We Ask Amyl And The Sniffers The Stupidest Question Ever Recorded

Photos: Campbell Milligan.

An interesting and disappointing phenomenon happens in Australia when you start to become the tiniest bit successful. 

Everyone completely rips you apart. Tall poppy syndrome as it is properly defined is ‘based on the idea that a poppy that stands out above the others ruins the sight line and draws attention to itself.’ Even people who completely, and utterly deserve all the attention, praise and success. Like Amyl and the Sniffers. I know I don’t speak alone when I say Amyl and the Sniffers are Australia’s best band. Even if you don’t like punk, the talent and originality this band possesses is undeniable. That star factor that everyone talks about with enigma artists? They have it. Their music does not pander to the masses which is exactly why we love them. There are no tactical marketing launches. What you see on stage is what you see in person. Amyl and the Sniffers are so far in their own lane, it baffles me that as a underdog loving country, anyone has anything less than complete adoration for them. Fuck tall poppy syndrome. They are without a doubt Australia’s greatest musical export that we have seen in a long time and we will proudly sing their praises for as long as we get to listen to their music. Also because they are always so gracious in lending their time to us. 

I first interviewed Amy Taylor a few years ago for the Splendour Weekender from the backseat of my car because there was a covid outbreak in the office and I was halfway between home and work when the call was scheduled. It was one of my first big interviews and I was so stressed that I was coming across as unprofessional or that I hadn’t properly prepared. Within the first minute, Amy already calmed me down and assured me not to worry, something usually the interviewer does, not the interviewee. For this interview, unfortunately, Amy was a little late as she was tied up in another interview talking about her experience as a woman in the music industry. I wish I could link that interview from whoever it was because I know it would have been great because if there is anyone that has had to deal with the pandering of tall poppy bullshit or simply creepy, think-they-know-better men - it is Amy. Instead I had the pleasure of speaking to Bryce Wilson, Declan Martens and Gus Romer, who bought in a fart machine, proceeded to fart with it the whole interview and only let me in on that fact until about thirty minutes in. See what I mean? How can you argue that they are not just the best? Give their newest album Cartoon Darkness out today a whirl and read our chat with the fellas below. 

Gus: Let’s just fucking do it.

Declan: Let’s go.

Are you all still based in Melbourne? 

G: Me and Bryce are. 

D: LA.

And Amy? 

D: She lives in LA too. 

How do you do a band living on the opposite sides of the world? 

D: We just do zoom meetings. We don’t rehearse. We just rehearse one day before a tour so like the last one we rehearsed in Melbourne and then were straight overseas. 

Wow okay. 

D: We send memes and emails, that’s our correspondence. 

G: I send memes, no emails. 

How long has this set up been going on for? 

D: Like six months. 

Are we liking it? 

D: We love it. 

G: It suits me very nicely. 

A Dougal Gorman special.

Can I ask your thoughts about the dying live music scene in Australia - particularly the festivals? Do you think we’ll be able to come back from it? 

D: It’s pretty tragic I guess. I feel guilty having moved overseas but I don’t have to deal with it now. 

G: I guess in some regard it has just moved into a lot of different things. The DJ festivals are going strong. It’s not like it’s gone so to speak but the space we would usually perform at isn’t really there anymore. 

Agree. Is the persona you’ve developed on stage different from the people you are? 

Bryce: No (laughs). 

D: I’ll say yes (laughs). Devil’s advocate. 

B: Nah this is who we are. 

D: Yeah I don’t really know how to be any other way. 

Nah I didn’t think it was a show either, don’t worry. 

D: Who we are in interviews is different. 

Are you where you want to be with Amyl and the Sniffers? 

D: Yeah, sure. 

B: I am happy. Playing music, yeah, it’s great. 

Is there a dream venue or something that is still on the list to aspire to? 

D: It would probably be Red Rocks in Colorado. 

Oh is that where King Gizz played last year where it’s sort of looking down? 

D: Yeah that big outdoor amphitheatre? 

G: I think those guys are playing there this weekend. 

Yeah that would be mental for the sound you guys bring. I know that as Australians we aren’t very good at giving ourselves props but did you always have the belief that you were going to make it (and by make it I mean living off your art travelling around the world) when you first started gaining traction? Even just a little inkling? 

