Melbourne, AU · punk · pub-rock

Amyl and The Sniffers

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Amy Taylor might be the best frontperson alive right now — Aussie pub-punk voltage, all sprint and snarl, from a band that treats every stage like a title fight.

Amyl and The Sniffers formed in 2016 in Balaclava, Melbourne, when housemates Amy Taylor, Bryce Wilson, Declan Mehrtens and Calum Newton wrote and recorded their first EP, Giddy Up, in a single twelve-hour session. Newton left soon after for a solo career and was replaced by bassist Gus Romer. The band's name comes from Australian slang for amyl nitrite, a drug Taylor has compared to their own songs: short, intense, and over fast.

Fronted by Taylor, whose vocals sit somewhere between a shout and a taunt, the band pairs a rhythm section and guitar work that draw openly on 1970s Australian pub rock, and its debt to bands like AC/DC and Rose Tattoo, with echoes of Iggy and the Stooges and the Damned. Taylor has also named Minor Threat, Sleaford Mods, Dolly Parton and Cardi B among her influences.

Their self-titled debut album arrived in 2019, produced by Ross Orton, followed by Comfort to Me in 2021 and Cartoon Darkness in 2024. The songs stay short, fast and riff-driven, with lyrics about work, boredom, class and desire delivered in an unmistakably Australian accent. The band has been nominated for nine ARIA Awards and won three, including Best Group in 2022.

The group's reputation was built largely on live performance, and Taylor's restless, confrontational stage presence has become the band's defining image. They have opened for Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Green Day on the Hella Mega Tour, toured with Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction, and supported Foo Fighters on US dates.

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punkpub-rock