AMYL & The Sniffers guitarist Declan Martens laughs that he's feeling "shot".
As AC/DC's late frontman Bon Scott famously sang, "If you wanna be a star of stage and screen/ Look out, it's rough and mean."
The Sniffers know that first hand. The Melbourne punk band are back home after a hectic seven-week tour across the UK, Europe and Japan. And there's no rest for the wicked.
This weekend the four-piece of Amy Taylor (vocals), Martens (guitar), Bryce Wilson (drums) and Gus Romer (bass) are headlining Off The Rails music festival at Newcastle's Bar On The Hill and in Marrickville.
The line-up also includes fellow Melbourne bands Private Function and RVG, outback ragers Southeast Desert Metal, Brisbane psych-rockers Full Flower Moon Band and Newcastle's Raave Tapes and Dust.
After Off The Rails, the Sniffers are headed to the US for 19 shows in October and November and nine regional Victoria gigs to finish the year.
"We have this running joke that we're 28 years old, but 40 in rock'n'roll years," Wilson says. "That's kind of where we're at now. You kind of get used to it. You've just gotta do it."
Anyone that's witnessed the Sniffers in full flight, led by the cyclonic force of nature that is Amy Taylor, knows they aren't a band who partake in a quiet nightcap after gigs.
"It's so hard to find a quiet night on tour, but I wouldn't have it any other way," Martens says.
The break-out success of their second album Comfort To Me - which claimed ARIA Awards for best group and best rock album in 2022 - means their modern take on '70s sharpie pub-rock has been in high demand.
There's been support slots with Smashing Pumpkins, The Strokes, Liam Gallagher and Green Day and appearances at the UK's Glastonbury and Green Man festivals.
It's meant Martens and Wilson's days of working at Woolworths and Big W are long behind them. It's led to various "pinch me" moments.
"I saw the footage back from our show in Paris and I remember being like, 'I can't believe I'm in Paris right now'," Martens says. "It's weird when you just wake up on tour and there's a new language being spoken."
Comfort To Me's success, led by the radio-made singles Security and Hertz, has also heightened expectations for album No.3. The songs are partly written and there's plans to begin recording over the summer with the goal of releasing new material in 2024.
"[There's] nothing specifically [in mind], but we want to try some new sounds," Wilson says. "Amy, especially does. We never go into writing with an agenda. Maybe a loose agenda. It's usually pretty much on the fly."
While Amyl & The Sniffers are dedicated road warriors, Melbourne's post-punk band RVG, aka Romy Vager Group, will make their Newcastle debut at Off The Rails.
After the critically-acclaimed albums A Quality Of Mercy (2017) and Feral (2020), RVG hit new heights with Brain Worms, released in June. The record will undoubtedly feature on various "best of 2023" lists come December and has been compared to Patti Smith mixed with Echo & The Bunnymen.
Brain Worms' reception has also validated the gamble of recording the album in London at Snap Studios with James Trevascus (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis).
"Everyone was very cautious about us going overseas, except for me," band leader Romy Vager says. "They said, 'we can just do it in Melbourne and do it for a fraction of the price'. But I thought no, we needed to do something different and something out of our comfort zone.
"At the end of it we all thought it was the best decision we made, and it still is.
"Obviously it's an Australian record, but we did want to take some of the Australianness out of it when working with James and have more of a cosmopolitan [sound], and I guess we achieved that."
Vager, who is a trans woman, has previously spoken about the depression she's experienced on tour. Off The Rails kicks off an Australian tour before RVG return to Europe for 17 shows.
However, Vager says she's become increasingly more comfortable on stage.
"I got used to it," she says. "It took me a while to develop a callous for it and now it's all I wanna do, I think.
"When I'm in Melbourne, I'm always looking forward to when I can go overseas and do something. When I'm over there my depression lifts and I wake up at six in the morning and go for a walk if I can. It's exciting. It kind of energises me."
Off The Rails begins at 2pm on Saturday at the Bar On The Hill.
