A Documentary On The Sydney Band Glide Is Coming Next Year

Melbourne-based musician and documentary filmmaker Ben deHoedt is releasing a doco on the short-lived, much-loved Sydney '90s band, Glide. 

Although he's still a few months away from the rough edit, he's aiming for a late 2023 release. 

deHoedt initially announced the project in 2019 with the name Tangled, but its new name, Disappear Here - the title of the second Glide album, is more appropriate for what he's creating.

Speaking with The Music, deHoedt says that Disappear Here was made to weave a spell and create an atmosphere that draws you into its world. "The documentary will be shaped by interviews with members of Glide and a range of their peers, including Peter Fenton (Crow), Jamie Hutchings (Bluebottle Kiss), Tim Rogers (You Am I) and Jane Gazzo (ABC's Recovery, triple j)."

deHoedt reveals that the making of Disappear Here has been "a combination of stomach-churning anxiety and deeply fulfilling creative joy! That's the best way I can describe it," he begins. It's a personal project as well as informative. 

"I want to make my documentary but at the same time honour William, Glide and their contemporaries in a way that is honest, engaging and compassionate. It's been challenging and rewarding, and I have met some really inspiring, beautiful people. I am really grateful for the openness and generosity I have been offered."

About his inspiration for the project, deHoedt shares, "Glide were such an influential band to me throughout the '90s. William Arthur's darkly evocative and often ambiguous lyrics, spectral and pastoral chord voicings, and beautifully gnarled sense of harmony – all of this was a kind of cathartic sorcery to me. I wanted to write songs like that. Even in their more straight-ahead pop songs, something in there makes you want to listen again and live in that world for a little longer. 

"I knew that if Glide were the subject of my next documentary, I would have more than enough love and care for their story, and William's story, to sustain my passion throughout the process," he says. 

The band still means a lot to deHoedt. Like any fan of an under-appreciated band, he explains that "Glide's music deserves to be known and heard, and it is textured and layered enough to make a beautiful score. I'm really interested in exploring their recordings to bring life, mood, tension and dreaminess to this documentary."

Check out the Disappear Here trailer below.