Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / POLARIS: Unfiltered, Unleashed, And Without You

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POLARIS: Unfiltered, Unleashed, And Without You · HEAVY Music Interviews

0:00
Speaker 1: Look, your latest single to be released is new music
0:03
Speaker 1: for the first time from you guys in three years. Sorry,
0:08
Speaker 1: it feels like Without You is carrying a lot. For
0:12
Speaker 1: people to hear it for the first time, what do
0:15
Speaker 1: you want them to know before they press play?
0:19
Speaker 2: Oh, wow, that's an interesting question, hey. Maybe take a
0:24
Speaker 2: deep breath.
0:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
0:28
Speaker 2: It carries a lot. That is a good question. It
0:31
Speaker 2: carries a lot. It's the first thing that we put
0:34
Speaker 2: out in three years and we've had an incredibly eventful
0:40
Speaker 2: three years, obviously beginning with our loss of Brian, which
0:44
Speaker 2: primarily is what the song is about, but it's a
0:46
Speaker 2: song about loss overall. It's a song about grief. I
0:51
Speaker 2: think that it's a song that anybody will be able
0:54
Speaker 2: to relate to in their lifetime. Um, yeah, you know, there's,
0:57
Speaker 2: there's nothing more universal than, than, than love and loss
1:00
Speaker 2: and grief. Um, we've had our fair share over the
1:04
Speaker 2: last couple of years and we've distilled it into this track. Um,
1:08
Speaker 2: we think that it reflects it pretty accurately and, um, Yeah,
1:13
Speaker 2: it's a really emotional one for us. And, you know,
1:17
Speaker 2: just that's probably the best thing that we can say
1:20
Speaker 2: about it is that, you know, we've poured ourselves into it.
1:24
Speaker 2: We're incredibly excited to have it out there. And we
1:27
Speaker 2: just hope that you can find some piece of it
1:30
Speaker 2: that means something to you.
1:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I sure did. And to be honest,
1:35
Speaker 1: listening to it, I wasn't sure– I wasn't sure– what
1:39
Speaker 1: to expect. Like, I didn't know if this was going
1:42
Speaker 1: to be, um, you know, a slower ballad from you
1:45
Speaker 1: guys or anything like that, but I have to say
1:47
Speaker 1: it is classically Polaris. You have managed to make it
1:50
Speaker 1: really emotional as well, but still heavy and still classically
1:54
Speaker 1: you guys. And it is, um, also still a beautiful
1:58
Speaker 1: dedication song. So well done.
2:01
Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you so much.
2:02
Speaker 3: It is kind of, it is equally like a, a
2:05
Speaker 3: beautiful track while also being a, one of our most
2:10
Speaker 3: relentless and intense musically, thematically.
2:15
Speaker 2: That's a glowing review. Yeah, it is. That's a glowing review,
2:19
Speaker 2: that one. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
2:21
Speaker 1: And it blew me away that you guys could still
2:25
Speaker 1: make it so powerful, yet so heavy, yet it has
2:28
Speaker 1: all this emotion behind it. And the lyrics hit you hard.
2:31
Speaker 1: I'm getting emotional thinking about, yeah, amazing song.
2:35
Speaker 2: Truly beautiful.
2:36
Speaker 1: A wonderful testament to everything you guys have been through
2:39
Speaker 1: in the past few years, as you guys said. Um,
2:42
Speaker 1: and what was it like, you're welcome. What was it
2:45
Speaker 1: like deciding that this song, um, would be the one
2:48
Speaker 1: to mark your return?
2:49
Speaker 4: Um, it sort of came pretty, um, naturally, uh, you know,
2:58
Speaker 4: it was pretty early in the process of it being written.
3:00
Speaker 4: Rick began this song himself and, um, was primarily the
3:04
Speaker 4: writer for the riffs on this one. Um, he had
3:07
Speaker 4: a good first chunk of the track and we were
3:08
Speaker 4: kind of in the midst of working at the second
3:11
Speaker 4: half and the ending when we started discussing.
