TRACK REVIEW: Amyl and The Sniffers - Security

TRACK REVIEW:

Amyl and The Sniffers

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Wdziekonski

Security

9.6/10

The track, Security, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5DZA2NLYis

GENRES:

Alternative/Indie/Pub Rock

ORIGIN:

Melbourne, Australia

The album, Comfort to Me, is available from 10th September. Pre-order here:

https://amyl-and-the-sniffers.myshopify.com/

LABEL:

B2B Records

TRACKLISTING:

Guided by Angels

Freaks to the Front

Choices

Security

Hertz

No More Tears

Maggot

Captial

Don’t Fence Me In

Knifey

Don’t Need a Cunt (Like you to love me)

Laughing

Snakes

__________

THIS is a band…

PHOTO CREDIT: Charles Engelken for DIY

that I have been meaning to review for a while now. Amyl and The Sniffers consist of Amy Taylor, Bryce Wilson, Dec Martens and Gus Romer (formerly Calum Newton was in the band). Hailing from Melbourne, this is a rare chance for me to review an Australian band. Not that there is a scarcity of great Australian talent: the country is producing some amazing talent. I think the media do not pay as much attention to the country as they do the U.K. and U.S. That is a shame! Even though Amyl and The Sniffers come from Melbourne, they are an international band who have a big fanbase in the U.K. The band have spent time recording in the U.K. and performed here a bit. I am going to focus for a bit on their lead, Amy Taylor. Before that, it is worth highlighting Amyl and The Sniffers’ creative process. For this, I am bringing in an interview CLASH produced in 2019:

“Singer Amy Taylor writes lyrics live in the rehearsal room, while Declan and drummer Bryce Wilson hammer out lean pop-punk riffs that manage to be both incendiary and uncannily danceable. They have this one song about having a pushbike stolen, and I wonder how it came about.

“Nobody’s bike actually got stolen,” recalls Declan. “That never happened. There’s a band back in Melbourne, mates of ours, called WOD. The singer of WOD ripped off the bass player’s girlfriend’s haircut, like, just straight up copied her look, and then wrote a fucken song called ‘I Stole Your Haircut’."

"They changed it to 'Bike' because they thought it would work better I guess, and we thought it would be funny to write a response.”

Apparently the whole poppers-name thing does raise the odd eyebrow when going through customs, especially in more drug-paranoid places like the USA.

“But, like my mum always says,” begins Declan, adorably, “If they let a band called ‘Megadeth’ in then they should absolutely let Amyl & the Sniffers in.”

And by the way, if any poppers manufacturers are thinking of endorsing the band: “Absolutely, if you give us a million bucks each. I’d probably be the face of poppers for a few hundred, to be fair.”

They’re having fun on their adventures, that much is clear.

“We’re always the worst people in the room. We’re always the loudest, the drunkest. Our tour manager especially is an absolute nuisance. A rascal. He sprays us with beer, and like, always eats more food than anybody. Like, more than whole other bands put together."

So they're keeping it real. “We’re just doing what we used to do back home in Australia, at the pub, but with more encouragement.”

As we finish chatting, and as I sense we’re getting on quite well, I tell Declan Martens my favourite joke about Australian people. Basically: What’s the difference between Australia and a glass of milk? If you leave a glass of milk out for a bit it’ll develop a culture”.

In Amy Taylor, we have this incredible lead that is a fireball of energy, anger and personality! One of my concerns is that, in this modern age, we do not really have these band leaders who are controversial or have that magnetism. Once was the time when one would find these figures with ease. Now, because I think music is more sanitised and the scene has changed so much, it is very rare. Taylor is definitely someone who has the spirit of Punk running through her veins. In 2019, Oyster spoke with Taylor. They asked her about Punk, and how music sort of came into her life:

“Amy Taylor is everything I wish I was. She has bleached hair and her mouth is always open. She takes up space and doesn’t apologise. She stands in front of people and screams from the soft centre of her heart and the angry pit of her stomach. And then she lands a Gucci campaign. As the frontwoman of one of Australia’s favourite young bands of the moment, Amyl and the Sniffers, she relentlessly demands beer, power and “to be treated right”. In our interview, however, she demands nothing. She talks honestly, ripe with contradiction, says she isn’t “heaps smart” (arguable!), and details the band’s self-titled debut album, which has been punching all of us in the head since its release in May.

