Amyl and the Sniffers @ 9:30 Club [DC] - 9/24/2022
Amyl and the Sniffers at 9:30 Club in DC (Photo ©2022 Mauricio Castro)
t’s been a while since we last checked in with Australia’s Amyl and the Sniffers. Luckily for all of us, their ferocious live show has been a hit, taking the group to top-tier festivals like Glastonbury, Primavera Sound, and Coachella this year alone. Their latest album Comfort to Me refines their sound, an impeccable blend of overwhelming garage punk drums and power chords with vulnerable lyrics. On “Knifey,” Amy Taylor sings of fighting back as a last resort to find comfort.
All I ever wanted was to walk by the park
All I ever wanted was to walk by the river after dark
Please, because I ain't that tough
Out comes the night, out comes my knifey
This is how I get home nightly
I turn around and backtrack because I ain't that tough
But you still fuck with us
“Want to see a party trick?” Taylor asked the crowd. After cheers of encouragement, she pulled out an unpeeled banana and tore it in half. These are the small kinds of antics that Taylor likes to engage in. The rest of the band lined the edges of the stage, giving Taylor a wide berth to run roughshod on stage, pacing back and forth, strutting, snarling, flexing, flailing, and riling the crowd up into a frenzy. And riled up they were. The overpoweringly loud guitars emanating from the four stacked large amps brought the midnight crowd alive, empowering fans to crowd surf into the venue staff’s arms from start to finish. They moshed with abandon in the crowd as Taylor did the same on stage. In her words, “If you don’t got dancing like a crazy person [to keep your head up in hard times], then you’ve got nothing.” So, line up with the rest of the freaks, cause Amyl and the Sniffers want you in the room to fly your flag high alongside them.
Amyl and the Sniffers’s sophomore album Comfort To Me was released in September 2021 through ATO Records.
Opening for Amyl and the Sniffers were British punk duo Bob Vylan and DC hardcore mainstays Loud Boyz.