3:14
Speaker 2: What it might be and what it might mean. Um,
3:17
Speaker 2: I think I was probably the one that first said, Hey,
3:19
Speaker 2: I think I'd like this to be the song that
3:22
Speaker 2: covers this topic. Um, I think that, uh, We probably
3:28
Speaker 2: had a lot of ideas in our head on what
3:30
Speaker 2: our first single might look like when we were able
3:33
Speaker 2: to release something again. And this kind of was a
3:37
Speaker 2: bit not what I was imagining, but it was, it was,
3:42
Speaker 2: and I think that's probably worth mentioning is, is that
3:44
Speaker 2: I had, I had an image in my head. of
3:46
Speaker 2: what it should and could be. And when this started developing,
3:51
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, this is it. This is the song.
3:54
Speaker 2: Feels right, yeah. Yeah. And I think shortly after discussing that,
3:58
Speaker 2: I think everybody felt the same. Which is good. It
4:01
Speaker 2: should feel natural. And I think it did. And I
4:03
Speaker 2: think that it's, you know, we so often write music first. Occasionally,
4:09
Speaker 2: Dan will have a melody idea or a lyrical idea.
4:12
Speaker 2: But very, very, very primarily music comes first. And it's,
4:16
Speaker 2: you know, it's usually this process of sitting around and,
4:20
Speaker 2: you know, Dan and I will sometimes have conversations together
4:23
Speaker 2: of what could this song mean? Like, what does this
4:25
Speaker 2: song feel like musically? And it just made perfect sense
4:29
Speaker 2: to us.
4:30
Speaker 1: It sounds like it really almost took on a life
4:33
Speaker 1: of its own, obviously with your input, but it, yeah,
4:36
Speaker 1: really the meaning came out of the song rather than
4:39
Speaker 1: you having to have the meaning already.
4:41
Speaker 2: The best ones do.
4:43
Speaker 1: Yeah.
4:43
Speaker 2: Very much so. Yeah.
4:45
Speaker 1: Yeah.
4:45
Speaker 4: Yeah.
4:46
Speaker 1: And sorry for people hearing without you for the first time,
4:51
Speaker 1: especially longtime fans who knew Ryan through the music, what
4:54
Speaker 1: do you hope they take from.
4:55
Speaker 4: It as well?
5:00
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just, you know, it is everything that
5:04
Speaker 2: we've felt in the last three years, primarily, you know,
5:07
Speaker 2: when we first lost Ryan, just distilled into, I guess
5:10
Speaker 2: it's about four minutes worth of music. You know, it
5:15
Speaker 2: runs the full gamut of feelings of loss and grief.
5:20
Speaker 2: You know, I appreciate your compliments on the fact that
5:23
Speaker 2: while it's heavy and it takes you to those places
5:25
Speaker 2: as well, it also kind of has a, melancholic sadness
5:29
Speaker 2: to it um and yeah i i think that you
5:34
Speaker 2: know everybody will experience this in their lifetime as i've
5:36
Speaker 2: said and um this is our take on that um
5:40
Speaker 2: this is you know how what what it means to
5:43
Speaker 2: us to have lost one of the most important people
5:45
Speaker 2: in our lives um and yeah i think that that's
5:49
Speaker 2: that's what we hope that people feel from this song
5:51
Speaker 2: as well is um just you know the the the
5:56
Speaker 2: the the universally human feeling of loving and losing somebody.
6:00
Speaker 3: I think you've pretty much nailed it on the head
6:03
Speaker 3: i don't really know what else to kind of elaborate
6:05
Speaker 3: on other than i guess you know the the large
6:09
Speaker 3: impact that ryan has left on us as our brother
6:11
Speaker 3: as our friend and to the rest of the world
6:14
Speaker 3: the impact that he has made through the music that
6:17
Speaker 3: we've created together.
6:18
Speaker 2: Um you know i think this song is a.
6:23
Speaker 3: Wonderful little snippet of that of like celebrating that and
6:27
Speaker 3: honoring that.
