2001–2004: The Herd & An Elefant Never Forgets The Herd released their debut single "Scallops" in 2001. The song attracted radio airplay on Australian station
Triple J. The song combines hip hop culture with Australian "fast food" descriptions including "Like a $3.40 bag of fresh hip hop, From your local fish n' chip shop, Ah Scallops! With dollops of flavour on top, When we do what we do we give heads the bops" The band's second album,
An Elefant Never Forgets was released in 2003. The first single "Burn Down the Parliament", was released the same week as the
Canberra bushfires of 2003, despite the unfortunate coincidence, the song's lyrical content was completely unrelated to the natural disaster. The second single "77%", became a prominent song featuring 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. "77%" was voted into position 46 of the
Triple J Hottest 100 of 2003 and the album remained in the Australian alternative charts for over 80 weeks.
2008–2010: Summerland In May 2008, The Herd released its fourth studio album,
Summerland. The first single from the album, "The King Is Dead", was written in celebration of Australia's change in government, with
John Howard being replaced after 11 years as prime minister by
Kevin Rudd. The album debuted at number 7 on the
ARIA Albums Chart, and is the first album by The Herd to feature singer Jane Tyrell as full-time member of the group. Previously, Tyrell had provided vocals for a few songs on The Herd's previous album,
The Sun Never Sets.
2011–present: Future Shade, hiatus and reunions In celebration of 10 years since the group debuted, the band performed its first live shows in two years in April 2011. The Herd released "The Sum of it All", the first single from the band's fifth album,
Future Shade, on 21 March 2011, The album was released in August 2011. The
Better Live EP, a follow-up to
Future Shade, was released the following year in March 2012. The Herd performed at
WOMADelaide, held at Botanic Park in
Adelaide, Australia, in March 2013 and at the tenth anniversary of the Australian hip hop festival
Come Together in June 2013. Following their performance at the 15th anniversary shows for Elefant Traks, the group entered a period of inactivity. Tyrrell pursued a solo career, releasing the album
Echoes in the Aviary in 2014, while Levinson resumed touring and recording as Urthboy – often performing with Tyrrell. In the late 2010s, The Herd reunited for a show at Sydney's
Enmore Theatre with
Yothu Yindi and
Baker Boy, as well as a performance at
Queenscliff Music Festival. They also returned to
Like a Version for a third time, covering
Wafia's "Bodies", and performed at Elefant Traks' 20th anniversary shows. In 2019, the group performed at the
Woodford Folk Festival. In June 2024, after nearly 12 years of inactivity as a recording act, The Herd released the single "Soul of My Soul", ==Activism==