Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth revision in the development of the Internet Protocol (IP) and the first version of the protocol to be widely deployed. Together with IPv6, it is at the core of standards-based internetworking methods of the Internet. IPv4 is still by far the most widely deployed Internet Layer protocol. , IPv6 deployment is still in its infancy.

IPv4 is described in IETF publication RFC 791 (September 1981), replacing an earlier definition (RFC 760, January 1980).

IPv4 is a connectionless protocol for use on packet-switched Link Layer networks (e.g., Ethernet). It operates on a best effort delivery model, in that it does not guarantee delivery, nor does it assure proper sequencing or avoidance of duplicate delivery. These aspects, including data integrity, are addressed by an upper layer transport protocol , such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

==Addressing == IPv4 uses 32-bit (four-byte) addresses, which limits the address space to (2³²) addresses. However, some address blocks are reserved for special purposes such as private networks (~18 million addresses) and multicast addresses (~270 million addresses). This reduces the number of addresses that may be allocated for routing on the public Internet. As addresses are assigned to end users, an IPv4 address shortage has been developing. Network addressing changes by classful network design, Classless Inter-Domain Routing, and network address translation (NAT) have contributed to delay significantly the inevitable exhaustion which occurred on February 3, 2011 when IANA allocated the last five blocks to the five regional Internet registries (RIRs).

This limitation stimulated the development of IPv6 in the 1990s, which has been in commercial deployment since 2006.

Address representations

IPv4 addresses may be written in any notation expressing a 32-bit integer value, but for human convenience, they are most often written in dot-decimal notation, which consists of four octets of the address expressed individually in decimal and separated by periods.

The following table shows several representation formats:

! Notation !! Value !! Conversion from dot-decimal
Dot-decimal notation	192.0.2.235	N/A
Dotted Hexadecimal	0xC0.0x00.0x02.0xEB	Each octet is individually converted to hexadecimal form
Dotted Octal	0300.0000.0002.0353	Each octet is individually converted into octal
Hexadecimal	0xC00002EB	Concatenation of the octets from the dotted hexadecimal
Decimal	3221226219	The 32-bit number expressed in decimal
Octal	030000001353	The 32-bit number expressed in octal

Additionally, in dotted format, each octet can be of any of the different bases. For example, 192.0x00.0002.235 is a valid (though unconventional) equivalent to the above addresses.

Allocation

Originally, an IP address was divided into two parts, the network identifier represented in the most significant (highest order) octet of the address and the host identifier using the rest of the address. The latter was therefore also called the ''rest field''. This enabled the creation of a maximum of 256 networks. This was quickly found to be inadequate.

To overcome this limit, the high order octet of the addresses was redefined to create a set of ''classes'' of networks, in a system which later became known as classful networking. The system defined five classes, Class A, B, C, D, and E. The Classes A, B, and C had different bit lengths for the new network identification. The rest of an address was used as previously to identify a host within a network, which meant that each network class had a different capacity to address hosts. Class D was allocated for multicast addressing and Class E was reserved for future applications.

Starting around 1985, methods were devised to allow IP networks to be subdivided. The concept of the ''variable-length subnet mask'' (VLSM) was introduced which allowed flexible subdivision into varying network sizes.

Around 1993, this system of classes was officially replaced with Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR), and the class-based scheme was dubbed ''classful'', by contrast.

CIDR was designed to permit repartitioning of any address space so that smaller or larger blocks of addresses could be allocated to users. The hierarchical structure created by CIDR is managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and the regional Internet registries (RIRs). Each RIR maintains a publicly-searchable WHOIS database that provides information about IP address assignments.

Special-use addresses

+ Reserved address blocks
Classless Inter-Domain Routing	CIDR address block	Description	Reference
0.0.0.0/8	Current network (only valid as source address)
10.0.0.0/8	Private network
127.0.0.0/8	Localhost>Loopback
169.254.0.0/16	Zeroconf>Link-Local
172.16.0.0/12	Private network
192.0.0.0/24	Reserved (IANA)
192.0.2.0/24	TEST-NET-1, Documentation and example code
192.88.99.0/24	IPv6 to IPv4 relay
192.168.0.0/16	Private network
198.18.0.0/15	Network benchmark tests
198.51.100.0/24	TEST-NET-2, Documentation and examples
203.0.113.0/24	TEST-NET-3, Documentation and examples
224.0.0.0/4	Multicasts (former Class D network)
240.0.0.0/4	Reserved (former Class E network)
255.255.255.255	Broadcast

Private networks

Of the approximately four billion addresses allowed in IPv4, three ranges of address are reserved for use in private networks. These ranges are not routable outside of private networks and private machines cannot directly communicate with public networks. They can, however, do so through network address translation.

