English Version | Effervescent energy

Amyl & the Sniffers, made up of vocalist Amy Taylor, drummer Bryce Wilson, guitarist Declan Mehrtens and bassist Gus Romer, is a band that comes from Melbourne, Australia, but finds its natural habitat on the stage. That is why seeing the frontwoman as the star of this Fashion editorial is to realize that the spotlight is not something that intimidates her - it feeds her. Not because of any thirst for fame, but rather because of an enormous desire to share her art - music.

A force of nature, a true rock star, a figure of female empowerment... all expressions used to describe Taylor, which she herself does not deny - even if only due to her empowering attitude. She also doesn't shy away from sharing in interviews that punk should have more female representation and that she wants to be one of those forces. If you ask us, she already is: based on a cohesive quartet that works organically (the first EP, Giddy Up, from 2016, was made and released in half a day), they now launch, after Amyl and the Sniffers (2019) and Comfort to me (2021), a new original album. Cartoon Darkness, released in October 2024, is a more thoughtful album, as the singer explains in the interview below: recorded at Foo Fighters' 606 studios in Los Angeles with producer Nick Launay, who has worked with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, its musical body and lyrics explore the climate crisis, war, artificial intelligence, political (in)correctness and the false sense of an online voice of the masses suggested by social media when in fact it is just fueling the data machine of large modern technology companies. “It’s about the fact that our generation is fed with information. We seem like adults, but we are children forever encapsulated in a shell. We are all passively swallowing distractions that do not even cause pleasure, sensation or joy; they only cause numbness”, she shared about their latest album, which Portugal can witness live, in July, at NOS Alive, in Lisbon, in a return to our country after, in recent years, having also performed at Porto Primavera Sound, in 2024, and MEO Kalorama, in 2023.

The aftermath of these live performances echoes and corroborates the “hurricane” label that the press and critics insist on giving not only to Amy, but to the powerful punk rock of Amyl and the Sniffers, always ratified and highlighted in their live performances. And it is in a very organic way: this manifesto of irreverence is not a marketing strategy, it breathes naturally from the energy that exudes from their pores, from the depth of their lyrics, from the therapeutic fury of their sound. A way of living so true and inconsequential that one would expect that, among the applause, there would also be a touch of hardship, but there are few champagne problems. As she sings in Safety, Amy Taylor is not looking for problems, she is looking for love. And love is all she has managed to get from a growing fan base, which is set to grow after these images and interview - a trigger, certainly, to listen to her addictive sound incessantly.

How does your Australian background play/played into your music? And which Australian references do you have in music?


It’s everything, I love the australian music sound, so do all of us, I would hate if someone thought we were American or a UK band. ACDC, Cosmic Psychos, The Angles, The Saints, The Divinyls and more currently Mini Skirt, Miss Kaninna, Barkaa, COFFIN, Drunk Mums, Big Wett have all been inspiring!

“I looked at her for 10 seconds on stage and I said: ‘Holy mother of God, this is a true rock star”, said Billy Morgan. Is it easy for you to deal with all the compliments, the accolades, the nominations, the awards? Do you feel it eases the pressure or piles it up?

It’s flattering, I like compliments, and I dont take accolades too seriously, I think there just a fun bonus and a compliment, something to dress up and go, but not something that hangs over my head, more like a party with a show bag.

NME described you on stage as “defying gravity, as though she’s possessed”. Is it a fair assessment of your presence while playing? What do you feel when on stage and is “performer Amy” very different from “off-stage Amy”? 



Being on stage has changed over the years, different stages, different sizes, different ages. But I feel free of societal norms, I feel excited and sometimes I feel nothing at all, sometimes intense rage and sometimes intense joy.

In every interview I’ve read, your energy, your energetic vibe, is almost always mentioned. And I’ve also read you always like to challenge yourself - does the energy feed the need to keep growing and vice-versa? How so?

Energy is everything not just being frantic but where you put it where you direct it and who and what you give it to. I think i can be unrelenting so anything I would be doing would probably grow but maybe less because of energy and more because of curiosity.

Can you walk us through that and what’s behind the name Amyl and the Sniffers?

It is named after Amyl nitrate, or (sometimes called poppers) and my name is Amy L so on my Id is says Amyl. And at the start our songs were short and gave you a headache so it worked out well.

You all were housemates before starting the band, correct? Although you’ve gotten bigger and bigger, has that closeness between you remained unchanged? And how do you manage any friction that’s bout to come up, once in a while, within the group?

Yes we were all housemates before starting the band! And we have lived together many times since then too. We are super close, more family than friends. Friction, we just argue and act pissy and then get over it, usually there isnt a great deal of tension, or arguing. We talk pretty honestly to each other as far as I know, and we spend so much time together that we know how to take time away from each other if theres a problem. 

