After the war

When veteran songwriter and producer Garth Porter was researching ideas for his latest album at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, he couldn’t help but be moved and inspired by the stories he found there.

The result was After the war: From Gallipoli to Afghanistan.

Coinciding with the centenary of the signing of the Armistice on 11th November 1918, After the war commemorates and honours the men and women who have served, and are serving our country.

“It’s  a privilege to be involved in writing and producing an album of stories of the lives of these ordinary but special men and women who served and still serve this country,” Porter said.

“I was brought up in a family back in New Zealand who had a great a respect for the notion of serving … Both of my grandfathers served in World War One and my father and my uncles served in World War Two … so it’s always been very close to home, and to be involved in an album which involves these kinds of stories is just an incredible honour.”

After the War was initiated by Memorial Director Dr Brendan Nelson and produced by the team behind Lee Kernaghan’s 2015 album Spirit of the Anzacs.

“After the War is a stunning musical tribute to every Australian who has given their all for our nation in the uniform of navy, army, and airforce,” he said.

“From the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 single to the title track, these are songs of love, friendship, loyalty, and the triumph of the human spirit in the face of tough times. This is music to inspire, make us proud, and remind us of what it means to be an Australian.”

The album spans from Gallipoli and Passchendaele during the First World War, to the sinking of HMAS Canberra in the waters off Savo Island in 1942, to the Battle of Long Tan in a rubber plantation in Vietnam, and the blurred and dusty battle lines of Afghanistan.

Produced by Porter and recorded at Rancom St Studios in Sydney, the album features artists such as Lee Kernaghan, Wes Carr, John Schumann, Glen Shorrock, the Wolfe Brothers, Lance Corporal Elizabeth Smith, Darren Percival, Garth Porter, the Royal Australian Navy Band, Sisters In Arms (three women from the RAAF, the RAN, and the Australian Army), Fred Smith, and members of the Polyphony Choir.

A moving video in support of Kernaghan’s I am Invictus, the official song of the Invictus Games in Sydney, features veterans and their families, while videos supporting the duet, After the war, by  Wes Carr and Corporal Elizabeth Smith, and the song, On the Left, by Sisters in Arms will be released shortly.

The artists have all donated their royalties to veteran services under the direction of the Memorial, and the proceeds will be used for initiatives, exhibitions, and programs in support of young veterans and their families.

For Porter, who co-wrote most of Sherbet’s greatest hits in the 1970s and has been writing and producing for Kernaghan for more than 20 years, the After the war album is particularly special.

“It was inspired by those who served and the sacrifices that they made, but also by an understanding that for every vet who struggles, there is also a family,” he said.

“The album was about telling their story in a dignified way, and in a respectful way, as well getting it right and being true to the colour of their story so that it didn’t become my version of their story, it remained their version.

“My job was to try to capture the feelings of what it’s like to serve and to be back home again …

“A lot struggle, a lot shine: there isn’t one story. There are all kinds of reactions to very different experiences of war. There’s the heartfelt desperation of a family losing a loved one on service, and how they react to it and deal with it. There are the songs from the soldier’s point of view, of the soldier who made it back, who will never ever forget the mates who they served with who gave their lives.”

Porter was particularly moved by the stories he heard talking to veterans and their families, who have since become good friends.

“The stories are inspiring,” he said. “It just comes over you, and you just think, I’ve got to try and tell this story, so that when people hear this song, they feel the same way as I felt when I read the letter, or read the book, or had the conversation with somebody …

“They all mean an awful lot to me in their own particular way, so it’s very hard for me to pick one story out, but they are all about very special people who did very special things and found themselves in different circumstances at the end of the wars.

“Our government sends these young men and women to serve, and when they come back, they can find life very difficult, and their families as well, so to be raising some money and awareness of those challenges that they all face has been honour.”

After the War is available from the Memorial shop and online as well as from iTunes and CD retailers nationally. The CD also includes a beautiful booklet featuring the stories behind the songs and the artwork.

The Invictus Games are on in Sydney from October 20 to 27.