Amyl And The Sniffers
Comfort To Me

Don't judge a book just by the cover

Unless you cover just another

And blind acceptance is a sign

Of stupid fools who stand in line

(Sex Pistols – EMI)

And since I delude myself into thinking I'm not one of the myriad idiots lined up three by three, I'll write it clear and straight, to avoid misunderstandings: I don't even remember the last time I came across an album so beautiful, wrapped in such a hideous cover that it seems like the worst of the draft sketches for «Acid Eaters» by the Ramones.

Speaking of.

You can read about the new album of Amyl And The Sniffers everywhere, from Onda Rock to Indie For Bunnies, from Pitchfork to Rolling Stone, and it's all a flurry of references from the Ramones to the Sex Pistols.

Now, if you can generally classify an album with the label “punk” it's not mandatory, however, to always display the sacred images.

So, I'll write it and drop the matter immediately: «Comfort To Me» has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with either the Pistols or the Ramones, and it really takes a lot of imagination to bring them up; at least, much more than it took me to bring the Ramones into a page dedicated to Benny Carter's orchestra.

And if I have to make a reference, or rather two, for me this album is the offspring of Cosmic Psychos and Warsaw – exactly, those who in the span of a season change their corporate name to Joy Division.

Period.

Energy, good energy and bad energy

I've got plenty of energy

It's my currency

I spend, protect my energy, currency

(Amyl And The Sniffers – Guided By Angels)

I don't remember, part two.

Because I don't even remember the last time I took such pleasure in bludgeoning myself with a rock'n'roll album. Or at least I can try to remember, and it certainly must have been when I was thirty years younger, I hazard «Give'em Enough Rope» by the Clash.

But Amyl and the Sniffers don't have anything to do with the Clash either.

Just another chapter in the infinite series «Play it fuckin' loud», inaugurated by a grim Bob Dylan and the-then-not-yet-Band's bandmates on the night of May 17, 1966, in Manchester.

55 years have passed since that first time, and a band is back on the scene, capable of making fuckin' loud music for the right cause, after having personally heard too many intent on making fuckin' loud music for the sole reason of hiding their own ineptitude.

«It's kind of like I'm a bottle of champagne: if I don't pop the cork every now and then, I might explode», says Amy Taylor, soul, body, and voice.

I want to get out of here

I'm sick of looking at graffiti

On the walls of the grey walls, the city

(Amyl And The Sniffers – Hertz)

December 26, 2016.

I purchase a copy of «Giddy Up» for the exorbitant sum of 5.83 Australian dollars, just because Amyl And The Sniffers are a band from Melbourne and Melbourne has never betrayed me.

A few listens are enough for those four – Amy, Bryce, Cal, and Dec – to become the band of my heart.

I don't remember, part three.

Because I don't even remember the last time I "lived" simultaneously with the band of my heart. Because perhaps it never happened.

I'd bet they will never compromise, it's obvious.

June 11, 2020.

Due to their major label signing and the excellent feedback from their self-titled debut album, Amyl And The Sniffers participate in the «Firenze Rocks» festival, lined up three by three with the rest of one, waiting for their turn to take the stage and pave the way for Green Day.

Green Day.

It doesn't happen.

But if someone asked me to bet on Amyl And The Sniffers, I’d think twice.

December 15, 2020.

The Viagra Boys release their version of John Prine's «In Spite Of Ourselves».

Amy is with them.

It makes little sense, except a commercial one, because in the end, Viagra Boys and Amyl And The Sniffers are lined up in the same regiment.

In any case, I detest features, regardless.

January 11, 2021.

Sleaford Mods, also lined up in the same regiment as Amyl And The Sniffers and Viagra Boys, release «Nudge It».

Featuring Amy Taylor.

Because to what was – and I must underline, was – the soul, body, and voice of the band of my heart and my own heart, she’s gone out of her mind and there seems to be no end to the worst.

It might be true that there’s no end to worse, but it's over for me.

July 7, 2021.

Amyl And The Sniffers release «Guided By Angels», the first excerpt from their second album.

Track and video.

I neither listen nor watch it.

A matter of principle.

Because if Amy is constrained by the clothes that were of Penelope Houston at the time of the Avengers and wants to follow in her footsteps, that's fine, I won't follow her.

Because I delude myself into thinking I'm not one of the myriad idiots lined up three by three.

I distracted you with all of my bullshit

I covered myself in distractions

Colours and patterns, you couldn't see the real me

I wanna deceive you, you're stupid, I'm fast

(Amyl And The Sniffers – Security)

It's July 28, 2021, when Amyl And The Sniffers release «Security», the second excerpt from the second album.

