Ash Santilla, the former front man of Melbourne indie rock band 67 Special, has spent the last decade battling a range of issues that have been challenging to say the least.

Stage 4 bowel cancer plus the impact of mental health would be enough to destroy anybody’s spirit; instead, the singer-songwriter has channelled much of his angst, anxiety, and depression into creating his forthcoming debut solo album, The Darker Side of Up, and it is without question an incredibly heartfelt and emotional offering.

Much of the material on The Darker Side of Up was written on an old, disused upright piano, at a Melbourne mental health facility Santilla was admitted to in 2015. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Santilla continued to write and record during bouts of treatment, but in 2018, he was delivered a major blow.

Diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer, and only 35, his life expectancy was just 12 months. Surgery, chemotherapy, and rehabilitation eventually took their toll, but miraculously, the cancer shrunk to the point of non-detection. Unfortunately, in mid-2023, the cancer reared its head again, forcing Santilla to undergo treatment once more.

Buoyed by better health, Santilla rounded up his former bandmates from 67 Special – the band which launched his musical career (2001-2007) – and got to work at Sing Sing Studios with Clinton Kraus (The Peep Tempel, Something for Kate).

The opening track and powerful first single ‘Nightcrawler’ is a dark rock song that rises from the shadows of psychological torment and pharmaceutical failure.

As Santilla reveals, it’s about “all-encompassing nightmares of spectres of the mind at sleep whilst, the brain convulses in overtime. It confronts the terrifying reality of recurring nightmares and the impact of misdiagnosed medications that promise healing but instead open darker doors.”

Over the eerie soundscape of an ominous guitar pulse and hammering piano, the stentorian voice of Santilla rings loud and clear, like a clarion call from deep within, before the chorus explodes and the tension and unease of the verses is released in cathartic fashion… temporarily at least.

With an equally intense, visceral, and confronting video clip (shot and produced by Jarrod Boord), ‘Nightcrawler’ is essential listening and viewing for fans of dramatic, dark Australian rock music in the vein of The Drones and The Scare.

“To say the personal journey leading up to the realisation of this record has been taxing is to diminish the creative integrity of the material once fully realised,” says Santilla. “Regardless of the complex personal experiences intertwined within the narrative of the record, it, for me, stands up artistically and if it didn’t it just would not be released.”