Hayley Morgan: Is punk fantasy for you? I mean, when you were growing up did you see it as a sort of place where you could go and be exactly who you wanted to be?

Amy Taylor: That’s hard to answer because I’m not sure that there’s just one meaning of punk — it’s subjective, I reckon. For one person, it could just be a genre; for another, it’s rebelling against the government; for another, it’s the way they dress; for another, it’s staunch activism. It really can mean anything and it depends on who’s looking at it. I’m like a lot of people and I’m in a constant limbo of thinking nothing matters. As in: live free, do what you want, we’re all gonna die, so what does it matter anyway? Which is true, but on the other hand, I have the need to help people who have it worse than me, or who are getting fucked over worse than me. The world’s really crazy. But, to answer that, and it’s obviously just my opinion, I reckon the world can be anything extended from your mind. I think legit anything and everything is a fantasy — everything is a choice and just thoughts. That’s true to me at the moment anyway. I mean, the whole world is like a scam, or a fantasy, like a video game or something. I definitely think the music scene and going to live gigs was one of the places where I could be me. It’s a social setting, but you don’t have to talk to anyone. Everyone’s there for a common reason and has something in common, so there’s a connection, but you don’t have to be a certain way. You can just be as you feel and the energy of a song can let you be you. I’m influenced by a lot of different genres and different things, and what I love and what I want to be is always changing. So, it probably isn’t singularly punk music that has been a place for that, but it’s 100% one of them.

PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins

What do you reckon it was about your upbringing that opened the gates to music? What gave you the guts to get up in front of a crowd and belt out what you’re feeling?

I don’t really know. It’s not like I was always confident — I couldn’t have done it when I was in high school. I first got into going to shows when I was about 14. There wasn’t much to do in the town where I grew up, other than go to the beach, which was nice, but I went to a hardcore all-ages show or some shit and I loved the anger and energy, and I was attracted to the violence. It scared me and also made me really excited. I’ve always felt comfortable just doing things that I like or wearing shit I like. I just felt comfortable being me — sometimes more than others and other times I feel like a fucking wanker. But when we started, especially around the boys in the band, it never crossed my mind what other people would think and I liked the challenge of trying something new. And, to be honest, it just doesn’t scare me. I really don’t give a shit if I make a mistake — I think mistakes are magic. It’s just nice to express energy, and I love music so it’s not really something that crossed or crosses my mind. That’s something I was never taught.

Would you say that being onstage grants you permission to do or say stuff that you normally wouldn’t?

Sometimes. I’m not heaps smart, but the music world and touring world has taught me a lot of shit. So because I know more, I’ll say more, whereas if I don’t know, I try to keep my mouth shut. I definitely feel powerful onstage — when I first started, and we’d play to not many people, it was sick. I could just nick someone’s beer and they wouldn’t complain. But I think saying stuff on stage is the same as talking behind someone’s back — you should always be able to say it to someone’s face. Anything I do onstage, I would want to feel just as confident to do it offstage. Not that I always do. I’m only one person in the end.

PHOTO CREDIT: Charles Engelken for DIY

I ask this not looking for a feminist pull quote, but rather looking for a positive update: is being a woman in punk, onstage and in a crowd, still a bit shit?

Hmm, you know what? Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. Again, it’s never something that crossed my mind before I started and I never really let it get to me. I don’t give my energy to any of that shit. I don’t think you can control what people say or do or think. I think leading by example is better. I just focus on what I want to be doing and how I want it to look. I love taking up space with my femininity. But at the same time, I’ve definitely punched a few blokes for being too handsy while we’re playing, and people definitely talk shit all the time, but why would I give that power? There’s plenty of space for everyone and, even if not, I’ll still exist. Willie Nelson wore a shirt once that said: ‘Why teach a pig how to sing? You’ll annoy the pig and waste your time’”.