The following are the three ranges reserved for private networks (RFC 1918):

172.16.0.0–172.31.255.255 192.168.0.0–192.168.255.255

Name !! Address range !! Number of addresses !! ''classful network	Classful'' description !! Largest CIDR block
24-bit block	10.0.0.0–10.255.255.255	|	Single Class A	10.0.0.0/8
20-bit block	|		Contiguous range of 16 Class B blocks	172.16.0.0/12
16-bit block	|		Contiguous range of 256 Class C blocks	192.168.0.0/16

Virtual private networks

Packets with a private destination address are ignored by all public routers. Therefore, it is not possible to communicate directly between two private networks (e.g., two branch offices) via the public Internet. This requires the use of IP tunnels or a virtual private network (VPN).

VPNs establish tunneling connections across the public network such that the endpoints of the tunnel function as routers for packets from the private network. In this routing function the host encapsulates packets in a protocol layer with packet headers acceptable in the public network so that they may be delivered to the opposing tunnel end point where the additional protocol layer is removed and the packet is delivered locally to its intended destination.

Optionally, encapsulated packets may be encrypted to secure the data while it travels over the public network.

Link-local addressing

RFC 5735 defines an address block, 169.254.0.0/16, for the special use in link-local addressing. These addresses are only valid on the link, such as a local network segment or point-to-point connection, that a host is connected to. These addresses are not routable and like private addresses cannot be the source or destination of packets traversing the Internet. Link-local addresses are primarily used for address autoconfiguration (Zeroconf) when a host cannot obtain an IP address from a DHCP server or other internal configuration methods.

When the address block was reserved, no standards existed for mechanisms of address autoconfiguration. Filling the void, Microsoft created an implementation called Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA). Due to Microsoft's market power, APIPA has been deployed on millions of machines and has, thus, become a de facto standard in the industry. Many years later, the IETF defined a formal standard for this functionality, RFC 3927, entitled ''Dynamic Configuration of IPv4 Link-Local Addresses''.

Localhost

The address range 127.0.0.0–127.255.255.255 (127.0.0.0/8 in CIDR notation) is reserved for localhost communication. Addresses within this range should never appear outside a host computer and packets sent to this address are returned as incoming packets on the same virtual network device (known as loopback).

Addresses ending in 0 or 255

Networks with subnet masks of at least 24 bits, i.e. Class C networks in classful networking, and networks with CIDR prefixes /24 to /32 (255.255.255.0–255.255.255.255) may not have an address ending in 0 or 255.

Classful addressing prescribed only three possible subnet masks: Class A, 255.0.0.0 or /8; Class B, 255.255.0.0 or /16; and Class C, 255.255.255.0 or /24. For example, in the subnet 192.168.5.0/255.255.255.0 (192.168.5.0/24) the identifier 192.168.5.0 commonly is used to refer to the entire subnet. To avoid ambiguity in representation, the address ending in the octet ''0'' is reserved.

A broadcast address is an address that allows information to be sent to all interfaces in a given subnet, rather than a specific machine. Generally, the broadcast address is found by obtaining the bit complement of the subnet mask and performing a bitwise OR operation with the network identifier. In other words, the broadcast address is the last address in the address range of the subnet. For example, the broadcast address for the network 192.168.5.0 is 192.168.5.255. for networks of size /24 or larger, the broadcast address always ends in 255.

However, this does not mean that every address ending in 0 or 255 cannot be used as a host address. For example, in the case of a /16 subnet 192.168.0.0/255.255.0.0, equivalent to the address range 192.168.0.0–192.168.255.255, the broadcast address is 192.168.255.255. However, one may assign 192.168.1.255, 192.168.2.255, etc. 192.168.0.0 is the network identifier which should not be assigned to an interface,, but 192.168.1.0, 192.168.2.0, etc. may be assigned.