6:28
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah and hopefully sharing that hopefully for people who
6:33
Speaker 2: you know to who ryan was important to um you
6:37
Speaker 2: know we feel a certain responsibility to pen those feelings
6:42
Speaker 2: and And hopefully for those that felt the impact of
6:46
Speaker 2: his loss, they can take something away from this track.
6:51
Speaker 2: I think that it's been a cathartic song for us.
6:54
Speaker 2: It's kind of like ripping open an old wound. And yeah,
6:58
Speaker 2: we do hope that people can hear that and come
7:02
Speaker 2: together with us in celebrating him and mourning his loss.
7:06
Speaker 1: Definitely. I, as a fan, really appreciate that you guys
7:09
Speaker 1: did play or are releasing this track as it does
7:13
Speaker 1: feel like you are letting the fans in on remembering
7:18
Speaker 1: him and how much of an impact he had on
7:21
Speaker 1: the band and the fans. So thank you guys again.
7:24
Speaker 1: And sorry for that last question. I realize I just
7:26
Speaker 1: kind of already asked you that beforehand.
7:29
Speaker 2: No, no, that's fine.
7:30
Speaker 4: That's fine.
7:31
Speaker 2: That's fine.
7:31
Speaker 1: Yeah.
7:32
Speaker 2: Don't be sorry at all.
7:33
Speaker 1: It's wonderful. And just changing pace a little bit here,
7:37
Speaker 1: you guys have just wrapped the North American leg of
7:39
Speaker 1: the Tan State World Tour with Electric Cowboy. What's one
7:43
Speaker 1: moment from that run that stuck with you?
7:47
Speaker 2: I'll let Jamie take that one.
7:49
Speaker 3: They all kind of blend into this just enormous run
7:56
Speaker 3: of shows. One moment in particular that stands out is
8:01
Speaker 3: Red Rocks. To play that venue, that was just a very,
8:09
Speaker 3: it's a breathtaking day.
8:10
Speaker 2: Yeah. The scale of these shows, like, to see where
8:16
Speaker 2: this band is, how much this band has grown over
8:18
Speaker 2: the years.
8:19
Speaker 1: Yeah.
8:20
Speaker 3: And, like, to see it firsthand. Like, you know, we
8:22
Speaker 3: caught them at Good Things. They played Good Things when
8:24
Speaker 3: we played Good Things in 2022.
8:26
Speaker 4: Yeah.
8:26
Speaker 3: I missed their sets because we had the best.
8:30
Speaker 2: They were on the same time. They were, yes! Yeah,
8:33
Speaker 2: they were, yeah.
8:34
Speaker 3: And then we had press like another day or something
8:37
Speaker 3: when they were on, or were they actually on?
8:38
Speaker 2: I missed them when they were on. In Melbourne. In
8:42
Speaker 2: Melbourne I know they were on at the same time, yeah.
8:44
Speaker 3: So to not only be a part of this incredible tour,
8:47
Speaker 3: but to see firsthand the growth and the impact this
8:50
Speaker 3: band is having on the scene and just the scale
8:53
Speaker 3: of the show that they're putting on, like these guys
8:55
Speaker 3: are getting changed seven, like having outfit changes seven times
8:58
Speaker 3: in a set.
8:59
Speaker 2: They're playing for two hours. I don't know how they're
9:01
Speaker 2: doing that. But they don't know. It is so impressive.
9:04
Speaker 2: It is so cool.
9:05
Speaker 4: Yeah.
9:06
Speaker 2: They're just out there serving up their own brand.
9:09
Speaker 1: Yeah.
9:09
Speaker 2: Yeah. They nail it on the head. Their new album
9:12
Speaker 2: is so fun. It's wicked.
9:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
9:15
Speaker 2: Yeah.
9:15
Speaker 1: No, absolutely.
9:17
Speaker 4: Red.
9:17
Speaker 3: So to go back, Red Rocks was definitely like a
9:20
Speaker 3: moment of that whole tour.
