| Amy Taylor | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Amy Louise Taylor |
| Born | (1996-01-04) 4 January 1996 (age 29) Mullumbimby, New South Wales, Australia |
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| Instrument |
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| Years active | 2016–present |
| Labels | |
| Member of | Amyl and the Sniffers |
Amy Taylor is an Australian musician and activist from Mullumbimby, Australia. She is known as a songwriter and lead vocalist of the ARIA Award winning rock band Amyl and the Sniffers based in Melbourne, Australia.
Early life
Taylor's mother worked at the post office before studying and practising as a psychologist and her father was a crane driver and bottle shop worker who built their house out of repurposed rocks. Taylor's parents moved to Mullumbimby ("counterculture capital of the country") from Western Sydney in the early 1990s and turned more than a hectare of subdivided farmland into bush. Taylor has one older sister called Grace, and the family lived out of one bedroom divided by curtains until Taylor was nine.
Taylor worked full-time at her local IGA after finishing high school and saved money to move to the far-western suburb of Laverton, Melbourne at the age of 19.
Music career
Taylor completed an apprenticeship at a chemical company, selling gas cylinders for $11 an hour while studying music business at night at TAFE. Taylor went to live music shows almost every week and enjoyed freestyle rapping, meeting her future bandmates at these gigs or in shared houses over time.
The first songs as Amyl and the Sniffers were written in 2016 and the name was chosen because the first line of Taylor’s driver’s licence reads “Amy L” and amyl nitrate (also known as poppers) was the drug that many of their friends were sniffing at clubs. In 2018, Taylor was able to quit her job working at the “scoop and weigh” fruit and nut section at Coles to go on tour with the band.
In 2018, the band was photographed by Hedi Slimane as part of their collection of black-and-white rock star portraits (featuring everyone from Lady Gaga to Keith Richards, Johnny Rotten and Joan Jett) and Taylor was photographed in what she wore that day–a Big W singlet with a coffee stain on the front. In 2019 Taylor and her bandmates were flown to Sicily to be part of a Gucci campaign and Taylor wore the label on the runway at a Milan Fashion Week show.
In 2022, Taylor and guitarist Declan Mehrtens met with the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, to represent the band at a music industry delegation promoting more support for touring in Canberra.
Taylor is currently on a world tour with Amyl and the Sniffers (following their ARIA Chart No. 2 album after being knocked down a place by a small margin by Tyler, the Creator's surprise release), and they will be completing their summer shows in Australia in early 2025. Taylor and Mehrtens relocated to Los Angeles in between touring.
Activism
In June 2022, Taylor's performance repeating “F--- the Supreme Court!” went viral at the Glastonbury Festival following news that Roe v Wade had been overturned (the landmark decision protecting national abortion rights for American women) in the Supreme Court of the United States.
In 2021, Taylor wrote the song Knifey about the fear and rage that women experience when they feel unsafe walking alone at night.
In January 2022 the band opened for the Sydney Festival, despite the large boycott owing to the festival's financial support from the Israeli government, Taylor admitted their mistake after hearing about the financial backing, and the band donated their festival fee to the Olive Kids foundation, which supports Palestinian children.
Taylor dedicated their performance of GFY (Go F--- Yourself) at the Forum Theatre to Pauline Hanson days after Hanson launched a campaign to say no to an Indigenous Voice to Parliament mid 2022.
Personal life
Taylor is friends with fellow L.A. residents, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Arrow De Wilde of Starcrawler.
Awards
- Best Group (Amyl and the Sniffers) ARIA Music Awards 2022
- Best Rock Album (Amyl and the Sniffers) ARIA Music Awards 2022
- Best Musician, Music Victoria awards 2020
- Best Rock Album (Amyl and the Sniffers) ARIA Music Awards 2019
References
- ^ Marshall, Konrad (2022-12-02). "From IGA to the ARIAs – via Glastonbury and Gucci: Amy Taylor's rockin' rise". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- ^ "How Australian rock singer Amy Taylor became a fashion sensation". Vogue Australia. 2021-09-10. Archived from the original on 2024-12-24. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- ^ Trimboli, Isabella (2019-05-24). "Amyl and the Sniffers review – turning pub rock bravado into punk mayhem". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Amyl and the Sniffers: Amyl and the Sniffers". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- "Amyl and The Sniffers: 'It's just charmingly violent powerful fun'". 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- Rogers, Jude (2019-05-04). "One to watch: Amyl and the Sniffers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- Smith, Thomas (2019-05-24). "Amyl and The Sniffers – 'Amyl and The Sniffers' review". NME. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- Dwyer, Michael (2024-11-06). "Amyl and the Sniffers were about to top the charts. Sony had another idea". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- "Amyl And The Sniffers announce one-off London headline show". Kerrang!. 2024-05-13. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- Pearis, Bill. "Amyl and the Sniffers on leaving Melbourne, channeling the Beastie Boys, and facing their fears on their biggest, boldest album yet". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- ^ Appleford, Steve (2024-11-07). "Amyl and the Sniffers move to L.A. and get a whiff of punk glory on 'Cartoon Darkness'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- "2019 ARIA Award Winners Announced". www.aria.com.au. Retrieved 2025-01-10.