I am keen to bring in more interviews that spotlight Taylor, as she is someone who is compelling and always great value. Someone very honest and without a filter – in a good way -, you get this very genuine person who reminds one of those band leads who were filled with personality and punch. As I said, one does not really see it much now. One can tell that Amyl and The Sniffers are going to be around for a long time yet.

PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins for Loud and Quiet

I think the authenticity we see in Amy Taylor comes from her upbringing. By all accounts, she had a very ordinary childhood. A very working-class background. When Loud and Quiet chatted with Amy Taylor a couple of years back, she revealed (among other things) details about her childhood, how the band clicked, and what drew her to Punk:

“I don’t know how to say this without coming across like a bit of a dickhead, but my family are like, really Western Suburbs. Even though we lived in a really hippy spot, we were all about beers and cars. Basically, we were ‘us’ if you know what I mean?

My dad is a crane driver, so he gets to work all over. When we were kids, he used to work the tip, and I remember him bringing back all this cool shit; like stuff that he found in the skips or whatever. Mostly it was just random shit like couches, but I can remember him bringing back some really cool stuff like bikes and whatever. One time he brought home a billy cart, which was really fun, and I can kind of remember him bringing home a big carton of out of date Coca Cola for some reason.

My dad loves old cars, so our lives revolved around eating ice-cream and looking at fucking muscle cars, which, to be fair, I really loved growing up. I think that seeped into my parents’ music taste. I mean, they both have a great taste in music, but they’re not music nerds or anything like that. Mostly they buy records with titles like ‘20 of the best beer songs’. Y’know, like the ones with a picture of a beer can on the front that’s just old rock, like KISS and Toto and what have you.

I moved there when I was 18 or 19 or whenever and I absolutely love living there. I don’t get to be there all that much these days, but whenever I’m back home in Australia I try to spend a least a couple of days there. There’s always plenty of really good up and coming bands to check out and plenty of people who are up for fucking about and playing music.

When we first started, we all lived in the same house together. The boys all played in other bands, but one night, as I had a drum kit in my room for some reason, we started fucking around making music, and our group has started from there.

I think that’s why I’ve always been attracted to punk. I can remember the feeling of finding this space where you were allowed to be really gnarly and shit, and being like, ‘oh shit, this is what I need’. I mean, playing live lets me get this aggression out of me. Don’t get me wrong, I try to treat everyone with respect – like give people the benefit of the doubt or whatever – but if people are being an arsehole, I don’t kind of see it as fun. It opens up a new avenue for a bit of rage”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Hardy

One interesting thing I want to bring up is what it is like interviewing Amyl and The Sniffers. It is not only their leader who keeps you on your toes and makes for a memorable interviewee. The entire band seem to be pretty rowdy and boisterous! HAPPY caught up with the band in 2019. It is perhaps unspringing that, as a pub band, they do not have the same routine and discipline as other groups. It appears that there is no limit to their stamina and energy levels! This passage from the interview caught my eye:

“At about 2:15pm, drummer Bryce Wilson and guitarist Dec Martens met me out the front of the pub with a pack of Tooheys longnecks in hand. We sat on the side of the road with our longies, chatting about their Sydney gig from the night before.

After a huge set at Sydney’s Paddington RSL with C.O.F.F.I.N and Dress Up, Dec and Bryce slept in the hallway of their hotel, while vocalist Amy Taylor and bassist Gus Romer continued partying with the other bands.

