In 2009 Gary was involved with the community arts project ‘Reflections on War’ at York Art Gallery. Gary was inspired from this to create some songs which he never expected to be heard outside of those involved in the project, but an album saw the light of day in 2010. As would be expected from the title, this is a far more reflective approach than that which he employed with WP, and has an incredible impact. I live now in New Zealand who sent more men to fight in World War I, per head of population, than any other nation. 18,166 New Zealanders died from a country of only one million. The grieving was made harder for New Zealand families because nearly all those killed were buried overseas. 5,325 New Zealand soldiers – almost a third of all those killed - have no known grave.
In 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of an Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula, to open the way to the Black Sea for the Allied navies. The objective was to capture Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which was an ally of Germany during the war. The ANZAC force landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance and what had been planned as a bold strike to knock the Ottomans out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. The Allied casualties included 21,255 from the United Kingdom, an estimated 10,000 dead soldiers from France, 8,709 from Australia, 2,721 from New Zealand, and 1,358 from British India. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders at home and 25th April quickly became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war. To this day Anzac Day is incredibly important in New Zealand, and children are taught at school regarding the sacrifice that was made. It is illegal to open shops before 1:00 pm on Anzac Day, so that everyone can attend a dawn service if they so wish.
Gary has brought those days (and WWII as well) back to life, with a very personal take on the war with tongue in cheek comedy, passion, and empathy. It is not celebrated or glorified, but instead is shown a light that shows what those involved had to go through. Within the booklet there are photos and pictures of what inspired each song, and the album is contains a great deal of respect.
For more details on this, The Whisky Priests, and Gary’s other projects then visit www.garymillersongs.com. You won’t regret the effort.