9:22
Speaker 2: For sure. It was just... Yeah. I'm just... I'm repeating
9:28
Speaker 2: myself on it. It was just mind-boggling to... for a.
9:31
Speaker 3: Style of music to be in such a historic, beautiful place.
9:35
Speaker 3: It felt so wrong to be playing the style of
9:37
Speaker 3: music that we do in that ambience.
9:40
Speaker 2: I get you. Yeah.
9:41
Speaker 3: Yeah.
9:42
Speaker 2: But everything's passed through there though. You know, it's just,
9:44
Speaker 2: it's so iconic, you know, motionless and why it just
9:47
Speaker 2: went through there. And I had a lot of trouble
9:48
Speaker 2: at Lorna Shaw playing it. I really liked that. That's
9:50
Speaker 2: insane to me. Isn't it?
9:53
Speaker 1: Do you know what's funny just to extend on this
9:55
Speaker 1: a little bit? Um, my husband and I were big
9:57
Speaker 1: fans of Polaris and electric cool boy. um we remember
10:01
Speaker 1: going to both of your shows back when you guys
10:04
Speaker 1: weren't so big so for us seeing both of you
10:07
Speaker 1: um now play sold out massive stadiums and huge festivals
10:13
Speaker 1: is just nuts and In a way, we kind of
10:15
Speaker 1: missed that smaller, more intimate setting because we felt like
10:19
Speaker 1: we really got to connect with you. But, you know,
10:21
Speaker 1: the festival thing and stadium thing is just so awesome
10:23
Speaker 1: for you guys.
10:25
Speaker 2: Thanks for being there with us. Yeah, thanks for being
10:28
Speaker 2: on the journey. Of course. Things have changed a bit. Yes, yeah.
10:33
Speaker 3: You're definitely right in that there is something about the
10:36
Speaker 3: smaller kind of, you know, when a band isn't playing
10:41
Speaker 3: to such a large-scale crowd or, you know, such big
10:46
Speaker 3: production and that, you know, something quite special about a
10:49
Speaker 3: lot more.
10:49
Speaker 2: Up close and personal and just, you are just, it
10:52
Speaker 2: is band and crowd. That's it. You know, there's no
10:55
Speaker 2: other thing you're trying to put on.
10:58
Speaker 3: It's like, no, we are all in this, in this
11:00
Speaker 3: moment right now. Sometimes it's kind of hard to, to
11:04
Speaker 3: convey because that's the kind of show we like to
11:06
Speaker 3: kind of put on is having that kind of connection.
11:09
Speaker 3: And when you're playing to such a big crowd, it's
11:10
Speaker 3: almost hard to try and address that. to that kind
11:13
Speaker 3: of scale to get that personal touch because there is
11:16
Speaker 3: quite a disconnect when there's so many different variables like that.
11:21
Speaker 2: Of course. I think we very much love to have
11:23
Speaker 2: the opportunity to do some of those kinds of shows
11:25
Speaker 2: again as time goes on, you know, like whatever, um,
11:29
Speaker 2: you know, we actually, you know, I think that in
11:31
Speaker 2: the last three years we did in back in 2013,
11:33
Speaker 2: that the 10 years of Polaris tour, and that I
11:35
Speaker 2: think was a really cool opportunity for us to, yeah,
11:38
Speaker 2: just to step back into some of the older venues
11:40
Speaker 2: that we haven't been in for a while and kind
11:42
Speaker 2: of like retread, our footsteps a little bit, you know, like, and,
11:47
Speaker 2: and just, and just remembering when those venues honestly felt
11:50
Speaker 2: like some of the biggest things that we would ever do.
11:51
Speaker 2: And now they feel intimate and how juxtaposing that actually is. And,
11:56
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, it's a good way to count
11:58
Speaker 2: your blessings and realize, you know, what's changed and how
12:01
Speaker 2: lucky we are. But yeah, there, there, it is, I think,
12:05
Speaker 2: I think, I think all bands are, that are lucky
12:07
Speaker 2: enough to get to this point do enjoy stepping back
12:09
Speaker 2: into those venues here and there and, and just kind
12:12
Speaker 2: of like, yeah, play, playing a more intimate show and
12:15
Speaker 2: enjoying seeing all of the faces in the room. Yeah.