10 minutes or so later, two Ubers pulled up outside The Unicorn. From them emerged the remaining two members of Amyl & The Sniffers, two members of C.O.F.F.I.N, and three members of Dress Up. None of them had slept, and they were all still pissed”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jenn Five for DIY

I am going to work my way forward to the new song, Security. It is from their upcoming second album, Comfort to Me. I will be interested to see what the album is like and whether it is a push away/evolution from their debut – or whether the template it roughly the same. In the space of a few years, Amyl and The Sniffers have strengthened and progressed. Coming back to that interview from Loud and Quiet, Amy Taylor looked back in a sort of amazement at the fact the band, on their first E.P. or two, were very different to what we hear today:

“Based in Melbourne, her band have emerged from Australia’s east coast fertile punk scene with a love of hot pants, mullets, faded metal t-shirts and a sound that sits somewhere between AC/DC, The Runaways and Dolly Parton. However, while the band’s fashion sense and musical influences might recall the low-rent thrills of the 1970s pub rock scene, Amyl and The Sniffers mostly blow through any misplaced nostalgia with a Ramones-like commitment to playing punk rock that is loud, fast and razor sharp.

Due to release Monsoon Rock, their debut album, on Rough Trade in May, Taylor is the first to admit that the band is currently in the middle of a transitional period. Writing, self-recording and releasing 2016’s Giddy Up EP in the space of 12 hours, they’re trying to take a little bit more time in the studio these days. Then again, if the recently released title track is anything to go by all the added tea breaks have done nothing to dull the band’s relentless, breakneck energy.

“It’s kind of funny to listen to that first EP now,” laughs Taylor when we talk about how the band has developed from their first few releases. “I mean, I know it’s only been a couple of years but we couldn’t even play our instruments properly when we started. It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come”.

As things are opening up more and we are seeing artists gig again, Amyl and The Sniffers will have a busy diary! It has been pretty hectic for them since they started out. This DIY interview struck me, as we get a portrait of a very immediate and youthful band who, seemingly, have few boundaries. That is something that makes them so engaging and fresh. However, there is great discipline in the camp. Even though the interview was conducted in 2019 (as many I am sourcing from were), they have grafted hard to get where they are:

“2018 was essentially one non-stop tour for the band, travelling to the other side of the world and back to capitalise on the early hype of their EPs. The sheer speed of this ascent to fame meant that they were left a little overwhelmed, Dec says, perched on a windowsill. “It was pretty much like being thrown into the deep end with it all. We were still learning what sort of toll it takes on your body and your mental health, constantly moving and touring and performing every night.”

It’s to be noted, however, that the guitarist makes these declarations of newfound maturity with a glazed, hungover stare into the middle distance. “I got back to the hotel at 9.30 this morning. Just… doing drugs,” he shrugs.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sacha Lecca for Rolling Stone

His point is not that he’s realised he needs to tone down the excess to cope with the stresses of constant touring, he says. More like the opposite. “I’ve definitely stepped it up a little bit now that I know what it takes. I feel more comfortable being able to go out and party a bit more. I had this epiphany the other day that the van won’t leave without me.”

Though Amy’s volatile charisma and raw, endless energy made them explosive from the outset, Amyl and the Sniffers have also had to put in the graft. “Amy was such a good performer from the get go, just to keep up and keep my spot in the band I had to get good at guitar,” admits Dec. “So I practised a lot, just to make sure that we had more than one strength, or at least there wasn’t a weakness.”

Their album, for example, is more coherent and direct than their EPs. Amy’s lost none of the brash humour that made ‘Big Attraction’ and ‘Giddy Up’ so enjoyable, but on their next release she demands to be taken more seriously. She demonstrates the full extent of her ambition, and of her abilities, lifting the Sniffers’ vicious brand of rock ‘n’ roll from scrappy punk to something more cohesive and breathlessly exciting. The riffs have got tighter, and she seizes the opportunity they present.

Tonight, the live set is chaotic, but never out of their control. After ten seconds, the crowd are banging their heads, but it’s not quite the pandemonium we’ve come to expect. As Dec spins a rollicking guitar solo halfway through opener ‘Monsoon Rock’, Amy spots that the fuse has yet to be lit, and duly launches herself amongst them. If no one else is going to start the mosh, she seems to think, it might as well be her. She’s only in the audience for a few seconds, but the damage is done”.

