THE HERD
The core members who formed Elefant Traks founded The Herd in 2001. An innocent summer anthem about fish and chips called ‘Scallops’ propelled them onto national radio when they released their debut album. It was their second album that revealed the true personality of The Herd, as their roots in activism took sonic form in songs like ‘77%’ and ‘Burn Down the Parliament’ . That album was An Elefant Never Forgets and it unexpectedly delivered their first entry into the Hottest 100 with ‘77%’. The band’s third album The Sun Never Sets cemented their voice as one of the loudest anti-war and anti-racist bands in the country, upsetting shock jocks nationwide and introducing the one and only Jane Tyrrell , who joined the band just as the album came out. Shortly after release, The Herd dropped the mic with one of the most iconic Like a Versions in triple j history, when they covered ‘I Was Only 19’ . In 2023, when Triple J ran a Hottest 100 of Like a Versions , ‘I Was Only 19’ was voted in at #18, the only song polled from that decade. The Herd's fourth album Summerland was their highest charting album, and featured their most successful song ‘The King is Dead’ , a joyous anthem celebrating the end of John Howard's reign as PM. Their second single ‘2020’ won a j Award for Best Video and they were nominated for AIR and ARIA Awards . The Herd would release Future Shade in 2011, their last LP, featuring the poignant ‘Sum of it All’ . The Herd were ahead of their time, their songwriting boldly tackling controversial issues that have since become mainstream, from anti- racism to decolonisation and environmentalism. Their popularity explained partly by how much fun they are live, with an unconventional set-up of rappers, singers, guitars, bass, piano accordion, clarinet, laptops and samplers. "No one in The Herd controls The Herd" and there’s still no band like them
