By Callum Ludwig
A pair of talented Yarra Valley locals have dropped a debut single as part of their band From The Other Side.
From The Other Side are a five-piece punk rock band, and the single and music video ‘My Anthem’ was released on Tuesday 13 December.
Lead guitarist and Yarra Glen resident Paul said a few of the members met before Covid hit and had started jamming.
“Once that was over, we put some ads out for other band members and those like [lead singer] Rose answered the call,” he said.
“We really knew each other for six months at the absolute most, but it doesn’t feel like that. It feels like everyone has known each other for years, we’re all on the same page when we are in the room together.”
As well as Paul and Rose, the band is made up of Healesville resident Marc on bass, drummer Jonah, and rhythm guitarist Justin.
Rose wrote the lyrics and melody for ‘My Anthem’ after Paul began the process of creating the song and she said the song is about a guy who has given up on himself and all his hopes and dreams and everything he really wanted.
“I was thinking about how we as a band were starting a bit late and were wondering ‘Are we too old to do this?’ and thinking about whether we had failed as a result, and took that idea further to inspire the song about a guy who feels as though has completely failed,” she said.
“I ran with it and just thought of lyrics about someone that’s not doing what they want to do, apologising to his parents for not being the kid they wanted him to be, which a few of the band members can relate a bit with, so there are some meaningful things in there.”
The music video was directed by Luke Ray, who also did the band’s photography and the music was produced and engineered by Chris Themelco from Monolith Studios.
Paul and Rose said the band members’ personalities are so different, but it all works.
“Jonah’s like the annoying little brother, he’s quite a lot younger than the rest of us but Marc is like Jonah, only 20 years older. Justin is the oldest guy in the band and is absolutely lovely, he takes on the responsible dad role and looks after us all,” said Paul.
“Paul keeps everybody level-headed and organised and makes sure everything is running where and when it should be, but he’s also a big teddy bear. It works well because I can be pretty scattered and out there, I will get all the ideas, the locations we need, the people, do the social media stuff and Paul will help pull all of that and my scatterbrain into line,” said Rose.
You can listen to ‘My Anthem’, watch the music video and keep up to date with From the Other Side on their Youtube channel www.youtube.com/@fromtheothersideofficial.
The band has a second single in the works and is also hoping to perform at more live shows in 2023.