I want to spend a bit of time on the incredible debut album, Amyl and The Sniffers. It introduced so many people to the band. It was, in my view, one of 2019’s best albums. Circling back to that HAPPY interview, Amy Taylor and Dec Martens discussed what it was like finishing their debut album:

“HAPPY: Congrats on getting the album done. How does it feel?

AMY: It’s so exciting. We’ve finally done a full-length. It’s so great to get out new music.

HAPPY: You re-did all the songs on it, right?

DEC: Yeah, we did actually. How’d you know that? We demoed the whole album in December 2017 with Joey from King Gizzard at the Flightless studio, and from that, only Cup Of Destiny got put out. The rest of them we weren’t really happy with. We were still new to the whole recording process. Along the way, we got more labels signed, and we were touring a whole lot more, so we ended up recording the whole thing again in November last year, 2018.

HAPPY: For the new recordings, you recorded with Ross Orton in Sheffield. Had you ever worked in that kind of environment before?

DEC: No, that was the first time.

HAPPY: What was it like entering that world?

DEC: It was cool.

AMY: It was still pretty low-key. It was just one room, and Dave the engineer lived there. It just felt like a bedroom that was done up.

DEC: Yeah, it was really similar to a bedroom recording. It was really quite simple. We were still pretty pressed for time, so we were doing one song a day. It wasn’t like we were sitting around discussing what we were going to do. So in that way, it was pretty similar to every other recording we’ve done. We’re used to that smash-it-out method. The big difference was that this space was purpose-built for recording. When we did it with Gizzard, it stank of Gizzard sweat. No ventilation in that room.

HAPPY: Why Sheffield? Was that a label thing?

DEC: Yeah, well that’s where Ross lives, and Ross has worked with our label before. Our A&R at Rough Trade are friends with Ross, and he’d never done a Rough Trade album before, so he wanted to do one. Then the people at Rough Trade said we’d be a good fit, and we just did a video chat with him, and he was cool. So we said, “yeah, let’s go with this guy.” We already had flights to England booked, so we thought we might as well go along with it. And it ended up being a really good fit. It’s not exactly who you’d expect us to record with, but I’m really glad we did.

HAPPY: So capturing the live sound was the main goal of this album?

DEC: Yep, that’s our strength. I think we’d all admit that. It’s definitely not the songs… our songs suck. Just kidding. But we’re defined by our live shows, so the goal was to keep the record as live as possible.

HAPPY: Overseas, particularly in the UK and Europe, everyone’s really into Aussie pub music…

DEC: Yeah totally!

HAPPY: Why do you think that is?

AMY: I think people just like something different. People think it’s exotic”.

One might assume the view that Amyl and The Sniffers are quite a ragged band in terms of their look. Not to step into cliché territory but, as an Australian pub band, how many would pin them as stylish and cool!? Maybe there would be a few…though many might peg them as being a bit tatty and ultra-casual. In fact, Amyl and The Sniffers are a stylish bunch! The MALESTROM chatted with the band a while back. The subject of fashion cropped up:

“TM: How important is style to the band? Because you have quite a definitive look…

Dec: It’s not super important, but it’s something that we value if you know what I mean. When we first recruited Gus to be in the band, before we heard him play bass, he had a leg up on everyone else because he did had a mullet. It’s just this thing I’m really passionate about and I think Amy is too, we had to do some convincing with Bryce.

For me I never did it to be different, that’s just how I wanted my hair and everyone else should have their hair this way too. If it became mainstream and really popular, it wouldn’t bother me.

We all talk about each other’s looks and clothes and we go shopping with each other and every time someone gets new clothes we compliment if we like them and help each other choose what we get.

So I guess the look is important, but not in a way that we take it too seriously. It’s just all part of the passion and the music and the sound and the look you know”.

