The Herd\u2019s heading back on the road to mark 20 years of The Sun Never Sets. What\u2019s your secret weapon for surviving touring?<\/p>\n
Clean socks after the gig. Dave from Resin Dogs used to put it on his rider when I was still a ratty teen and not really knowing what touring was like. And he was like, \u201cYeah, man, just put clean socks on your rider. You can put them on after the gig.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s always been known for its political content. What\u2019s one of your favourite protest songs?<\/p>\n
Killing in the Name [by Rage Against the Machine] is a really good example of a political song that speaks to people\u2019s energy. You can be a weird rightwing incel and feel like that song resonates with you, but actually, it\u2019s a really staunch activist song that is uncompromising. I think that\u2019s an amazing thing, to be able to achieve both things, where you can scale a song but pack a punch. And also accept that no matter how much you try, some people are going to take it and distort it and carry it into the place that they feel comfortable about, where it\u2019s safer for them.<\/p>\n
What animal do you most relate to and why?<\/p>\n
I reckon I would answer differently every year, but right now I\u2019m like those sea otters that hold on to each other by their paws so that they can go to sleep and not drift away from each other. It\u2019s not cute, it\u2019s literally survival. A beautiful symbol of connection.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the best lesson you learned from someone you\u2019ve worked with?<\/p>\n
Kenny from the Herd, AKA Traksewt, taught me at a young age that you\u2019ve got to choose your battles, and he did it by example. There was a young group we were working with who were really aggressive and would threaten him when things didn\u2019t quite go right, and so he turned around and gave them all their masters and sent them on their way.<\/p>\n
I grew up pretty confrontational, and I would love to walk into fights. I was from hip-hop culture, where walking into the fights was generally the 101 of how to resolve things. And I was taking on responsibility for the Elefant Traks label at that time, and it taught me that I didn\u2019t have to walk into all the fights \u2026 it really changed the trajectory of how I approached problem-solving.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the most chaotic thing that\u2019s ever happened to the Herd on stage?<\/p>\n
There was a 4ZZZ benefit in Brisbane. It starts raining. The stage is slightly outdoors so the water is coming in. The rain keeps going. We keep performing. The cables underneath the stage are all starting to be underwater. We\u2019re rapping, looking at each other, wondering, is this safe? Should we keep on going? We finish the set, the gig\u2019s officially canned, there\u2019s electrocution issues.<\/p>\n
It really speaks to a time when it was a bit more devil-may-care. There\u2019s a lot of instances from touring \u2013 especially in the 2000s era \u2013 where, yeah, it\u2019s pretty good knowing we didn\u2019t die.<\/p>\n
What album do you always return to, and why?<\/p>\n
Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest<\/a>, just because it\u2019s one of those enduring records that has meant something to me every decade in my life \u2013 in my teens, 20s, 30s, 40s. Low End Theory was a counterpoint to all the rap I\u2019d been exposed to; it was really jazzy, and it had this friendly, welcoming attitude, but it was still pretty badass, and spoke to New York rap culture and street culture. There\u2019s a chemistry between all the artists on that record. It\u2019s just not pop rap at all \u2013 like there\u2019s no big catchy hooks. It\u2019s a record I wish I could make. I could never make it.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your most controversial pop culture opinion?<\/p>\n Sequels and prequels and reboots have a bad reputation, but I have a very strong view that a new Gremlins should be made with an arthouse director \u2013 like Bong Joon Ho<\/a> or Julia Ducournau<\/a>; someone who makes these kind of weird, dark movies that have that humour that is really gritty and slightly evil. And I think that Gizmo should actually lead the Gremlins, rather than betraying them, this time. I think Gizmo needs to take a good hard look at it himself in this one.<\/p>\n What\u2019s been your most cringeworthy run-in with a celebrity?<\/p>\n It was on the Cannot Buy My Soul tour [in 2009] that was a tribute to Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly and their creative relationship. All of these luminaries of mainstream and alternative Australian music<\/a> at that point \u2013 like Tex Perkins, Missy Higgins \u2013 came in and did a cover, and they toured it around the country. The first show was at the Riverstage in Brisbane and I was backstage in the green room and everyone was there. I sidled up to Paul Kelly and just as I say something like \u201cPaul, how do you write songs?\u201d everything went quiet. And Paul\u2019s just sitting there, politely responding, and I look around and everybody\u2019s seeing me do that thing where you ask The Master this sort of fawning, awkward question. I had bluffed my way into that moment just to have it all come crashing down.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s your favourite writer?<\/p>\n As a songwriter, I always think about authors. I feel like authors have the space to do justice to the word that musicians could never do, even songwriters. And songwriters have the limitation of melody, so they have to work within the confines of that structure. One person who probably crosses those two boundaries is Kae Tempest<\/a>.<\/p>\n In fact, I wrote a song [10 years ago] \u2013 a cover of [Meg Mac\u2019s] Roll Up Your Sleeves \u2013 and I was trying to channel Kae Tempest and the way that he creates imagery in his words. To me, the greatest thing I could ever do as a writer is somehow even just [approach] that beauty of assembling words in such a way that leaves you feeling something.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s the most underrated rapper in Australia right now?<\/p>\n