That's 5 | Amyl and The Sniffers

Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Amyl & The Sniffers crashed the music scene with their riotous 2019 self-titled debut album, which would go on to win an Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Music Award. Following the success of their debut, Amy Taylor, the band’s dynamo lead singer, featured on songs from the Viagra Boys – with one of the greatest John Prine covers of all time – and Sleaford Mods, grabbing international acclaim along the way. Everything was set for the dreaded sophomore slump.

In the process of writing and recording what would become their second album, Comfort to Me, the pandemic intervened, sending Melbourne and much of Australia into prolonged lockdown – with Melbourne currently still under lockdown. The band ended up with an album that deepened and expanded on the sound of their first without losing any of their spiky, chaotic energy. 

Prior to the recent release of Comfort to Me, Amy Taylor talked about the recording process, live music, being open and pointed about sexism in her songwriting, and the fact that books are dope. 

What influenced your new album, Comfort to Me?

I started to make it in 2019, so it’s spread out over a fair bit of time – there’s a lot of different influences spread throughout it – specifically, just the world around us and experiences of mine that I wanted to vent. But in terms of other artists, I think the boys were listening to a lot of Power Trip, a lot of Warthog, a lot of Crimex. I was listening to a lot of Junglepussy, Onefour, Hooligan Hef, and the Plasmatics. But I also really like listening to interviews by Wendy O. Williams or Dolly Parton or Junglepussy. I find that interviews are a big place for inspiration.

Just straight-up interviews?

Yeah. Sometimes just hearing other people talk is the most interesting thing, especially when you’re kind of starved of it. Even if you listen to a podcast or whatever, and they say something that you’re kind of like, “Oh, that’s interesting.” That’s kind of enough for me to get my creativity going.

Was there a blueprint behind the album? Or it was just, “Let’s see where all this stuff takes us”?

Pretty much the latter. We don’t consider a lot, as a band. We knew that we wanted to: just make music that we liked the sound of. It’s mainly just like, “That sounds good.” Or, “That feels good.” Or, “Yeah, that’s a good energy.” Or, “Let’s write a harder song. Let’s write a softer song.” But other than that, it kind of stops there.

Were you and the band worried about a sophomore slump? Especially since your first album was a huge critical success.

I don’t think we really thought about it that much or were bothered by it. Even though we liked the first album, we were never so delusional to think that we couldn’t improve. I think all of us knew that we could definitely level up. And also, we were like kids in a lot of ways [making the first album]. So obviously, the older you get, the better you get at music, the more experiences you have, and the more things you want to talk about. I think there’s always room for improvement, and just getting better at the thing that you do. It was just kind of like, “Well, we’ll make it, and if it’s good, it’s good. If it’s shit, it’s shit. And if people like it, that’s good. And if they don’t, well, that’s fucked up.”

What do you hope to communicate with this album?

I think there’s a lot of different things I’m trying to express. But I also just really encourage people to get what they want from it. If I was listening to someone like Fatlip, and I listened to his lyrics, I’d interpret it in my own way. But it’d be completely different from the mark he was trying to hit. [Comfort to Me] is definitely a defiant record, reminding people of my autonomy and independence over my own life and experiences. There’s a message of self-belief and the power to feel confident in whatever dumb shit you do. I’m digging in more about my experiences as a female, sharing that it is actually tougher to be a female, and we have different kinds of weights on our ankles – that’s just the reality. I know that because I’m a female, I’ve experienced different treatment- sometimes bad, sometimes good.

Since COVID, how has your relationship to live music changed? 

I honestly feel like there’s a black hole in my mind where a live show should be. But I know that I miss the social aspect of it. I just really get a lot out of seeing people play music and being in a crowd, watching someone play. But I think because we weren’t playing, we got to channel that live feeling into the record, which we’ve never done before. Because we are just such a live band, it was like, “Oh fuck, our set’s only 10 minutes. We better write some more music.” And then it was like, “Oh, fuck, we’ve played the same six songs for a year. We’d better write an album.” Even coming up to this one, it’s like, “Oh, we better have some more music so we can tour more and keep playing music, so it’s not boring.” But then with this album, obviously it was like, “Oh, let’s just write songs that actually sound good.”

What is the most overrated, right now?

I think cocaine’s overrated because people pay so much for it. People pay $400 for a tiny bag of it down here. And I think that’s stupid.

What is the most underrated, right now?

I think books are underrated because I underrated them myself. I never really read books or anything until the last year and a half. And I’m like, “Oh my God, this is the best thing ever!” Especially because you can just go to a million different places and see different perspectives and stuff, literally just by looking at a piece of paper with some black stuff on it. I think that’s pretty incredible. And I think, at least within my circles, it’s mainly just been kind of laughed away. But now I’m like, “Oh my God, books are so dope.” And I’m sure lots of people think that, but definitely underrated in my circles.

Bonus Question: What are some of the differences between the major Australian cities?

I’m going to try this in a comical way because I think it’ll be fun. If I want to stereotype it and boil it down to just people, Brisbane would be like, black skinny jeans with a band shirt and maybe a bit of green in their hair, and Vans. Sydney people: they’re tanned and wearing jeans, and they’re like, “Rah!”, skating, and kind of surfy but kind of hardcore, as well. Then Melbourne would be a bit trendy, they’d be fucking cool, maybe wearing a chain necklace, and a white singlet. Perth, I don’t know, Perth is just so far away. They probably have long hair, they’re not wearing shoes, and they’re kind of just loving it.

@amylandthesniffers | @caltexcowgirll