Amyl and the Sniffers explode and rage on stage and live up to hype that has preceded them.
It was a night of pure Rock’n’roll passion filtered through Punk sensibilities. Which means it comes with the requisite political correctness masquerading as righteous anger. But they take care of the essentials first. The filth and the fury!
C.O.F.F.I.N from Sydney played the support slot and stoked those Rock’n’roll furnaces to red hot, prior to the headliners.
Detroit style guitar assaults and a battering engine room. They play with the economy of Motorhead.
They are barking by third song in. Centrepiece is an astonishing version of AC-DC’s Riff Raff.
Check out their great recent headline show at the Whammy Bar here.
Local Power Pop outfit Miss June was unexpected. Playing soon after the doors opened so we caught a bit of Drool and their Punk put-down.
You think you’re so fuckin’ cool! Annabel Liddell and band quickly lock into ascending power riffs.
They have been touring overseas in recent times so it’s welcome to see them back, opening for a band they confess to have great admiration for.
Amyl and the Sniffers waste no time in getting down to business.
With a descending guitar riff intro resembling the Pistols Pretty Vacant, the energy levels are maximally in the red with opening song Doing in Me Head.
Amy Taylor is a diminutive blonde in trademark short shorts, but she is the embodiment of the Real Wild Child of Rock’n’roll.
The stone-cold classic Fifties Rockabilly song co-written and first performed by the great Johnny O’Keefe from Australia. Good enough to be covered by Jerry Lee Lewis at the original Sun Studios and recorded by Sam Phillips. Later revived with similar fire power by Iggy Pop.
Some original lyrics. Give me a chick that’s-a all of my own/ Shake her till the meat-a comes off-a the bone.
Well, she does that all night. Shaking it like she is possessed with the wild gift spirit of the music.
The band come from Melbourne, and for my money is home to the best of Australian music. Birthday Party and Nick Cave for starters.
Laying down the incendiary mayhem around her is Declan Mehrtens guitar, Gus Romer bass, and Bryce Wilson drums.
They play most of the songs from their latest album Cartoon Darkness. The cover shot has Taylor pulling up her t-shirt and poking out her tongue, wild blonde hair flying. She’s no shrinking violet.
Do It, Do It. A straight out thrash’n’roll which they prolong by extending out on the vamp. Becomes hypnotic trance music. Music should never be harmless as Robbie Robertson of the band once opined.
Jerkin’ does not hold back in the slightest. You’re a dumb cunt, you’re an asshole/ Need to wipe your mouth after you speak, ‘cause it’s an asshole. You are ugly all day, I am hot always.
Original Punk and early Hip-Hop and Rap were laying down their roots in the early Seventies and both came out of New York City mean streets. At a time when they were genuinely mean, as in Taxi Driver.
The Sniffers get to yell in similar fashion to the Gangsta Rappers. Violence and profanity are liberating.
Genuinely liberating and funny as hell. You and the boys look ugly as fuck/ Me and the girls are drunk at the airport. Me and the Girls take on the Beastie Boys.
The three players behind Taylor maintain the straight-out attack riffs of classic Stooges or the early Ramones. Effectively nasty.
U Should Not Be Doing That. The guys call this a Jazz number. An interesting bass intro and this is where they get to channel the Sleaford Mods. Beat Poet lyrics and observations from the tough streets.
Things get ominous and close to the edge with Knifey, one of the standouts from second album Comfort to Me. Out comes the night/ Out comes my knifey/ This is how we get home safely.
The album was released in 2021, at a time when Melbourne was boiling over with Lockdown mania. It’s equal parts rage and humour, and a review is included here.
Amyl nitrates of course are the poppers or Sniffers referred to. A quick explosion followed by a headache, as Taylor once explained to the British press.
She gets to screech a fair amount on songs like Tiny Bikini, It’s Mine, Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled) in Poly Styrene fashion.
Can get messy with Facts, but we are close to the end of the show, culminating in an early one Balaclava Lover Boogie.
It’s a sold-out show tonight but everyone has been whipped into shape by the sheer fire power of Amyl and the Sniffers.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photos courtesy of Brenna Gotje and The 13th Floor
Amyl and the Sniffers
C.O.F.F.I.N
Miss June