When speaking about his convictions and songwriting process, Darlow mentions little moments of clarity that helped him re-evaluate the way he lived his life. When his father passed away at 57 from alcoholism, he realised time was a precious currency, and decided to spend his wisely.
“I thought, ‘What am I passionate about, what really matters?’ and to me, that’s my people,” says Darlow. “How do I do that? The only thing I’m good at is communicating. I talk, sing and write songs.”
Darlow’s decision to help his people, coupled with his background in teaching now sees him speaking to aboriginal children in schools and prisons. Instead of spelling or algebra, he now speaks about Australian indigenous history and culture.
This work took him to Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Western Australia. The children there live in five by three metre cells, and are in lockdown from 7pm to 7am. Darlow says the youths are often there because they deliberately offend, preferring the prison to their often abusive home lives.
Disturbed by the plight of these kids, and the fact that Aboriginal people are ten times more likely to be imprisoned than to finish high school, Darlow wrote Down Like Flies. The song is a plea to his people to take their own affirmative action to change their circumstances.
“Those are lyrics I’m singing to my own people, saying if we wait around for governments or politicians, we’ll be waiting forever,” says Darlow. “So let’s be strong, proud individuals who take action in our own communities. The grass is greener, and we as a people deserve better than we’re currently accepting.”
Down Like Flies is an upbeat guitar driven rock track, which is in contrast to its bleak inspiration. There is a depth and earnest emotion to the lyrics, and the song is thought provoking in all the right ways.
Darlow gracefully walks the fine line between poignant and heavy-handed, delivering emotions with clichés, and imagery sans bad metaphors. There is no bitterness in his music, rather a story of hope for his people.
The didgeridoo, which features on the track, is arguably one of the most underutilised instruments in rock music. The musician not only sings and plays guitar live, but also plays the didgeridoo. However, this is not a gimmick by any means. “We don’t put it in every song,” says Darlow. “We don’t use it as a tokenistic thing, it’s artistic. It has to fit.”
The talented musician’s instrumental capabilities date back to his childhood in the Salvation Army church. “I can’t explain it. Music has always just been the thing I can do. Someone gave me a didgeridoo, and I could just do it. I could play it and I loved it,” he says.
The accompanying video to Down Like Flies supports his message that people are often a victim of a circumstance beyond their control. The comments section of the clip is filled with messages from children he’s spoken to at schools, who have searched for his music after being touched by his stories of hope, change, and true reconciliation.
“I find that when I tell stories, it not only educates, but it allows empathy. And empathy is the thing that will change a person’s heart, that can cause people to change behaviour that has been ingrained for years.”
BY CLAIRE VARLEY
