The following is an extract from our brand new publication You Plus Me Equals Us available for purchase here.

The Blue Mountains of Sydney was a good place to grow up. There was a lot of sport, but we had to make our own entertainment. One reason I got into hip-hop was that it was in line with other interests like writing poetry, although as a kid I always felt that what I wrote was not poetry, it was something cooler.

Music and politics
Hip-hop sparked an interest in political issues. It offered me an alternative education. School never taught us about the real Aboriginal experience, or the real effects of colonisation. We only got the watered-down, diplomatic, white version. The relationship was acknowledged but there was no exploration of the conflict and the catastrophe. The message was, ‘Australia has an Aboriginal history … and look at their paintings.’

When artists like Paris [from the US] talk about white people being the devil, some people are going to get offended and shut off the music, while others want to ask more questions. It made me offended on one level but also curious as to why, as a fan of his, I’d also be on the receiving end. Of course, that kind of language is used in a blanket way, just like derogatory terms for black people. I came to understand it as a projection of a certain kind of white person.

Understanding the Indigenous experience
American hip-hop, talking about black experiences, opened my eyes to Indigenous issues. You’re limited as a white person, but I believe you have an obligation to do your best to have an understanding. People are so obsessed with choice and individual rights that the concept of social responsibility has been forgotten. An awareness of something as important as our relationship to Indigenous Australia is more than a choice, it’s a responsibility.

You don’t have to speak out or make political statements, but you also don’t have to be part of those polls talking about stereotypes of Aboriginal communities, or participate in the racism inherent in Australia.

Intervention vs reconciliation
We still have the Intervention, with a policy of special measures that will affect a huge number of people. It’s alienated so many Aboriginal people. How can you avoid seeing it as racist or paternalistic? It’s not something that has ever been introduced to other sections of the community.

Reconciliation is a relationship between black and white – it’s a two-sided issue. But the reality is that the Indigenous voice is not heard.

We need leaders who go beyond this blanket approach to complex issues, and work with communities to come up with solutions. And when things don’t work, you have to re-think them. I don’t see how we can have reconciliation alongside this paternalistic relationship between the government and Indigenous people.

Democracy is by far the best political system we’ve come up with, yet it can be a means to delaying outcomes almost endlessly. Politicians can be strong about economic issues, for example John Howard bringing in the GST. It was an unpopular issue but he stood by it. Why do we not have leaders with the conviction to counter the polls on issues like boat people or reconciliation?

Conservative youth
It seems there’s much more conservative, patriotic thinking in youth now, and less willingness to engage in the political process. At festivals everyone’s got a Southern Cross tattoo, which seems to have become a symbol of fierce patriotism. Perhaps it’s a product of kids growing up with a decade of a conservative government.

People seem more interested in the style and look of music videos than what is actually being said in them. Twenty years ago acts like Rage Against the Machine and Public Enemy topped the charts and were [saying some real shit … such as? Give one example instead]. Today the few that have a message are mostly using empty slogans.

Something to say

There wasn't any big plan to form The Herd. Our views just coincided about the world, and what we wanted to do with music. Some of it may sound rash, but we felt that issues needed to be raised and some people had to apologise for things, or at least be questioned.

Impossible Story was written to say, How could I be so arrogant as to think that we can tell someone else’s story? A lot of artists assume a halo of being a storyteller for others. But you have to believe in your ability to do it, accept your shortcomings, put love into it and be sincere. The alternative is just to make empty pop music.

In ‘77%’ Shannon [Ozi Batla] was channelling pure rage, feeling totally disempowered. Whereas the GetUp! Mob’s version of Kev Karmody’s ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ (above) has lyrics like ‘There are moments in the lives of nations where hope and history rhyme.’ You can’t avoid sometimes feeling hopeless, but then you get over that and have the energy to feel inspired.

Many good stories have moments where it seems that resolution is hopeless, and then there is the great triumph of finding a way through it and finding an answer.

I would like to be remembered for providing an optimistic outlook, without shying away from the hard truths. There often isn’t an intense rationale behind the creative process, it’s more just a personality that comes through that I may not even be conscious of. ’