The Herd (Australian band)

The Herd
Performing live on stage at the Metro Theatre, October 2005.
Background information
Origin	Australia
Genres	Australian hip hop
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Elefant Traks
Associated acts	Blades of Hades
Website	Official site
Members	Traksewt (Kenny Sabir) Rok Poshtya (Dale Harrison) Ozi Batla (Shannon Kennedy) Urthboy (Tim Levinson) Unkle Ho (Kaho Cheung) Toe-Fu (Byron Williams) Sulo (Richard Tamplenizza) Jane Tyrrell
Past members	Bezerkatron (Simon Fellows) Alejandro (Alex Swarbrick) Flatmax (Matt Flax)

The Herd is an Australian hip hop group formed in Sydney, Australia. The group employs a "full band" format and is recognised for its live shows. The Herd is composed of Ozi Batla, Urthboy, Berzerkatron (MCs), Unkle Ho (beats), Traksewt (piano accordion, clarinet and beats), Sulo (beats and guitar), Toe-Fu (guitar), Rok Poshtya (bass) and singer Jane Tyrrell. The band's songs often feature politically oriented lyrics.

The first Herd single to attract radio airplay on Australian national radio station Triple J was "Scallops". Released in 2001, the song combines hip hop culture with Australian "fast food" descriptions:

Like a $3.40 bag of fresh hip hop From your local fish n' chip shop Ah Scallops! With dollops of flavour on top

The band's second album, An Elefant Never Forgets, featured "77%", a prominent song that featured the line: "77% of Aussies are racist"—the lyric is a reference to 2001 Australian survey results regarding the response of the Australian Federal Government, led by then-prime minister John Howard, to the Tampa affair. "Burn Down the Parliament", the first single from the album, was released in the same week as the Canberra bushfires of 2003, but the song's lyrical content was not related to the natural disaster. "77%" was voted into position 46 of the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2003 and, as of October 2004, the album remained in the Australian alternative charts for over 80 weeks.

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 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 was included on the 2006 re-release of The Sun Never Sets, and they have also created a video clip for the song. The Herd performed at The Big Day Out 2007.