Melbourne, Australian sultry-spitfire Amy Taylor, lead singer of Amyl & The Sniffers, stated that she began writing punk powerhouse tune Hertz pre-COVID, but it became even more apt in lockdown. “…I’m literally dying. I just want to get to the country and fucking not be in the city… It’s that feeling of feeling suffocated — you just want to look at the sky, just be in nature and just be alive.” (Apple Music)
Between their two album releases, the band has racked up no less than 16 award nominations and of those, 5 wins including Best Rock Album in the 2019 ARIA Music Awards and Best Band, Best Live Act, and Best Musician in the Music Victoria Awards of 2020. (Wikipedia) This album, Comfort To Me, a stunning punk-fueled trip down memory lane — the song Hertz a double or maybe triple-entendre (cycle frequency, rental car, and of course pain).
The video itself amplifies the contrast between whirling-dervish, Energizer-bunny Amy and her bandmates Bryce Wilson (drummer), Dec Martens (guitarist), and Fergus Romer (bassist) depicted in the video as borderline comatose. Furiously-energetic, Amy climbs the walls, performs push-ups, dances ferociously, and frolics on the beach all while this modern post-punk cocktail’s cocksure beating drums and relentless rhythmic guitar and bass force/shove us forwards towards the unfortunate climax.
The band name is a spoof on the Australian slang term “poppers“, a drug called Amyl Nitrite which comes in ampules that can be popped and huffed for a euphoric rush that can cause brain damage. Amy compared their music to the drug in a BBC interview: “So you sniff it, it lasts for about 30 seconds and then you have a headache — and that’s what we’re like!” [BBC] Notably, the band doesn’t cause any permanent damage except for possible hearing loss because their music begs to be played crazy-fucking-LOUD!
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- Amyl & The Sniffers music can be bought here and from Apple here, listened to on Spotify here, and followed on Facebook here