An artist once told me that the release of energy during a performance is so great and the exchange with the audience is so intense, that sometimes after a show she didn’t know what to do with all that energy she had absorbed. How do you unwind after a concert?

I actually dont feel that way. I feel like I give energy out and it is a shared experience,  rather than absorbing it or receiving it, and so I most of the time I am pretty rooted (exhausted) after a set. I think the way me and the boys perform is contagious and gives permission for people to loose there inhibitions which is why its so loose and wild.

And do you have a sort of a ritual before every performance? Some sort of lucky habit?

No I don’t! I do a warm up and do my little makeup and my hair and put my outfit on and that's it.

Your first EP, Giddy Up, in 2016, was written, recorded and released in 12 hours. And now, for your third album, Cartoon Darkness, writing the album was “a fast, loose process, with the band jamming out tracks on the fly”, I read. Is your creative process very raw? 

Maybe the first EPs were jamming on the fly but this album was way more considered, we spent a lot of time writting, figuring out  structure and demoing more then any other record on this one, there is always spontaneity in what we do as well as urgency. I dont know how other people do shit, but for us its just us four in a room, sometimes just the three of the boys, jamming something out, and then me writing over the top, I always write the lyrics, then we all get together and fine tune it. We had a producer this time, so he had input too, but the band are very hands on.

I’ve read you used to never read and then the last couple of years have read non-stop. Share a book you loved reading and what are you reading right now?


Yeah! Books changed my life, I love them all. Im reading COPAGANDA right now which is about how the media is used to promote policing in the USA which is super topical with the protests going on in LA right. I love non fiction books heaps. I also love books that try and describe society and why they are the way they are, because I find it so confusing, and theres so much politically, socially, happening in this era, all across the globe. I think its easy to slip into individualism and feel powerless, and even though the more I learn the more depressing it is, its important to stay savvy so we can understand the issues and the way people abuse power.

This issue of Vogue is themed Champagne Problems. What’s a “champagne problem” of yours?

Drinking too much of it.

There’s been a lot of talk, of course, among the Arts industry, music included, about AI and what it will mean for creatives in every area. What’s your take in AI x Humans - friends or foes?

I think AI is moving extremely fast and there isn’t enough perimeters on it. I think big Tech companies have a pretty shady history of not being morally aligned, and it will most likely contribute to the slide into surveillance capitalism and the data collection of companies wanting to advertise to us. I think its not inherently bad, but they are predicting AGI will be here sooner then they think which makes me feel uneasy. I also weirdly think that it is an inevitable timeline, I think every sci-fi and every version of the future I’ve ever thought about looks like robots and space ships and AI,land so maybe its nature. I think AI images will also contribute to misinformation which is the last thing the world needs right now as so much is disorientating. AI isn’t all that though, It hasn’t blown my mind away haha but the more we use it the better it will get. I think most things that are feared are because there not understood properly, or because its too powerful in a way that contradicts ones beliefs, and I think AI can fall into both those boxes. 

You’re a very powerful and charismatic lead singer - do you feel you’re also inspiring and making room for other women in pub rock to rise and making a name for themselves in the industry? 

Yes! I think so. I love all the other women/femmes ive met I feel there is a good community for sure. There was women before me and women after me, but I feel like there is a real moment right now too because it’s cross generational.

Do you think of yourself as a role model for women, does it cross your mind?

It’s something I have been thinking about more. But when I think about what I might be contributing to someone who is more young and impressionable I think that even if its good or bad, hopefully what they think is bad in me they will push against for themselves. And the good I hope they can see it as a mirror for the good they can see with them.

You’re playing Lisbon, Portugal, this summer, and have been here in the country before. What is your impression of it?

I love it there. I want to live there one day. I had that yummy fish dish, ceviche, I don’t know if thats a native dish but it was so good, I think about it all the time, and some lemon drink and Portuguese tarts. The crowds are awesome there I want to see more. Sadly we dont get a lot of time to look around when were on the road, we are usually only in a city for 24 hours or less! We are always on the go, one day I’ll holiday there. 

You have traveled the whole world on tour, and I’m sure you’ve tried many a strange dishes. What’s one that was really weird? And an Australian delicacy that you love and the rest of the world finds weird?

I always think Mushy Peas in the UK are kinda weird I dont know why, theyre growing on me but it’s just so green.. and mushy. Im a pretty classic australian and love Vegemite, I used to take for school lunches, Vegemite on dried weetbix which is the driest thing in the world. 

Translated from the original in Summertime Daydreams, published July 2025. For full stories and credits, please see the print issue.