As one of Australia’s foremost hip hop/dance groups with a predilection for political critique, The Herd are used to shaking more than just the dance floor up. After a slew of confrontational protest albums from the Howard era, however, The Herd have found more to celebrate and less to critique on their new album Summerland. Here vocalist Jane Tyrell speaks to OUTinPerth’s Megan Smith about what it means to get political in music.

How does a collective such as The Herd account for differences of opinion among its individual members when crafting a protest song?

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We have heated discussions at times, but mostly we share common views. When we write a song, we normally all submit our own parts. So, we look at that as when you submit your own part you submit your own opinion and you look at how it fits in with other people’s, but really that’s your opportunity to give your spin on it.

77% is one of the Herd’s most controversial songs. Why do you think it touched such a nerve?

Shannon Kennedy was writing from a passionate and possibly angry angle about the Tamworth Incident where refugees were refused entry to Australia and consequently some of them died. We were all just disgusted that our country could not accept a refugee into the country even for a number of nights. There’s a line in that, ‘I tear the very skin from my face.’ It’s such a heavy lyric. It is that feeling of what’s my identity. If I’m Australian and these people are standing as a voice for me and they’re doing things that just appear to have no compassion at all for humankind, then what the hell am I? What’s my identity? Because I don’t want to have any part of it.

There seems to be a notable change in tone from the protest songs of Burn the Parliament Down and 77% to those on Summerland. In fact, the album’s first single ‘The King is Dead’ seems downright jovial. Does the change in tone reflect the change in Australian politics that has come in the last year?

Exactly right. We were on a tour for Elefant Trax our label and a couple of us were performing on the day of the election and the excitement in the air was palpable, you could have cut it with a knife. We were just on the edge of our seats going, ‘what’s going to happen’ and hoping and dreading the way it could pan out. Then slowly we saw things take place and people lose their seats and we had this night were we just felt quite ecstatic, like we were floating above the ground because there was a bit of hope. That’s why we have that lyric, ‘We dance like New Year’s Eve / We dance from sheer relief.’

Do you wish John Howard could hear your songs? What do you think his response would be if he did?

I can’t imagine him hearing or watching us perform. ‘They cry off with his head’ [a line from The King is Dead] is a pretty heavy lyric and I’m sure he’d probably go, ‘Oh, that’s a bit harsh.’ I can’t imagine Johnny to be a big fan of The Herd period. I think he’d just switch it off and try to ignore it. But he’s good at that too, so he’d be alright.

One of the things 77% criticizes is Australia’s media. What are your thoughts on mainstream media? And what is your source for news?

I read the Sydney Morning Herald and will read the occasional blog on topics that interest me, but the boys, they watch documentaries and read novels on war topics and stuff like that to get the backlog of information.

Has The Herd had any discussion about the federal reforms happening for same-sex rights?

We have many friends who are gay and it’s baffling to me that it’s taken so long to be recognised and accepted. It hasn’t come up, but we haven’t been on the road yet. If you asked me after the tour, I could tell you because six-hour roadtrips, they are the times when we go, ‘hey, what do you think about…’ But we’re all for it and totally support equal rights.

Jane Tyrell and The Herd will play Perth’s Capitol on July 19 and Freo’s Fly By Night on July 20. For more tour dates or to hear tracks from Summerland, visit www.myspace.com/runningwiththeherd