As much as Amyl and The Sniffers love recording and laying down their music, one knows that they live for live performances. That chance to get out there and connect with the crowds. Sticking with The MALESTROM, and some important touring questions were posed:

“TM: Do you guys have a rider that you ask for?

Dec: So we just ask for normal beers, no ales, just lagers, Pilsners. And then a bottle of vodka or Jameson depending on how we feel, what the night before was. Usually, if it’s the night before a big night then we have vodka and if we’re going to have a big night we have Jameson’s. And we also ask for fruit and vegetables for the next day and a couple of corn chips.

TM: What’s your go-to lager? Do you ask for Aussie beers?

Dec: In Australia we get VB, that’s my favourite beer. Usually, in America, we get PBR and Modelo. In England, it’s just Red Stripe and Fosters.

TM: Do you miss any Aussie home comforts when you’re out on tour?

Dec: The Last tour I took Vegemite with me, but I didn’t use it as much as I thought I would. And every time I flew into America they’d always open up my bag and check it. So I thought I may as well not bring that anymore.

I mean we’re only away for six weeks this time, so there’s nothing you really miss. Also the Crobar in London, we just went there, they have VB, so we had all the Rough Trade family buying us VBs all night”.

I have never seen Amyl and The Sniffers on stage; something that I want to rectify if they are playing in the U.K. anytime soon. From what I have heard and read, they are one of the most intoxicating bands to watch. One imagines that their live sets are even more electric than what we hear on record. GIGWISE spoke with the Melbourne crew in 2019. They talked about their connection to the stage; what it was like being signed to a pretty big and reputable label:

“Nevertheless, it’s on stage where Amyl and the Sniffers feel more at home right now.

“I’d definitely say we’re more of a live band,” declares Romer. “I think this album represents a whole new thing compared to the previous two EPs and single releases. The production is way different, and even the songwriting process has changed as well.”

Singer Amy Taylor, a diminutive presence in her own right, is quick to reaffirm this. “We’re definitely more of a live band. Even our first recordings. We only put them out because we wanted to get booked so bookers knew what we sounded like and bands too so we could play with them. It’s the best feeling ever! Even if there were only ten people watching us every night I’d still feel the same way.”

Now firmly at the forefront of Rough Trade’s glowing roster. Not only for 2019 but also well into the future. While signing to such a prestigious label would be a daunting prospect to some, Amyl and the Sniffers appear to have taken it all in their stride.

“There were a fair few labels talking to us at the time,” admits Romer. “Geoff (Travis) heard about us after The Great Escape then he saw us in Hamburg along with Jeannette (Lee) from the label. After that, Rough Trade was the only place we wanted to be. They’ve done some incredible releases and have an amazing history. They take super good care of us and everyone is lovely. It’s awesome.”

“We love working them now. We’ve become part of the family,” adds Taylor. “It’s a really strange thing for me. Coming from Australia, I didn’t know that much about overseas record labels so it was really exotic and foreign coming to meet them but I’m so glad we went with them because that’s what it’s like; being part of a family. They come to our gigs and we just hang out.”

Having experienced Europe and in particular the UK on a regular basis over the past year or so, this part of the world has become something of a second home to the band. So much in fact that the prospect of relocating is something they’re seriously considering”.

The video for Security sees Amy Taylor in a graveyard and psyching herself up. It is an interesting visual start! Shot and directed by John Angus Stewart, one is instantly intrigued. The song itself begins with punched and rousing percussion; a sound that awakens you and gets the feet moving. I love the simplicity, charm, vividness and realness of the lyrics. Even from the first verse, you are caught by Taylor’s amazing voice. It carries so much weight and honesty: “Security will you let me in your pub/I’m not looking for trouble/I’m looking for love/I’m not looking for harm/I’m looking for love/Will you let me in your hard heart, let me in your pub”. There is a great, hypnotic wave of a riff that propels the song. The band have always been masterful when it comes to hooks. Perhaps Security is not quite as raw and stripped-back as some of their earlier songs. Security is great because it is raw and biting, yet there is a bit of polish that means the song sounds somehow bigger and more important. That may seem strange. I listen to the track and it balances Amyl and The Sniffers’ Punk/pub ethos, combined with the sound of a modern studio/recording facility. The video is Taylor, essentially, jiving and moving around the graveyard. I am not sure why that concept was chosen, although I do like it and how you are sort of gripped and mesmerised by her performance! I am not sure whether the heroine is talking about a relationship where games are being played and there is this sense of deceit. One is definitely interested to dig deeper into the lyrics. The second verse got me thinking: “I distracted you with all of my bullshit/I covered myself in distractions/Colours and patterns, you couldn’t see the real me/I wanna deceive you, you’re stupid I’m fast”.

