The Herd (Australian band)

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For the 1960s UK band featuring Peter Frampton see The Herd (UK band)

The Herd
Performing live on stage at the Metro Theatre, October 2005.
Performing live on stage at the Metro Theatre, October 2005.
Background information
Origin Australia
Genre(s) Australian hip hop
Years active 2001 -- present
Label(s) Elefant Traks
Website Official site
Members
Traksewt (Kenny Sabir)
Rok Poshtya (Dale Harrison)
Ozi Batla (Shannon Kennedy)
Urthboy (Tim Levison)
Unkle Ho (Kaho Cheung)
Toe-Fu (Byron Williams)
Sulo (producer, guitar)
Jane Tyrrell
Former members
Bezerkatron (Simon Fellows)

The Herd are an Australian hip hop outfit from the suburbs of Sydney. Unusual for a hip-hop outfit they have a full band format which permits more dynamic live shows. The Herd are comprised of MCs Ozi Batla, Urthboy and Berzerkatron, Unkle Ho (beats), Traksewt (piano accordion, clarinet and beats), Sulo (beats and guitar), Toe-fu (guitar), Rok Poshtya (bass) and singer Jane Tyrrell. Their songs often feature politically-oriented lyrics.

Contents

[edit] Biography

The Herd's first single to attract Triple J airplay was Scallops in 2001, a song about ordering food at a take-away shop. Later tracks included "77%" which featured the line '77% of Aussies are racist', referring to the number of Australians announced in a survey that agreed with the Australian Federal Government's response to the MV Tampa incident, and Burn Down the Parliament, which was to be interpreted metaphorically, but unfortunately was released the same week as the Canberra bushfires of 2003.

"77%" scored well on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2003, coming in at #46.

The Herd released their third album The Sun Never Sets in 2005, featuring the single "We Can't Hear You". Their subjects ranged from their well-known anti-war stance and anti-corporatism to more personal topics like divorce and the slow death of the Australian outback/country.

In April 2005, Unkle Ho released his debut solo album Roads to Roma.[1] The album samples music from a wide variety of international musical genres such as tango, mariachi, dixieland, and blues rock.[2] According to the Elefant Traks website, "[Unkle Ho's] strategy for world peace is to write a song that has every culture in the world represented, so people will drop their guns and dance 'till they can't dance no more."[3] Roads to Roma was acclaimed as "bewitchingly beautiful by Rolling Stone magazine.[4] His second album, Circus Maximus was released in May 2007.

In October 2005, The Herd featured live on Triple J's 'Like a Version' (acoustic covers) segment. They performed their own version of the famous Australian 1983 song "I Was Only Nineteen (A Walk in the Light Green)" by Redgum. The song was so well received by fans that it received regular Triple J airplay and was voted #18 in the 2005 Triple J Hottest 100 countdown. They have since recorded a studio version which is to be released on the re-release of The Sun Never Sets, and they have also created a video clip for the song. The video can be viewed at http://www.brokenyellow.com/. The Herd performed at The Big Day Out 2007.

MC Bezerkatron left the group in late 2006. Recently the group performed a song about recycled water on the ABC's Sleek Geeks.

In March 2008 the Herd announced that it was releasing its fourth studio album, Summerland, in May, 2008. The first single from the album "The King is Dead" makes reference to Australia’s change in government with John Howard being replaced after 11 years as Prime Minister by Kevin Rudd.[5] In an interview with Triple J, Rok Poshtya advised:

'We just finished recording the new album on Saturday. So we're mixing it for the next three weeks. And it should be out like April, May. And we'll have a song to various radio stations that matter in March hopefully.'[6]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

  • "Scallops" (2001)
  • "77%" (2003)
  • "We Can't Hear You" (2005)
  • "I Was Only 19" (2005)
  • "Unpredictable" (2006)
  • "The King is Dead" (April 12, 2008)

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.unkleho.com/unkleho/?section=music
  2. ^ http://wayneandwax.blogspot.com/2005/12/downunder-underground.html
  3. ^ http://www.elefanttraks.com/chooser.cfm?view=artists&artistId=2
  4. ^ http://www.elefanttraks.com/chooser.cfm?view=releases&releaseId=52
  5. ^ New album for the Herd. Eleven magazine (2008-03-17). Retrieved on 2008-03-19.
  6. ^ The Herd promise new album soon. Triple J (2008-02-06). Retrieved on 2008-03-19.

[edit] External links