The Brown Hornet are an Australian hard funk band. Combining a blend of ska, death-metal, hip-hop, jazz, rock and just about any other style of music with a groove/funk edge, they provided the closing theme song to Atari, Inc.'s Transformers Armada video game.
The original line-up of the band formed in 1993, made-up of two sets of school friends: Dylan Lewis [Recovery, Pepsi Live, Celebrity Big Brother, Nova, Video Hits] (vocals) and Jon 'Ugg' Argyle (drums), and Fergus Lloyd (bass) and Ascelin Gordon (guitar). The band was later joined by another set of school friends, Ben Grant (saxophone) and Paul Williamson (trumpet), making up the horn section, and completing the band's 6-piece line-up which is featured on most of their releases. A number of line-up changes ensued from around 1997 with only Lewis, Argyle and Lloyd remaining constant throughout the band’s career.
The Brown Hornet have released a 2-CD career retrospective (Evilutionof::1993-2003, 2003), a live CD (Live at the Espy, 1999), 2 singles (Passion/Love, 1998, and Pogo, 1997) and an EP (The Brown Hornet, 1997). The band produced two music videos. One for Pogo and the other, directed by Lewis' Recovery colleague and Saw co-creator Leigh Whannel, for Passion.
The band were renowned for their accomplished live performances which were characterised by extended improvisational intervals and Lewis' showmanship which included acts such as fire-breathing and juggling. The Brown Hornet's last known public performance was in December 2004, however they have not officially announced the group's dissolution.