AS one of Australia's most globally in-demand acts, Amyl & The Sniffers are accustomed to sharing stages with major players.
In 2022 alone the Melbourne punk-rockers opened for Oasis icon Liam Gallagher at his return to Knebworth and they supported Green Day and Weezer on their UK co-headline tour.
Starting next week the four-piece will be warming up stages around Australia for The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction and in August they'll support The Strokes alongside The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Angel Olsen in London's Victoria Park.
But there's one popular act Amyl & The Sniffers weren't awfully keen to be performing alongside - children's entertainment royalty, The Wiggles, who they followed at the recent Falls Festival.
"We went out there to prove we're better than them," Amyl & The Sniffers guitarist Dec Martens jokes in a three-way Zoom interview, that also features vocalist Amy Taylor.
"You've got beef with The Wiggles," Taylor smiles.
"Yeah I've got beef the Wiggles. F--king has beens, man," Martens deadpans.
Of course, the original Wiggles have become a nostalgic attraction due to pre-schoolers of the '90s and 2000s having become gig-going adults.
Taylor has another theory.
"I feel like people like them for the same reason people take drugs," she says. "It makes you feel like a baby and you get to enjoy something without critically thinking for a minute."
Critical thinking is something Amyl & The Sniffers became more adept at on their ARIA Award-winning second album Comfort To Me in 2021.
Amyl & The Sniffers announced themselves onto the music scene armed with sharpie mullets, press hype, and ball-tearing '70s-inspired pub rock on their EPs Giddy Up (2016) and Big Attraction (2017) and their self-titled debut album in 2019.
Comfort To Me saw Amyl & The Sniffers become one of Australia's most important bands.
Taylor's lyrics explored everything from feminism (Knifey, Choices) to gender fluidity (Don't Fence Me In) to Indigenous issues (Capital), and her bandmates Martens, Bryce Wilson (drums) and Gus Romer (bass) also expanded their sonic palette, while maintaining the frenetic energy of their earlier work.
"That was the point where people started taking us more seriously," Martens says.
"Hopefully people took us seriously before, but it terms of lyrics, they were the most honest and genuine Amy's lyrics have been."
For Taylor, Comfort To Me was all about expanding her horizons and taking an interest in the world around her.
"I felt the first few releases were snotty punk and bratty rock'n'roll, which is awesome, but I felt Comfort To Me was us getting older, experiencing more shit and going through shit and the lyrics became more vulnerable, more critical and more confident," Taylor says.
"Whereas I just didn't have that insight before. I just got smarter as a person and starting tapping into what was going on a bit more."
While Comfort To Me contained an emphasis on politics, the record's most thrilling moments - Security and Hertz - were pure pub rock gratification.
"I don't rob myself of the ability to write stupid songs about going to the pub as well, because that is just as important, so it's not always heavy," Taylor says.
"At the same time, I'm not an air head, so I will naturally be thinking about stuff like that."
Preliminary work has began on Amyl & The Sniffers' third album, but with a hectic 2023 ahead the album isn't expected to be finished until next year.
In August the band return to Europe for 16 festival appearances and three shows with fellow Melbourne band Cable Ties. Then it's off to the US for a month-long tour.
From the very beginning Amyl & The Sniffers' music, their sharpie aesthetic and Taylor's ferocious charisma have been a fascination of the UK music press.
Each visit to the Old Dart has been followed by bigger shows, but to Taylor and Martens, watching their support grow in Melbourne has been more meaningful.
"You do feel your success in your home town," Martens says. "It's such a music city as well.
"It is a good city for everyone to gauge how they do in terms of success.
"We are overseas a lot, but we're not there long enough to see how it goes. We just pop in and pop out. We were only at Glastonbury for a few hours and then you leave and it's like, 'what was that all about?'"
When the focus finally returns to album No.3, Taylor promises it'll still be "spirit-based" like their previous releases.
"That's why I like punk music, garage music, whatever you wanna call it," she says.
"In many ways I think we started as a garage band, but it's spirit-based because it's accessible.
"You don't have to necessarily have any training or know all the flashy whatevers. Anyone can pick up an instrument and essentially bang some shit out if they've got something to say or whatever feels fun."
Amyl & The Sniffers support The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on April 29. The line-up also includes RedHook and Battlesnake and wrestling between the NWA and the Wrestling Alliance of Australia.
