GREM WARRINGTON
MS WARRIOR
Every life has a turning point. It’s what we do with them that matters.
When Brisbane boatbuilder and fibreglass artisan, Grem Warrington, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis on 17 May 2012 and his long-term girlfriend left him two days later, his life began to spiral out of control.
“I went through two years of drug addiction and suicide attempts,” Grem said of the time post his diagnosis. “I thought, I’m fu**ed. Who’s going to want me, what’s the point of me being here? I never did drugs for a high, it was about relieving the symptoms of my illness, but that doesn’t make the addiction any less real or debilitating.
“Now I’m actually quite thankful that I have MS, because it’s put my life on a different trajectory. I can write songs about suicide and domestic violence. A lot of people don’t have the balls to talk about those things.”
After two years of denial and fighting against his illness, Grem found love again with his wife, Daisy, and their relationship was a big part of what turned his life around.
“We met online in 2014,” Grem said. “I flew to the Philippines to meet Daisy the next year and we were married in February 2016. We’ve been inseparable ever since. Daisy gives me the strength to carry on and now the rest is up to me.”
The rest, as Grem puts it, is all about becoming a songwriter and singer as a way of taking his message of survival and hope to the world.
Once you get to know Grem — even just a little bit — you come to realise that he’s a rare sort. Nine parts empathy, one part gruff and all heart, it’s no surprise that he believes there’s always a rainbow in every sad story. Grem is the archetypal irrepressible force of nature.
“I’m not the sort of person who does things quietly,” Grem said when asked about his approach to life. “I make a point of being seen and heard.”
For Grem, having got his own life back on track, being seen and heard is all about making music that inspires others. But his journey to becoming a musician, like the rest of Grem’s life, has been anything but conventional.
“I was a workshop singer,” Grem said, “singing along to the radio and get told to shut the f**k up. As for playing guitar, I’m only a campfire chord person and I find it hard to play these days due to the MS, because my hands give me grief. But I’ve always had the words to songs inside me and I’ve been through some stuff so, once I got my life back together, I wanted to write about it.”
Grem’s journey to being a songwriter and bandleader started at an organisation called Team Musicare, a Brisbane-based organisation that runs programs for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants.
“That’s where I created [the songs] ‘Rise Up’ and ‘Black Dog’,” Grem said.
The chorus to ‘Rise Up’ says everything you need to know about Grem and his music:
And I’ll rise up and fight for what I want / Won’t let this get the best of me / I find my strength to stand my ground / No this won’t bring me down.
Grem has enough fight and snark in him to carry the weight of others who suffer with debilitating illnesses or are victims of abuse and he believes that music is what will carry him and others through their darkest days.
“I’ve already saved numerous people from suicide,” said Grem when asked about the impact of his music. “People love the songs and direction I’m going with it. Something positive has to come out of everything in life. Without MS, none of this would have happened. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but you have to make good in this life.
After starting out at Team Musicare, Grem began a songwriting partnership with Mick Bristow at King Street Studio in Redcliffe, Brisbane in December 2024. The partnership was immediately productive with songs flowing from the pair’s collaboration almost immediately.
“Mick’s a wicked guitarist,” Grem said. “We’ve already written six or seven songs together and four of them have been released.”
Among those is the song ’12 Years’ which was a finalist for Best Modern Country Song in the World Songwriting Awards. Grem doesn’t do what he does for the accolades, for him it’s all about the heart, but this early recognition is an indication of his prowess as a songwriter.
Next up for Grem is bringing his music to as many people as he can.
“I’ve put together a band so I can play these songs live,” said Grem. “We’ve got Nathan Wright on drums and Sean Kemp on bass, and we rehearse regularly using the guitar tracks from the recordings when we need them. These two are the core of the band, we’re like brothers already, everything is equal.
“We’re doing this massive song at the moment called ‘Better Than Before’, it’s a Led Zeppelin inspired thing. It’s probably got the best vocals I’ve done yet and the band has worked so brilliantly together to get the song to where it is.
“We work together as a really effective team. I’m so happy with where things are going in such a short amount of time.”
The band is called YOU INSPIRE.
“I got the name from when people would say to me, ‘you inspire me’,” said Grem. “I don’t mean that in a big-headed way, we all can inspire each other, so I want to encourage people to rise up, be inspired and be the reason someone else keeps going.
“We’re looking for a guitar player at the moment,” said Grem. “We might need up to three guitar players to take these songs on the road. That’s the next step, we need to get out there and move people.”
Grem Warrington and his band, YOU INSPIRE, are all about changing people’s lives. They make music that moves in every sense of the world and they’ll soon be on the road bringing their music to as many people as they can.
“YOU INSPIRE is more than just a band,” said Grem, we’re creating a movement that’s changing lives one song at a time.”