Sullies’ songs are about leaving, love, loss, and broken hearts with a twist of protest, environmental issues and calls for social justice.
Sullie is a singer-songwriter who plays across multiple genre’s, ranging from sensitive folk acoustic ballads to punk rock songs and all points in between.
Sullie's latest release Stand Up, Stand Tall is available on streaming platforms on 28th September 2021
Written by Paul Todd and Mike Turner, Performed by Sullie
Australian writer Paul Todd initially conceived “Stand Up, Stand Tall” as a rock song written from the perspective of soldiers forced to fight a war, focusing on standing together as comrades to come through, alive.
“The lyrical content of this song is about being deployed to the front line,” says Paul, “And realizing that this is not our war. And writing back home to protest to the government, to stop this war before it kills us all.”
When Paul offered the unfinished song to Music For World Peace Records, label CEO Mike Turner recognized that the soldiers in Paul’s storyline, shared the same goal as civilian anti-war protesters in the streets back home: to end the war.
“I’m a long-time student of the role music has played in the anti-war movement,” says Mike, “Particularly the anti-nuclear protests in the ‘60s and the war in Vietnam. I was struck by how the aim of Paul’s soldiers in the field, and protestors back home in the streets, was the same - to end war before it kills us all - coming from different directions and motivations to the same conclusion. That’s a story I really I wanted to explore: how these different groups could come together and ‘Stand Up, Stand Tall’ together to end war.”
Irish/Australian artist Sullie, a well-known writer and performer Down Under, had previously released one track on the label (“To War”). He brought his gritty rock chops to the vocals and guitar work that the final track needed.
“I was honoured to be asked to be the artist on this song,” says Sullie, “When I first heard the demo, I knew it had great potential, it’s hard-hitting lyrics really resonate with me.
The song is strongly anti-war from the perspective of a soldier about to go into action. I wanted to get that edginess into the performance.”
“The song is tough and unflinching in it’s opposition to the horrors of war, from the perspective of folks who fear being killed by it, both in the front lines and back home” says Mike, “ and shows how different groups could can share a common purpose to end it.”