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Herbs were a New Zealand reggae band who formed in the mid 1970’s featuring Toni Fonoti, Spencer Fusimalohi, Fred Faleauto and Dilworth Karaka. Other early members included Dave Pou, Phil Toms and John Berkley and it is estimated that more than 15 musicians have played in various incarnations of the band.
They were known for their activism, social awareness and songs about issues involving Māori and Pacific Islanders in Aotearoa and throughout the Pacific, their single “French Letter” remained in the singles charts for 11 weeks in 1982 even though it got little airplay on radio at the time.
The band released a number of popular singles including “Long Ago”, “E Papa”, ‘Sensitive to a Smile” and achieved wide spread recognition for their collaboration with Dave Dobbyn on the soundtrack for the animated feature film “Footrot Flats: A Dogs tale” and the accompanying hit single “Slice of Heaven”.
This song was a response to French nuclear testing in the Pacific and its effects on Polynesia.
This is music video for “Nuclear Waste” from the album “Long Ago” by Herbs. The video features the musicians Tama Lundon, Willie Hona, Fred Faleauto, Maurice Watene, and Dilworth Karaka who were members of Herbs at the time.