12:19
Speaker 1: Yeah. And taking you back to that time when you
12:21
Speaker 1: guys first started out and, um, yeah, no, incredible. And
12:26
Speaker 1: as I said, it's amazing that you guys get to
12:28
Speaker 1: play these, uh, huge, huge shows and we love that
12:32
Speaker 1: for you, but yeah. don't forget about the small shows
12:34
Speaker 1: in the future. It'll be nice.
12:36
Speaker 2: We'll always try to find an excuse to get back
12:39
Speaker 2: to those sorts of rooms whenever it makes sense, you know? Fantastic.
12:43
Speaker 1: Wicked. That's what we love to hear. I think I've
12:45
Speaker 1: only got time for maybe one more question, so I'll
12:47
Speaker 1: try and make it good. But between Froth and Fury,
12:51
Speaker 1: your own festival, and now Good Things in 2026... You
12:56
Speaker 1: guys have been, your schedule's been relentless. How do you
12:58
Speaker 1: keep the live show feeling fresh when you're playing so
13:01
Speaker 1: damn much and releasing music all along the.
13:03
Speaker 2: Way as well?
13:06
Speaker 3: I mean, the Froth and Fury shows was kind of
13:10
Speaker 3: a bit easy for us to tailor the set to
13:12
Speaker 3: because we hadn't been to Perth or Adelaide for such
13:15
Speaker 3: a long time. So I think, correct me if I'm wrong, Jay,
13:18
Speaker 3: we played, I think, the same set that we did
13:20
Speaker 3: for Knotfest. For those, because we were like, well, we
13:23
Speaker 3: didn't bring this show to this side of Australia, so.
13:26
Speaker 2: Let's do that. Which worked out beautifully, actually. Yeah, one
13:31
Speaker 2: year on and we got to take that show on
13:32
Speaker 2: the road to those places. Yeah.
13:36
Speaker 3: But then, you know, playing our own festival was a
13:39
Speaker 3: completely different kettle of fish, you know, curating our own day,
13:42
Speaker 3: not only our own set, but our own event like
13:46
Speaker 3: that was quite fun. And, you know, I'd like to
13:49
Speaker 3: look at doing that again. We'll see what the future holds. But,
13:52
Speaker 3: you know, that was fun to kind of pull out
13:55
Speaker 3: a couple of deep cuts that we haven't, that hasn't
13:59
Speaker 3: seen the light of day for a while. Like we
14:00
Speaker 3: played Crooked Path on that, which we hadn't played in like, what, three, four,
14:04
Speaker 3: five years ago. We played Waves, Marta Waves. We played
14:08
Speaker 3: Vagabond too. I haven't played Vagabond in ages.
14:10
Speaker 2: Tambourine came out for a little bit.
14:13
Speaker 3: I know.
14:14
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'd forgotten about it. It was such a staple
14:16
Speaker 2: for a minute.
14:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
14:18
Speaker 2: And shout out to everybody that was a part of
14:20
Speaker 2: putting that together, Ash and the team. That ended up
14:22
Speaker 2: being so fantastic and such an awesome, you know, start
14:25
Speaker 2: to the year for us to have something that felt
14:28
Speaker 2: so special and curated and all the bands that we
14:30
Speaker 2: had on the lineup and so many of so many
14:32
Speaker 2: awesome acts that we really, you know, love and believe in.
14:35
Speaker 4: Um, it's not.
14:37
Speaker 2: Something that I personally was ever like racing to do
14:40
Speaker 2: or thought that was within our ability to put on
14:43
Speaker 2: that kind of festival. Um, it blew me away. Hey, I,
14:47
Speaker 2: I was so, so one of, one of the highlights
14:49
Speaker 2: of the year for me easily. Um, yeah. Yeah. Location
14:52
Speaker 2: was fantastic. The day went off without a hitch fireworks
14:55
Speaker 2: at the end of our set, which is who the
14:57
Speaker 2: hell ever gets to do that. So that was awesome.
