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I welcome this uproar for the downtrodden, a rebel cry for change.
11th of July, 2022
By Leah Parks - Davies
Amy Taylor, Bryce Wilson, Declen Martens and Gus Romer make the unstoppable four piece named after the Australian slang for poppers. Amyl and the sniffers join the heights of Aussie punk stardom. Amy has compared the band's music to narcotics in interviews before, and rightfully so The band creates addictive and inspired music that speaks to me on an internal level.
Forming in 2016 in Balaclava, Melbourne by the aforementioned members, all of which were housemates at the time (excluding Romer, preceded by Calum “Candy” Newton on Bass), bursting onto the scene with their 4 track debut EP, “Giddy Up”, written and recorded in only 12 hours, with a follow up EP “Big Attraction” releasing the following year. Whilst their earlier work has been compared to contemporary punk royalty such as Iggy pop and the Stooges, Taylor cites some of her influences as Sleaford Mods, AC/DC, Dolly Parton and Cardi B. Notable, the magazine “Happy Mag” placed the quartet at #9 on their list of “the 15 Australian female artists changing the game right now”.
One song from their impressive catalogue that really stuck with me was ”Knifey”. So many female fronted bands in the rock genre are writing protest songs as a middle finger to men, especially about feeling unsafe at gigs or in public, but no song I've ever heard so far has reached the same impact as this. Amy’s brutal honesty in the song really hits home as I'm sure it would for most women. Personally, walking home at night from work has always been a tough task and from a young age have been taught to walk with my keys between my fingers but even with that self-defence would turn away from conflict; even if the bastards deserve it.
However even with all of the development we've had in the punk scene the band were boo-ed during their opening set at the London hella mega show. It's been a long time since I've been to a gig where I've heard such bigotry comments from middle-aged white men. Amy stood on stage and dedicated songs to non-bianry and women only which was received with several grunts from around where I was standing in the stadium. Comments heard at the show include a man yelling at his wife that “women shouldn't be in charge” after a male steward had led her to the wrong gate, as well as men shouting it must be nippy towards Amy herself as she performed in shorts and a vest top.
Despite living in an age where many of us stand up for the rights of marginalised groups (such as Women, POC and the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole) it comes as a shock to see a strong woman like Amy be berated by middle aged, balding white men who have never faced discrimination in their lifetime, this feels particularly all to common in the predominantly white rock audiences of the headline acts, more often than not being the problem themselves. In light of recent human rights issues in America and several sexual assults towards women coming from within our own police force in the uk, it is all the more vital that we fight and support bands and activists such as Amy and the band. It is the blatant sexist comments like I heard at Hella Mega that fills me with a cocktail of anger and hatred.