Track and video.

I force myself not to listen and not to watch, the infamous matter of principle and the illusion of not being one of the myriad.

I display indifference.

At least until my eye catches the video preview, the image of Amy bundled up in a heavy blue jacket, sporting cropped short hair.

She looks like the one from «Giddy Up».

'Fuck me, I start the video.

'Fuck me, Amyl And The Sniffers are back.

I don't remember, part four.

Because I can't recall the last time a rock'n'roll song thrilled me so much from the first listen. Or at least, I can try to remember, and it probably was when I was thirty years younger, I hazard «Alternative Ulster» by Stiff Little Fingers.

But Amyl and the Sniffers have nothing to do with the Stiff Little Fingers either.

Because what struck me about «Security» is how it's possible to smooth out a track that is all angles and spikes – drums, bass, and voice front and center, an obsessed guitar in the background, the setting at sunset in a decaying cemetery, Amy never so spooky, on the verge of neurosis – and turn it into a song to sing at the top of your lungs and breathe with full lungs, half Warsaw, half Sunnyboys.

However, at least I remember one thing, and it’s an amateur video, featuring Amyl And The Sniffers, one of their first official outings, intent on playing «Alone With You» by Sunnyboys.

About the new album of Amyl And The Sniffers, you can read anywhere, from Onda Rock to Indie For Bunnies, from Pitchfork to Rolling Stone, and as I see it, it's everywhere a flurry of stereotypes and trivialities.

But, on one thing, everyone agrees, that «Security» is an unprecedented track.

Freaks to the freaks to the freaks

To the freaks to the front

If they don't like you as you are

Just ignore the cunt

(Amyl And The Sniffers – Freaks To The Front)

So.

Amyl And The Sniffers have nothing to do with:

• Sex Pistols

• Ramones

• Clash

• Stiff Little Fingers

and if you have more, add them, they have nothing to do with them either.

Not even with the Amyl And The Sniffers of 2019, much less with those of 2016.

Just, I bring up the Clash a second time, and because there's another thing I remember, that the evolution from the self-titled debut to «Comfort To Me» has only one point of comparison, and it's the transition from «Give'em Enough Rope» to «London Calling».

Because even Husker Du reached «Warehouse: Songs And Stories» in several steps.

What the fuck is this? some of those who have their freshly printed copy of «London Calling» ask themselves astounded in 1979.

What the fuck is this? some of those who have their freshly printed copy of «Comfort To Me» ask themselves astounded in 2021.

What the fuck is this? deep down I also ask myself, just a few months ago.

Now I have the answer.

They are the features with Viagra Boys and Sleaford Mods.

It's the months spent touring Australia with Cosmic Psychos.

It's the early clumsy performances in which Amyl And The Sniffers had the courage and thoughtlessness to handle the “Sunnyboys matter”.

Without all this yesterday, today there's no «Guided By Angels», no «Security», no «Hertz», no transition.

Complicated, I am human

But I can't deny it no more

Wish I could love me for all of my flaws

Like I love you for all yours

I'm grabbing your hands in the darkness

Night walking back to your place

But I can see you see through me

Thank you for carrying all of my weight

(Amyl And The Sniffers – No More Tears)

What the fuck is this? those who have their freshly printed copy of «London Calling» ask themselves astonished in 1979, after the first notes of «Hateful».

What the fuck is this? those who have their freshly printed copy of «Comfort To Me» ask themselves astonished in 2021, after the first notes of «No More Tears».

Because the “new” Amyl And The Sniffers, those of «No More Tears», are the focal point of «Comfort To Me».

Dec says, «To compose this track, I was inspired by a Gene Clark album from the '70s that I particularly love, it is called “No Other”, of course, it has nothing to do with punk, not even with rock. I just played that music at faster tempos».

Amy looks inside herself, turns back, then fixes her gaze in front of her, changes her vocal tone.

Dec changes tempos, Amy changes tones: it all seems so simple and maybe it is, but the fact is that this track is entirely worth «Security».

The same applies to «Maggot».

Even more so to «Knifey».

Glad to have started watching that video, two months ago.

And after all this

Won't you give me a smile?

(The Clash – London Calling)

Objectively, it would be the bare minimum.

At most, I don't even dare to think.

She's ten out of ten

You're so so

You think you can fuck with her?

Hell no

(Amyl And The Sniffers – Don't Need A Cunt)

Anyway, I tried, I'll get out of the way, goodbye.