In the past, conflict between network addresses and broadcast addresses arose because some software used non-standard broadcast addresses with zeros instead of ones.

In networks smaller than /24, broadcast addresses do not necessarily end with 255. For example, a CIDR subnet 203.0.113.16/28 has the broadcast address 203.0.113.31.

Address resolution

Hosts on the Internet are usually known by names, e.g., www.example.com, not primarily by their IP address, which is used for routing and network interface identification. The use of domain names requires translating, called ''resolving'', them to addresses and vice versa.

The translation between addresses and domain names is performed by the Domain Name System (DNS), a hierarchical, distributed naming system which allows for subdelegation of name spaces to other DNS servers. DNS is often described in analogy to the telephone system directory information systems in which subscriber names are translated to telephone numbers.

Address space exhaustion

Since the 1980s it was apparent that the pool of available IPv4 addresses was depleted at a rate that was not initially anticipated in the original design of the network address system. The apparent threat of exhaustion was the motivation for remedial technologies, such as the introduction of classful networks, the creation of Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) methods, and network address translation (NAT), and finally for the redesign of the Internet Protocol, based on a larger address format (IPv6).

Several market forces have driven the acceleration of IPv4 address exhaustion:

Rapidly growing number of Internet users

Always-on devices — ADSL modems, cable modems

Mobile devices — laptop computers, PDAs, mobile phones

A variety of technologies introduced during the growth of the Internet have been applied to mitigate IPv4 address exhaustion and its effects, such as:

Network address translation (NAT) is a technology that masquerades an entire, private network with a single public IP address, permitting the use of private addresses within the private network.

Use of private networks

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

Name-based virtual hosting of web sites

Tighter control by regional Internet registries over the allocation of addresses to local Internet registries

Network renumbering to reclaim large blocks of address space allocated in the early days of the Internet

The primary address pool of the Internet, maintained by IANA, was exhausted on 3 February 2011 when the last 5 blocks were allocated to the 5 RIRs. APNIC was the first RIR to exhaust its regional pool on 15 April 2011, except for a small amount of address space reserved for the transition to IPv6, which will be allocated under a much more restricted policy.

The accepted and standardized solution is the migration to Internet Protocol Version 6. The address size was increased in IPv6 to 128 bits, providing a vastly increased address space that also allows improved route aggregation across the Internet and offers large subnetwork allocations of a minimum of 2⁶⁴ host addresses to end-users. Migration to IPv6 is in progress but completion is expected to take considerable time.

Packet structure

An IP packet consists of a header section and a data section.

The IPv4 packet header consists of 14 fields, of which 13 are required. The 14th field is optional (red background in table) and aptly named: options. The fields in the header are packed with the most significant byte first (big endian), and for the diagram and discussion, the most significant bits are considered to come first (MSB 0 bit numbering). The most significant bit is numbered 0, so the version field is actually found in the four most significant bits of the first byte, for example.

bit offset

0–3

4–7

8–13

14-15

16–18

19–31

! 0

colspan="6"

! 32

! 64

colspan="8"

colspan="8"

! 96

! 128

! 160

! 160or192+

; Version : The first header field in an IP packet is the four-bit version field. For IPv4, this has a value of 4 (hence the name IPv4).

; Internet Header Length (IHL) : The second field (4 bits) is the Internet Header Length (IHL) telling the number of 32-bit words in the header. Since an IPv4 header may contain a variable number of options, this field specifies the size of the header (this also coincides with the offset to the data). The minimum value for this field is 5 (RFC 791), which is a length of 5×32 = 160 bits = 20 bytes. Being a 4-bit value, the maximum length is 15 words (15×32 bits) or 480 bits = 60 bytes.

; Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) :Originally defined as the Type of Service field, this field is now defined by RFC 2474 for Differentiated services (DiffServ). New technologies are emerging that require real-time data streaming and therefore make use of the DSCP field. An example is Voice over IP (VoIP) that is used for interactive data voice exchange.

; Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) : Defined in RFC 3168 and allows end-to-end notification of network congestion without dropping packets. ECN is an optional feature that is only used when both endpoints support it and are willing to use it. It is only effective when supported by the underlying network.

; Total Length : This 16-bit field defines the entire datagram size, including header and data, in bytes. The minimum-length datagram is 20 bytes (20-byte header + 0 bytes data) and the maximum is 65,535 bytes — the maximum value of a 16-bit word. The minimum size datagram that any host is required to be able to handle is 576 bytes, but most modern hosts handle much larger packets. Sometimes subnetworks impose further restrictions on the size, in which case datagrams must be fragmented. Fragmentation is handled in either the host or packet switch in IPv4.

; Identification : This field is an identification field and is primarily used for uniquely identifying fragments of an original IP datagram. Some experimental work has suggested using the ID field for other purposes, such as for adding packet-tracing information to datagrams in order to help trace back datagrams with spoofed source addresses.

; Flags : A three-bit field follows and is used to control or identify fragments. They are (in order, from high order to low order): :* bit 0: Reserved; must be zero. :* bit 1: Don't Fragment (DF) :* bit 2: More Fragments (MF) :If the DF flag is set and fragmentation is required to route the packet then the packet is dropped. This can be used when sending packets to a host that does not have sufficient resources to handle fragmentation. It can also be used for Path MTU Discovery, either automatically by the host IP software, or manually using diagnostic tools such as ping or traceroute. :For unfragmented packets, the MF flag is cleared. For fragmented packets, all fragments except the last have the MF flag set. The last fragment has a non-zero Fragment Offset field, differentiating it from an unfragmented packet.

; Fragment Offset : The fragment offset field, measured in units of eight-byte blocks, is 13 bits long and specifies the offset of a particular fragment relative to the beginning of the original unfragmented IP datagram. The first fragment has an offset of zero. This allows a maximum offset of (2¹³ – 1) × 8 = 65,528 bytes which would exceed the maximum IP packet length of 65,535 bytes with the header length included (65,528 + 20 = 65,548 bytes).

; Time To Live (TTL) : An eight-bit time to live field helps prevent datagrams from persisting (e.g. going in circles) on an internet. This field limits a datagram's lifetime. It is specified in seconds, but time intervals less than 1 second are rounded up to 1. In latencies typical in practice, it has come to be a hop count field. Each router that a datagram crosses decrements the TTL field by one. When the TTL field hits zero, the packet is no longer forwarded by a packet switch and is discarded. Typically, an ICMP message (specifically the time exceeded) is sent back to the sender to inform it that the packet has been discarded. The reception of these ICMP messages is at the heart of how traceroute works.

; Protocol : This field defines the protocol used in the data portion of the IP datagram. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority maintains a list of IP protocol numbers which was originally defined in RFC 790.

; Header Checksum : The 16-bit checksum field is used for error-checking of the header. At each hop, the checksum of the header must be compared to the value of this field. If a header checksum is found to be mismatched, then the packet is discarded. Errors in the data field must be handled by the encapsulated protocol and both UDP and TCP have checksum fields. : The TTL field is decremented on each hop, a new checksum must be computed each time. The method used to compute the checksum is defined by RFC 1071: :: ''The checksum field is the 16-bit one's complement of the one's complement sum of all 16-bit words in the header. For purposes of computing the checksum, the value of the checksum field is zero.'' : For example, use Hex 45000030442240008006442e8c7c19acae241e2b (20 bytes IP header): ::4500 + 0030 + 4422 + 4000 + 8006 + 0000 + 8c7c + 19ac + ae24 + 1e2b = 2BBCF ::2 + BBCF = BBD1 = 1011101111010001, the 1'S of sum = 0100010000101110 = 442E : To validate a header's checksum the same algorithm may be used - the checksum of a header which contains a correct checksum field is a word containing all zeros (value 0).

; Source address : An IPv4 address indicating the sender of the packet. Note that this address may be changed in transit by a network address translation device.

; Destination address : An IPv4 address indicating the receiver of the packet. As with the Source address, this may be changed in transit by a network address translation device.

