It’s been a decade since The Amity Affliction released Let the Ocean Take Me, an album that not only resonated with listeners but became a landmark moment for the band.
Now, ten years on, the Australian post-hardcore heavyweights are revisiting that iconic record with a new, re-recorded version, Let the Ocean Take Me (Redux).
For the band’s frontman Joel Birch, the ocean has always been more than just a thematic backdrop for The Amity Affliction. It’s part of who he is – a tangible thread woven through his life since childhood. “I grew up going to the beach from birth, basically,” he tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ.
Birch’s connection to the ocean began as a boy, riding 25 kilometres on a bicycle to escape a turbulent home life and find solace in the waves. “I had a shitty childhood, so I would take any excuse to get out of the house,” he admits. “I spent a lot of time at the beach and in the ocean… It’s been a huge part of my life for a long time.”
It’s no wonder, then, that The Amity Affliction’s music is often flooded with imagery of water, drowning, and bodies of water in general. According to Birch, though, this deep-rooted connection to the sea is more than mere metaphor; it’s a reflection of his internal battles. “I’ve lived for the better part of half my life with what they call passive suicidal ideation,” he explains. “Most days, I’m thinking about suicide. It’s not really an active thing, but it’s there all the time.”
These personal struggles – often detailed in Amity’s lyrics – have shaped the band’s music for the past two decades. The references to the ocean are not just poetic; they’re visceral, representing a means of escape, survival, and sometimes, a longing for oblivion.
For longtime fans, Let the Ocean Take Me is more than just an album.
It’s a touchstone, a soundtrack to their own experiences and emotions, particularly those grappling with mental health issues. Yet for Birch, who has never been fully satisfied with his vocal performance on the original recording, the chance to re-record the album was about more than reclaiming control – it was about finally getting it right. “I’ve never been happy with my vocal performance on that record, or any record for that matter,” Birch admits. “This was the first time I’ve been able to get into the studio quickly after touring, so my voice was in shape.”
Recording Let the Ocean Take Me (Redux) was a different experience altogether. This time around, it wasn’t about the back-and-forth uncertainty that typically characterises recording sessions. “It was so easy because it was already recorded,” he says with a laugh. The band rented an Airbnb on the northern beaches of Sydney, a place where they could wake up to the sound of waves, play golf, and then knock out their recording sessions in a matter of hours. “It was just a really nice experience all in all,” Birch adds, a far cry from the stress that recording often brings.
The choice to re-record Let the Ocean Take Me wasn’t solely about artistic satisfaction, though. Like Taylor Swift before them, The Amity Affliction made the move to reclaim ownership of their music. “We signed to Roadrunner before [2010 album] Youngbloods, and we were young… we didn’t know anything about anything,” Birch recalls. “It was predatory, honestly. They knew we needed help, and they gave us a seven-album deal.” Over the years, that deal became less beneficial, and when the band realised that the rights to the album would revert to them after ten years, they jumped at the chance to re-record it.
A decade may have passed since Let the Ocean Take Me first dropped, but the themes of the album – loss, despair, and the fight to stay afloat – are just as relevant now as they were then.
For Birch, who has battled addiction and mental illness throughout his life, the decision to revisit this particular album was cathartic. One of the most personal tracks on the record, “My Father’s Son,” was chosen as the lead single for the re-release. “It’s probably still my favourite song,” Birch shares. “I guess that was the first time I started exploring my relationship to my dad, even though I didn’t know him and how similar I was to him; which was always kind of weird for me because I didn’t know him at all.”
Looking back on his career, Birch now has the clarity that comes with age. At 42, he’s no longer concerned with the opinions of strangers on the internet. In fact, he’s taken a step back from social media altogether. “I just had it while I was on tour, and when I got home, I got rid of it,” he explains, acknowledging that the constant feedback loop of social media can be damaging, especially for someone with mental health challenges like he has.
