fifqxqwhldhe. Retrieved 2008-08-05. 
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