; Options : Additional header fields may follow the destination address field, but these are not often used. Note that the value in the IHL field must include enough extra 32-bit words to hold all the options (plus any padding needed to ensure that the header contains an integral number of 32-bit words). The list of options may be terminated with an EOL (End of Options List, 0x00) option; this is only necessary if the end of the options would not otherwise coincide with the end of the header. The possible options that can be put in the header are as follows:

Field !! Size (bits) !! Description
Copied	1	Set to 1 if the options need to be copied into all fragments of a fragmented packet.
Option Class	2
Option Number	5
Option Length	8
Option Data	Variable

Note: If the header length is greater than 5, i.e. it is from 6 to 15, it means that the options field is present and must be considered.

Note: Copied, Option Class, and Option Number are sometimes referred to as a single eight-bit field - the ''Option Type''.

: The use of the LSRR and SSRR options (Loose and Strict Source and Record Route) is discouraged because they create security concerns; many routers block packets containing these options.

Data

The data portion of the packet is not included in the packet checksum. Its contents are interpreted based on the value of the Protocol header field.

In a typical IP implementation, standard protocols such as TCP and UDP are implemented in the OS kernel for performance reasons. Other protocols such as ICMP may be partially implemented by the kernel, or implemented purely in user software. Protocols not implemented in-kernel, and not exposed by standard APIs such as BSD sockets, are typically implemented using a 'raw socket' API.

Some of the common protocols for the data portion are listed below:

Protocol Number !! Protocol Name !! Abbreviation
1	Internet Control Message Protocol	ICMP
2	Internet Group Management Protocol
6	Transmission Control Protocol
17	User Datagram Protocol
41	IPv6#Tunneling>IPv6 encapsulation
89	Open Shortest Path First
132	Stream Control Transmission Protocol

See List of IP protocol numbers for a complete list.

Fragmentation and reassembly

The Internet Protocol is the facility in the Internet architecture that enables different networks to exchange traffic and route traffic across one another. The design accommodates networks of diverse physical nature; it is independent of the underlying transmission technology used in the Link Layer. Link Layer networks of different hardware design usually vary not only in transmission speed, but also in the structure and size of valid framing methods, characterized by the maximum transmission unit (MTU) parameter. To fulfill the role of IP to traverse networks, it was necessary to implement a mechanism to automatically adjust the size of transmission units to adapt to the underlying technology. This introduced the need for fragmentation of IP datagrams. In IPv4, this function was placed at the Internet Layer, and is performed in IPv4 routers, which thus only require this layer as highest one implemented in their design.

In contrast, the next generation of the Internet Protocol, namely IPv6, does not require routers to perform fragmentation; instead, hosts must determine the path maximum transmission unit in advance of transmission and send conforming datagrams.

Fragmentation

When a device receives an IP packet it examines the destination address and determines the outgoing interface to use. This interface has an associated MTU that dictates the maximum data size for its payload. If the data size is bigger than the MTU then the device must fragment the data.

The device then segments the data into segments where each segment is less-than-or-equal-to the MTU less the IP header size (20 bytes minimum; 60 bytes maximum). Each segment is then put into its own IP packet with the following changes:

The ''total length'' field is adjusted to the segment size

The ''more fragments'' (MF) flag is set for all segments except the last one, which is set to 0

The ''fragment offset'' field is set accordingly based on the offset of the segment in the original data payload. This is measured in units of eight-byte blocks.

The ''header checksum'' field is recomputed.

For example, for an IP header of length 20 bytes and an Ethernet MTU of 1,500 bytes the fragment offsets would be: 0, (1480/8) = 185, (2960/8) = 370, (4440/8) = 555, (5920/8) = 740, etc.

By some chance if a packet changes link layer protocols or the MTU reduces then these fragments would be fragmented again.