G: Never in a million years. 

When did you go oh shit I could make this a thing? 

G: Post Covid. That’s when we started getting paid. 

D: We’ve been doing it full time since 2018. For the first two years and going into Covid I never thought we’d make it past that but here we are six years later. 

B: It’s a lot further than any of us ever thought we would go. We weren’t expecting to go anywhere really. 

Building on that and not to talk about the tall poppy syndrome in Australia because I know you’ve spoken about that a lot before and I think your song ‘You Should Not Be Doing That,’ says everything you would need to say about that anyway, but now that you are in a position that you are, do you feel like there is pressure to have an opinion on certain things because you have more eyes on you?

D: I think we’ve always been conscious of social and worldly issues. I think there is more pressure on Amy to be vocal about it, but I think we’ve always held the same views so it makes sense for her to be the voice on it. 

Would you find yourself being more conscious though?

G:  I would like to think no one is listening to me anyway but here you are. 

I’m listening to you. 

G: Nah we’re all fucked, don’t listen (laughs). Nah I’d like to think we are all morally good people so we agree on the same shit.

How do you keep a level head with your success? 

D: Don’t. Let it get to your head. 

B: Fame didn’t change Gus, he was always a wanker. 

G: Quote that, front cover. 

(Laughs) Jesus. Alright, when you write songs is it all together? 

D: Yeah mostly we go into the studio together and jam the three of us, trying to figure out the structure of a song. So someone will come in with a riff and we work around that to get it to a demo and then Amy comes in at the end of the day. We leave her to go have fun or dinner and she writes the lyrics. 

Oh okay, that’s how it’s done. Every song? 

D: Yeah most of them. 

B: Amy has her ideas jotted down, poems and unconscious streams of thought that she turns into songs. 

Wait, how do you do this when half of you are in LA and the other half in Melbourne? Do you just go lock into a studio for a week or something? 

D: When we wrote this album we were still living in Melbourne, then when we went over to LA to do production anyway that’s when me and Amy moved. 

G: Next album is a while away so we’re not worrying about how to do that yet. 

Yeah for sure, just enjoy this one. When I was prepping for this I was watching all your music videos on YouTube and there was this one comment that said ‘this is was my victory song after I beat cancer’ how does that make you feel hearing that? 

B: That’s so nice. 

D: Humbling. I love reading, not on our songs, but on other people’s songs and how people comment ‘this song made me walk again.’ 

G: Did she comment that on an instagram post? 

It was a YouTube comment on your ‘You Should Not Be Doing That.’ 

G: Fuck that’s huge. Thanks for telling us that. 

D: Yeah our lives are a movie and we get to choose the soundtrack, I love that someone could choose our songs for a part of theirs. 

What is your favourite part of this new album? Either a song or a memory making it? 

D: I liked the time when we got Wiley to pick up twelve pickle juice shots for us. 

B: Mine was probably when Declan gave the studio assistant the nickname ‘fart in a bath’ because apparently that’s what the name Oliver sounds like. 

(Laughs) Are we talking pickleback shots? 

D: No, no just pickle juice. It’s full of electrolytes which are really good for recovery. 

I can’t tell if you’re taking the piss or not. 

B: No, no it’s a thing. Really good for cramps. 

G: We go hard on the pickle juice and also those turmeric immunity shots. 

Is this when you’re hungover? 

D: When you’re hungover but also after a show because the performances do really take it out of you. 

Photo by Dougal Gorman who followed the band around last year on their health retreat. 

Are you healthy on the road? 

G: I’m a huge health guy on the road (laughs). Fucking green juice and pilates. Nah I’m a total piece of shit. Everyone else does stretches and shit and I’m like fuck off. I am on a steady diet of vodka personally. 

D: Amy is super into her health, she’s always exercising. 

Have you ever been hungover on stage? 

G: That is the stupidest question I have ever been asked in my entire life. I’m not going to lie to you, I'm still drunk from last night. 

(Laughs) I will cop that. But then you just got to be like well here we are, play on? 

G: Yeah it’s probably the most sobering thing to have to actually play and no one wants to half ass it. That’s not who we are.