The Herd - Summerland
The Herd keep on keepin’ it right-on but also bring on the party jams thicker than ever before with their new album... 2ser Supporters have the chance to win a copy all week on Breakfast, Overdrive and Static.
The Herd
The Herd formed in 2000 when the collective behind the independent Sydney-based record label Elefant Traks
decided to collaborate on a release rather than work as individual producers and MCs. The result was a
wildly diverse 18-track self-titled album that featured the triple j hit ‘Scallops’. With the success of that song
The Herd toured extensively and developed into a cohesive unit – a big change given that, pre-Herd, they were a
completely freestyle/improv group called Dase Team 5000.
February 2003 saw their follow-up album An Elefant Never Forgets released amidst the invasion of Iraq by
coalition forces and, closer to home, the devastating bushfires in Canberra. These were uncertain times –
especially as the band had just released their first single: the controversially titled ‘Burn Down The Parliament’.
Fortunately the song struck a chord with their audience – fans turned up to the launches in droves, and The Herd
found themselves on the road more than ever. The second single, ‘77%’, immediately sparked controversy with
print, electronic media and talkback radio hosts alarmed at both its use of language and the forthright nature
of its message.
For their next release The Herd set up a studio in inner west Sydney, creating their most coherent release so far
in The Sun Never Sets. They also welcomed Jane Tyrrell into the group. Featuring radio hits like ‘We Can’t Hear
You’ and ‘Unpredictable’ amongst a diverse range of tracks which displayed much refined song-writing and
production, the album included a version of the Redgum classic ‘I Was Only 19’ (originally recorded as a one-off
for a radio show). The album continued the band’s rise – doing shows at premium venues like Sydney’s Enmore
Theatre and the Tivoli in Brisbane. Despite the departure of longtime member Bezerkatron (who rapped in Czech
on ‘Unpredictable’), in 2006 they did the national Big Day Out tour to huge responses – as well as succesful
appearances at every major Australian festival.
In winter 2007 The Herd focused on their most ambitious album to date, returning to the Central Coast A-frame
house – where they’d written much of their previous albums – for an extended period of writing. The resulting
album, Summerland, was completed in early 2008, and features the first single ‘The King is Dead’.
In between all this activity, members of The Herd released highly acclaimed solo albums: Unkle Ho – Roads to
Roma (2004) and Circus Maximus (2007); Urthboy – Distant Sense of Random Menace (2004) and The Signal (2007);
and Astronomy Class (featuring Ozi Batla) – Exit Strategy (2006).
The Herd have a reputation as one of the country’s best live acts. An unconventional set-up, they perform with two
MCs, two singers, an acoustic and an electric guitar, bass, piano accordion, clarinet, laptops and MPC.