For example, if a 4,500-byte data payload is inserted into an IP packet with no options (thus total length is 4,520 bytes) and is transmitted over a link with an MTU of 2,500 bytes then it will be broken up into two fragments:

colspan="2" colspan="2"

#	Total length	More fragments (MF) flag set?	Fragment offset
Header	Data
rowspan="2"	1	2500 ||	rowspan="2"	0
20	2480
rowspan="2"	2	2040 ||	rowspan="2"	310
20	2020

Now, let's say the MTU drops to 1,500 bytes. Each fragment will individually be split up into two more fragments each:

colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="2"

#	Total length	More fragments (MF) flag set?	Fragment offset
Header	Data
rowspan="2"	1	1500 ||	rowspan="2"	0
20	1480
rowspan="2"	2	1020 ||	rowspan="2"	185
20	1000
rowspan="2"	3	1500 ||	rowspan="2"	310
20	1480
rowspan="2"	4	560 ||	rowspan="2"	495
20	540

Indeed, the amount of data has been preserved — 1480 + 1000 + 1480 + 540 = 4500 — and the last fragment offset (495) * 8 (bytes) plus data — 3960 + 540 = 4500 — is also the total length.

Note that fragments 3 & 4 were derived from the original fragment 2. When a device must fragment the last fragment then it must set the flag for all but the last fragment it creates (fragment 4 in this case). Last fragment would be set to 0 value.

Reassembly

When a receiver detects an IP packet where either of the following is true:

"more fragments" flag set

"fragment offset" field is non-zero

then the receiver knows the packet is a fragment. The receiver then stores the data with the identification field, fragment offset, and the more fragments flag. When the receiver receives a fragment with the more fragments flag set to 0 then it knows the length of the original data payload since the fragment offset multiplied by 8 (bytes) plus the data length is equivalent to the original data payload size.

Using the example above, when the receiver receives fragment 4 the fragment offset (495 or 3960 bytes) and the data length (540 bytes) added together yield 4500 — the original data length.

Once it has all the fragments then it can reassemble the data in proper order (by using the fragment offsets) and pass it up the stack for further processing.

Assistive protocols

The Internet Protocol is the protocol that defines and enables internetworking at the Internet Layer and thus forms the Internet. It uses a logical addressing system. IP addresses are not tied in any permanent manner to hardware identifications and, indeed, a network interface can have multiple IP addresses. Hosts and routers need additional mechanisms to identify the relationship between device interfaces and IP addresses, in order to properly deliver an IP packet to the destination host on a link. The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) performs this IP address to hardware address (MAC address) translation for IPv4. In addition, the reverse correlation is often necessary. For example, when an IP host is booted or connected to a network it needs to determine its IP address, unless an address is preconfigured by an administrator. Protocols for such inverse correlations exist in the Internet Protocol Suite. Currently used methods are Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) and, infrequently, inverse ARP.

See also

Classful network

Classless Inter-Domain Routing

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

IPv6

List of assigned /8 IPv4 address blocks

List of IP protocol numbers

Regional Internet Registry

Notes

References

External links

RFC 791 — Internet Protocol

http://www.iana.org — Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)

http://www.networksorcery.com/enp/protocol/ip.htm — IP Header Breakdown, including specific options

RFC 3344 — IPv4 Mobility

IPv6 vs. carrier-grade NAT/squeezing more out of IPv4

Address exhaustion:

RIPE report on address consumption as of October 2003

Official current state of IPv4 /8 allocations, as maintained by IANA

Dynamically generated graphs of IPv4 address consumption with predictions of exhaustion dates — Geoff Huston

IP addressing in China and the myth of address shortage

Countdown of remaining IPv4 available addresses (estimated)

v4 Category:Internet standards Category:Internet Layer protocols Category:Network layer protocols

ar:بروتوكول الإنترنت النسخة 4 bs:IPv4 cs:IPv4 da:IPv4 de:IPv4 et:IPv4 es:IPv4 eu:IPv4 fa:پروتکل اینترنت نسخه ۴ fr:IPv4 ko:IPv4 hr:IPv4 id:Alamat IP versi 4 it:IPv4 he:IPv4 lv:IPv4 mk:IPv4 ms:IPv4 nl:Internet Protocol versie 4 ja:IPv4 no:IPv4 pl:IPv4 ru:IPv4 sk:IPv4 sv:IPv4 ta:இணைய நெறிமுறைப் பதிப்பு 4 tr:IPv4 vi:IPv4 yo:IPv4 zh:IPv4

name	The Basics
background	group_or_band
origin	Melbourne, Australia
genre	Rock
years active	2002 – (present)
label	Independent, Albert Records
associated acts	Gotye, Down Hills Home, Dog With Wheels, Blood Red Bird
website	The Basics Official Website
current members	Wally De BackerTim HeathKris Schroeder
past members	Michael Hubbard
notable instruments	Lead guitar, drums, bass guitar. }}

The Basics ( ) are a three-piece band from Melbourne, Australia, formed by Wally De Backer and Kris Schroeder in 2002. Their style has been described as anything from 'indie-pop' to 'rock'n'roll' to 'pop-rock', though their records show them span a wide range of genres including reggae, ska, country, and electro-pop. They are "recognised as one of Australia's hardest-working bands".