One is caught by Taylor’s excellent vocals. She puts so much into everything she does! The band are on the same level, in the sense that we get so much grunt and swagger. Security is a song one will want to come back to again and again. “Will you let me in your hard heart/Let me in your hard heart/Let me in your pub” has that mixture of romantic and, well…something else. One can rely on Amyl and The Sniffers to make you smile and keep things real! There is emotion and romance together with something less heady and more grounded. The next verse or two is intriguing: “You looked at normies different to me/You looked at them with trust/I looked at normies different to you/Cuz you looked at them with lust/I see them lurking from all of the angles/The egos say they can prey/You liked the colours and the patterns I’m wearing/Poison you like the exotic snake”. It seems to be this sense of a friend or lover looking at people more normal and straight – in terms of their attitude, fashion and personality. Taylor is someone more exciting and perhaps a little more risky. She is definitely a more exciting prospect - though one who has a bit of edger and bite. When you look at the lyrics again, it seems to be Taylor, simply, being held back at the entrance to a pub.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jenn Five for DIY

Perhaps she is being given looks and seen as a bit troublesome. Rather than cause trouble, she is looking for love and something calmer. Maybe she has seen someone in there and has an eye on a bloke. Trying to reassure those who feel she is problematic, you are supporting and backing Taylor. The video keeps you invested to the end. There is not a lot to it beyond this setting of the graveyard and Taylor dancing. The band are terrific on Security. The guitar and bass have real attack and wind to them. The drums rumble and spoil for a fight. At the centre is Amy Taylor, who delivers one of her most impassioned and nuanced vocal performances. I am looking forward to hearing the Comfort to Me album. One can definitely hear how the band have come on since their earliest work in terms of their proficiency and songwriting. Security is a real gem. Finishing on the lines “I’m not that drunk/Let me into your pub”, one cannot help but get behind the band. If you have not discovered Amyl and The Sniffers and like what you hear on Security, then go and follow them and see where they head next. I feel they will keep on putting out albums and add many more people to their admiring legions of fans. Hailing from Melbourne, I am also invested to spend more time in Australia and see what other bands are doing great things.

Just before wrapping things up, it is worth looking ahead to September. That is when the world will get Comfort to Me. Amy Taylor has written a very lengthy description and story behind the album’s creation. Before then, and from the Amyl and The Sniffers website, here is a brief description of Comfort to Me:

“Late in 2020, Amyl and The Sniffers went into the studio with producer Dan Luscombe to record their sophomore album, ‘Comfort To Me’. Written over a long a long year of lockdown, the album was influenced by and expanded on a heavier pool of references - old-school rock’n’roll (AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, Motörhead and Wendy O Williams), modern hardcore (Warthog and Power Trip) and the steady homeland heroes (Coloured Balls and Cosmic Psychos).

Lyrically, the album was influenced by Taylor’s rap idols and countless garage bands. Seventeen songs were recorded in the Comfort to Me sessions and the top 13 made the cut. They were mixed long-distance by Nick Launay (Nick Cave, IDLES, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and mastered by Bernie Grundman (Michael Jackson, Prince, Dr Dre)”.