When it comes to advice for younger bands, Birch doesn’t mince words. “Don’t do what we did,” he says bluntly. “Don’t sign to a major. Parkway Drive is the ultimate model for what a band can do and should do – they did everything themselves.” Reflecting on the industry’s predatory nature, Birch admits that The Amity Affliction were “drunk” on the excitement of being wined and dined in places like Austin, Texas, rubbing elbows with rock legends like Tom Morello. “We didn’t have goals. We didn’t give a fuck about success… and that was prohibitive. But it’s how it works.”
Despite the opportunity to re-record one of their most beloved albums, Birch is adamant that this is a one-time deal. “Would I go back and redo any of the others? No chance,” he insists. Let the Ocean Take Me stands alone as the only album they felt compelled to revisit, and Birch is content to leave it at that. “I think that’s the beauty of music. You hear something, and it takes you straight back to where you were when you first heard it.”
For fans who have followed The Amity Affliction through the years, the re-recorded album offers a chance to relive that journey with the benefit of experience and better production. “It’s really beefed up compared to the old version,” Birch notes, adding that the orchestral elements and keys have been amplified to match the fuller, heavier sound of the band’s more recent work.
As for Birch, Let the Ocean Take Me is a reminder of where he’s been, where he is now, and how far he’s come. The tracks were written during a nine-month stretch of sobriety, and within six weeks of completion Birch admits he was drinking again. “Looking back on it, I can obviously see this sort of naivety of someone living with addiction and not really admitting that there’s a problem,” he says. “I was sort of like, oh yeah, I nearly died, LOL. I kind of wanted to be dead anyway, so it didn’t bother me, which is another crazy thing to think about.”
With the benefit of hindsight – and over eight years of sobriety – Birch says the process of re-recording the tracks has not been as difficult as performing them. “When I was drinking, in the back of my mind I was always thinking I might not wake up tomorrow but then it won’t be my fault. Even though it was definitely my fault. Who else’s fault would it be?” he chuckles. “But that’s just the way I was thinking back then. So just playing them live, I was like, fuck man, you idiot.”
Birch admits, though, the audience response to the music when the band performs live is what really keeps him going. “I have days where I’ll be in the same headspace as a song I’ve written, and it will be a pretty emotional experience to play it live—but a lot of the time it’s so repetitive,” he says. “Then to see people singing them back and having that emotional reaction really snaps you out of that complacent space and brings you back down to earth. I will always appreciate that; it’s what has kept me going.”
Credit: @tomise
With the re-release of Let the Ocean Take Me (Redux) and a tour on the horizon, The Amity Affliction show no signs of slowing down. Known for their explosive live shows and carefully curated lineups, the band have once again assembled a stellar roster of support acts for their upcoming Australian tour. “Every time we go out, we essentially put on a mini festival,” Birch says. For the Let the Ocean Take Me 10th Anniversary tour, that lineup includes Ice Nine Kills, We Came As Romans, and Heavensgate.
“Sometimes we’re friends with them,” Birch says of the support acts chosen for the tour. “We’ve done that a lot. Getting Ice Nine Kills on this tour was more about getting the right band for the tour; they’re like heavy Panic! at the Disco. It’s pretty insane. It’s really fucking catchy.”
Ahren Stringer’s reported departure from The Amity Affliction adds a significant emotional weight to their upcoming tour, marking his final shows with the band, at least for the foreseeable future. Though Stringer’s exit is a difficult moment for The Amity Affliction, Birch assures fans that the band will continue moving forward, with Stringer’s blessing. “It’s a shit circumstance and it’s not what any of us ever wanted… but it’s a band. It sucks, but we keep moving.”
As The Amity Affliction prepare to hit the road, one thing is certain: the ocean may have taken them once, but they’ve come back stronger, more resilient, and ready to weather whatever storms lie ahead.
The Amity Affliction’s Let the Ocean Take Me (Redux) is out now. The band’s tour dates can be found here.