With close to 1000 shows in their nine-year career, their live performances are well-known for their sense of humour and energy.

Formation

The Basics were formed after Kris met Wally at a party in Melbourne. The event was to see off the young aspiring producer, who was about to depart for Los Angeles, and together with a number of musician friends, the two jammed on some blues-rock standards. Later that night, they bonded over a mutual love of The Beatles, 70s & 80s cartoon theme songs and old Sierra adventure games.

Initially they played around Melbourne as an acoustic guitar/drums combo, starting at The Opposition in Frankston and the House of Fools in Footscray, where in late 2002 they met and later invited Michael Hubbard to join them on electric guitar. Though lacking any real experience with the instrument, Kris willingly purchased his first bass guitar and the trio was born. During this time the group start performing songs with more complicated three-part harmony.

During late 2002 and early 2003 The Basics recorded and released an album called ''Get Back'' through MGM Distribution. They began what was to become regular tours of the East and West coasts of Australia.

2004-2005: Current lineup

Tim Heath joined the group in June 2004, after Michael decided to pursue his solo career, which has included being one half of Down Hills Home. Tim was reportedly the only person to reply to an advertisement in Melbourne's Beat Magazine looking for a new guitarist. Tim apparently answered the advertisement - which said the applicant "must have a love of 50s and 60s rock'n'roll" - thinking that he would be meeting "a couple of old guys to play with on the weekends over some beers". They soon recorded ''For Girls Like You''.

The Basics in 2005 continued to tour and play small festivals, and after releasing ''For Girls Like You'' through MGM Distribution they departed for a national tour of Australia, which lasted for two months and took them to every Australian state and territory. Stuart Padbury, a young Melbourne sound engineer, joined them on much of this tour. On returning, the band began demoing songs for a new album.

2006-2009: Touring and soundtracks

In 2006, The Basics began recording what is to become known as ''Stand Out/Fit In''. This took several months and was not completed until the end of the year, despite intentions to have it released in June. Instead, they held a successful 'album preview' where each of the tracks was demonstrated in 'rough form' accompanied by a music video for each (produced by Melbourne photographic artist James Bryans). The band also talked about the origins of the songs. This event brought a lot of attention to the band for the idea's originality. They pre-released a radio single 'Just Hold On' from the album. The band were invited to play the hugely popular Homebake Festival in Sydney, where they received a great response ("one of the highlights" wrote ''The Daily Telegraph'').

In 2007, the band departed on a tri-state residency which saw them play Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane every week for the month of April - a bold move which brought further attention to the band for its original idea. Riding on the wave of this tour, Schroeder, De Backer and Heath departed on their first overseas tour which saw them performing 26 shows around Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom. They also toured twice more up the East Coast, one of which was with popular Japanese band The Bawdies. Their song 'Rattle My Chain' was used in a series of commercials for Volvo Australia. The song 'Hey There!' featured in the British film ''The Bank Job'' - starring Jason Statham - and was used as the backing for a February 2007 short film directed by Tim Longhurst called The Rip. Their song 'Better' was featured in a surfing documentary about the invention of the shortboard in 1967.

In 2008, the band appeared on Australia's Channel 9 for Australia Day celebrations, performing two of their songs - 'Just Hold On' and 'Hey There!' - to an estimated audience of 2 million. Securing an Australian Government grant, they embarked on a two-month tour of Australia, specifically targeting "culturally underprivileged groups" in rural and regional schoolchildren and Indigenous communities. The programme had them holding masterclasses and performing alongside Indigenous groups in the remote Northern Territory and Queensland. Their initiative also had them raising money for the charity Lifeline, their contribution to which was recognised with a plaque at the end of the tour. Season two of ''Californication'' starring David Duchovny featured their cover of the classic 'Have Love, Will Travel', most famously covered by 'The Sonics'.

