Polaris ‘ first new song in three years confronts a question that has followed the Australian metalcore band since guitarist Ryan Siew’s death in 2023: How do they make music together without him? Explore Polaris See latest videos, charts and news
Released Sept. 3, “Without You” is the band’s first new music made after Siew’s death — and a marked contrast to 2023’s Fatalism , the final album the four remaining members recorded with him, which arrived just months after he died. Related Taylor Swift Takes Fans Inside the Making of 'Patient Zero' in New 'Expanded Video' Jimmy Barnes Pays Tribute to Angry Anderson With Rose Tattoo Cover Zach Bryan Wears 'Free Palestine' Shirt at Robert Kraft's Gillette Stadium
Speaking with Billboard of the release and ahead of their appearance at Australia’s Good Things Festival, Rick Schneider said the band wanted its first step forward to acknowledge both Siew’s place in Polaris and the impossibility of filling it.
“He is kind of, in many ways, irreplaceable,” Schneider said. “There is no quick and easy fix to get someone in there to replace what his significance was.” The years since his death, Schneider said, had given the band time “to acknowledge and contextualize the significance that he had on us as not only a bandmate but also a friend.”
For drummer Daniel Furnari, putting the track into the world has been “bittersweet” and “cathartic.” He said the members had spent years thinking about what their first new release would need to convey, knowing one song could not contain the full experience of their loss. “How do you say enough?” he asked. “How do you convey that loss and that pain and that grief and the weight of it all in the right way?”
“It’s really us just beginning to learn how to speak about this, both publicly and through our music,” Furnari said. He also described a sense of pride in the band’s survival. “There’s a sadness, and there’s also a real pride in the fact that we can look at each other and say, like, we’re still here, we’re still standing as a band,” he said. “We might not look the same, we’re missing somebody really important, but we still know who we are as artists.”
Whether Polaris would continue was never the central question, Furnari said. “This band is something we’ve kind of committed our lives to and committed our hearts to,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a part of any of us that ever would have let this go.” The uncertainty lay in how to care for themselves, honor that history and make space for a future. “Not if, but how and when.”
That resolve was tested almost immediately, as the band went ahead with the Fatalism tour after Siew’s death. Schneider said the members gave themselves space, then checked whether everyone felt comfortable returning to the stage. They all said yes.
“If we were to put the brakes on and put us on hold,” he said, “maybe it would have just been harder to come back.” The tour affirmed something they needed to know: “We are still here for each other, and we want to keep this going not only for each other but also for Ryan.”
Furnari said that in the years since, fans had often thanked the ba…