15:00
Speaker 2: I couldn't let the smile off our faces that day.
15:02
Speaker 2: It was so good. It was a lot of, a
15:05
Speaker 2: lot of fun. A lot of fun.
15:07
Speaker 4: Yeah.
15:08
Speaker 1: I was just going to ask how it felt having
15:10
Speaker 1: your own blow fest, but you just answered it.
15:12
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:13
Speaker 4: There you go.
15:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
15:14
Speaker 2: Awesome. Really awesome. Awesome, you know, a little weird, but awesome.
15:19
Speaker 2: If we're ever lucky enough to do it again, I'll
15:21
Speaker 2: be really excited because it was just so much fun.
15:25
Speaker 2: It felt really special for us. All our partners came
15:28
Speaker 2: to watch. We had a load of friends there and
15:31
Speaker 2: it just felt like this culminative experience for us. So yeah,
15:34
Speaker 2: like just grateful to have ever done it.
15:37
Speaker 1: It's a testament to, to how hard you guys bloody work.
15:39
Speaker 2: You don't ever stop.
15:40
Speaker 1: I don't feel like, like you're one of the bands
15:42
Speaker 1: that genuinely, I feel like you're always doing something. Settle down, please.
15:46
Speaker 2: Okay, and last, very last question.
15:51
Speaker 1: What can you tell us about this Uncharted new chapter?
15:54
Speaker 1: You've hinted at it without giving away too much. What
15:56
Speaker 1: direction is pulling you guys right now?
15:59
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess you'll see without you. Yeah, that's
16:04
Speaker 2: probably a great indication. That is the next chapter. That's
16:09
Speaker 2: what we're focusing on at the minute. We feel this...
16:14
Speaker 2: song is important to.
16:16
Speaker 3: Have its time in the sun and to really solidify
16:19
Speaker 3: the kind of, I don't know, the, the, the weight
16:23
Speaker 3: behind what this song means to come out, like for
16:26
Speaker 3: us to have new music out in general is, you know,
16:31
Speaker 3: is something to be celebrated.
16:34
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:34
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. You know, it's, it took
16:37
Speaker 2: us a while to, to, to pull ourselves together and,
16:40
Speaker 2: and get working on this stuff. So just to be
16:42
Speaker 2: in this spot now, Um, and I think that you'll,
16:45
Speaker 2: you know, everyone who's listening will find that this is,
16:47
Speaker 2: you know, very much a Polaris track. Um, and it
16:51
Speaker 2: is very much inspired by, you know, what we've been
16:54
Speaker 2: going through, which is always the case for us. Every
16:57
Speaker 2: record is always just a snapshot of our lives, uh,
17:00
Speaker 2: over the last two to three years. And, you know,
17:02
Speaker 2: that's what the next stage and steps will be for
17:05
Speaker 2: us as a band is just, you know, catching everybody
17:08
Speaker 2: up on what we've been doing, what we've been going through,
17:10
Speaker 2: sharing that with everybody. And yeah, we're just, we're just
17:13
Speaker 2: lucky enough that we've got people to share it with
17:16
Speaker 2: that are so invested in what we do. And yeah,
17:20
Speaker 2: thanks for, thanks for coming along on the ride with us.
17:22
Speaker 2: And yeah, I hope to see you guys all at
17:25
Speaker 2: a show soon and to experience this next chapter with us.
17:30
Speaker 1: Love to hear it. And that's why we love you
17:32
Speaker 1: guys so much because you do make it and keep
17:36
Speaker 1: it so personal always but it feels like we're reading
17:38
Speaker 1: from your you know your personal diaries of what's been
17:41
Speaker 1: going on and we really appreciate that as fans so
17:44
Speaker 1: thank you guys so much and we can't wait to
17:46
Speaker 1: see you at good things so soon and yeah thank
17:49
Speaker 1: you it's been a pleasure thank
17:50
Speaker 2: You so much for having us thank you so much