I am pumped to hear what their second album is all about. On the evidence of songs like Security, we are hearing new elements come into the mix. That said, there has not been a drastic change (not that there needs to be!). Amyl and The Sniffers grow stronger with every release. I know that their upcoming album is going to scoop a load of positive reviews!

I want to get to a feature from DORK. Few details were spared when Amy Taylor described the process of Comfort to Me, and how the much-anticipated album came together:

“All four of us spent most of 2020 enclosed by pandemic authority in a 3-bedroom rental in our home city of Melbourne, Australia. We’re like a family: we love each other and feel nothing at the same time. We had just come off two years of touring, being stuck in a van together eight hours a day, and then we’re trapped together for months in this house with sick green walls. It sucked but it was also nice. We spent heaps of time in the backyard listening to music, thrashing around in shorts, eating hot chips. The boys had a hard time being away from the pub and their mates, but it meant we had a lot of time to work on this record. Most of the songs were really intuitive. Main thing, we just wanted it to be us.

“In the small windows we had in between lockdowns, we went to our rehearsal space, which is a storage locker down the road at National Storage Northcote. We punched all the songs into shape at Nasho and for the first time ever we wrote more songs than we needed. We had the luxury of cutting out the songs that were shit and focusing on the ones we loved. We were all better musicians, as well, because that’s what happens when you go on tour for two years, you get really good at playing. We were a better band and we had heaps of songs, so we were just different. The nihilistic, live in the moment, positivity and panel beater rock-meets-shed show punk was still there, but it was better. The whole thing was less spontaneous and more darkly considered.

“The lyrics I wrote for the album are better too, I think. The amount of time and thought I put into the lyrics for this album is completely different from the EPs, and even the first record. Half of the lyrics were written during the Australian Bushfire season, when we were already wearing masks to protect ourselves from the smoke in the air. And then when the pandemic hit, our options were the same as everyone: go find a day job and work in intense conditions or sit at home and drown in introspection. I fell into the latter category. I had all this energy inside of me and nowhere to put it, because I couldn’t perform, and it had a hectic effect on my brain. My brain evolved and warped and my way of thinking about the world completely changed.

“Having to deal with a lot of authority during 2020 and realising my lack of power made me feel both more self destructive and more self disciplined, more nihilistic and more depressed and more resentful, which ultimately fuelled me with a kind of relentless motivation. I became a temporary monster. I partied more, but I also exercised heaps, read books and ate veggies. I was like an egg going into boiling water when this started, gooey and weak but with a hard surface. I came out even harder. I’m still soft on the inside, but in a different way.

“All of this time, I was working on the lyrics. I pushed myself heaps and heaps, because there were things that I needed to say. The lyrics draw a lot from rap phrasing, because that’s what I’m into. I just wanted to be a weird bitch and celebrate how weird life and humans are. The whole thing is a fight between by my desire to evolve and the fact that somehow I always end up sounding like a dumb cunt.

“So anyway, that’s where this album comes from. People will use other bands as a sonic reference to make it more digestible and journalists will make it seem more pretentious and considered than it really is, but in the end this album is just us — raw self expression, defiant energy, unapologetic vulnerability. It was written by four self-taught musicians who are all just trying to get by and have a good time.

“If you have to explain what this record is like, I reckon it’s like watching an episode of The Nanny but the setting is an Australian car show and the Nanny cares about social issues and she’s read a couple of books, and Mr Sheffield is drinking beer in the sun. It’s a Mitsubishi Lancer going slightly over the speed limit in a school zone. It’s realising how good it is to wear track pants in bed. It’s having someone who wants to cook you dinner when you’re really shattered. It’s me shadow-boxing on stage, covered in sweat, instead of sitting quietly in the corner”.

It has been great reviewing Amyl and The Sniffers. Go and pre-order Comfort to Me if you like what you hear. They are a band who are going to be around for a while. One cannot help but support and root for them. They are one of the most exciting and fresh band around. They may have started (all those years ago) with quite a modest fanbase. That has all changed now. If you are new to them or have resisted dipping your toes into the water, then change all of that and…