In 2009, The Basics for the first time enjoyed the support of Australian radio network Triple J, which had reportedly snubbed the band's previous material. The singles 'With This Ship' and 'Like A Brother' were added to the station's playlist, and momentum carried The Basics overseas for a second tour of the United Kingdom and Norway, and also a series of shows in Dublin, Ireland. They were joined by the longtime front-of-house engineer Stuart Padbury who had been mixing them since 2005. The band was often seen in the Grafton Street Mall in Dublin busking to promote their concerts there. Their second show in Oslo, Norway saw the band perform with Hot Tub, one of the members of the Norwegian boy band "Boyzvoice", in his first performance for several years. Season Eight of ''Scrubs'' featured the song 'Lookin' Over My Shoulder'.

Despite all this promise, the band's album ''Keep Your Friends Close'' - produced and part-recorded by Peter Cobbin at London's Abbey Road Studios - though enjoying many favourable reviews, failed to impress Richard Kingsmill, music director of Triple J. This effectively ended the band's apparent upward spiral and the resulting album launch tour was reportedly "trying".

2010: Hiatus and live album

In 2010, following the band's fourth stint at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and the recording of a yet-unreleased live album, an indefinite hiatus was announced on the band's websites. This was in part due to the impending release of a new album produced by Wally for his Gotye project, and also to reported tensions within the band following the previous year's disappointments.

However, this hiatus was soon broken with a two-month residency at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne, which saw an apparent return to form. The band's EP "Wait For You" enjoys airplay on Triple J. The Basics also played a one-off show at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory.

On 20 August 2010, The Basics released their fourth LP , available free online and exclusively from *[www.FreeBasicsAlbum.com]. The band had reportedly moved to expand their listenership through this free giveaway, though 300 "Deluxe" CD/Vinyl versions have been printed. was recorded at the Northcote Social Club on 6 February, "in front of a live studio audience", and like the previous record was mixed by Peter Cobbin at Abbey Road Studios. Technically a self-titled album, the phonetics spell out the accurate pronunciation of the band’s name. Kris Schroeder: "For years we’ve worked at bringing our live energy into the studio and thus far it’s been a bit hit-and-miss. Our trick this time was to pull a switcheroo and bring the studio to us instead; the result is the best and closest to us we’ve sounded yet."

Melbourne thespian and Dog With Wheels bassist David Bramble - friends with Heath from university days - has occasionally joined the band on tour, playing keys, often while sporting a large moustache. Other guests have included Jake Mason (saxophone), also of Cookin' on 3 Burners and The Bamboos, Gideon Brazil (saxophone, flute), Simon Imrei (guitar and vocals) and Monty MacKenzie (saxophone).

Covers have often made an appearance from various sources: to date, some of the bands covered have been Cream, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, New Kids on the Block, Richard Berry, Sonny Curtis and The Crickets, JJ Cale, Harry Nilsson, Bill Scott, Ryan Adams and The Coasters (via The Beatles for their cover of Three Cool Cats).

Members

Kris Schroeder: Bass, Vocals

Wally De Backer: Drums, Vocals

Tim Heath: Guitar, Vocals

Discography

Albums

Get Back (15 January 2004)

Stand Out/Fit In (5 May 2007)

Keep Your Friends Close (25 September 2009)

(20 August 2010)

EP

For Girls Like You (11 July 2005)

Lookin' Over My Shoulder (10 February 2007)

Like A Brother (5 June 2009)

Wait For You (21 May 2010)

Singles

Call It Rhythm & Blues (20 August 2004)

Just Hold On

With This Ship (22 February 2009)

Upcoming projects

The band are taking a two year hiatus, set to return to the stage together in early 2012. Wally De Backer will be launching a new album under his Gotye act in August 2011, Tim Heath will be touring and recording with Blood Red Bird, and Kris Schroeder is currently recording a solo album.

References

External links

Official Website

Myspace Website

Category:Victoria (Australia) musical groups