Country music is enjoying a moment in Australia right now.
The Wiggles released their first-ever album in the genre, collaborating with Orville Peck, Kaylee Bell, and even the legendary Dolly Parton; Luke Combs sold out arenas around the country this year after being Australia’s most-streamed country artist in 2024; according to Spotify, Australia is now the world’s No. 3 market for country music, behind only the US and Canada.
Could Amyl and the Sniffers be the next act to go country? If frontwoman Amy Taylor gets her way, they might just do that.
In the punk-rock band’s new Rolling Stone AU/NZ cover story, Taylor suggested Amyl could go in some surprising new directions on their next album.
“We’ve had three really successful punk and rock albums, but I’d love to make an Aussie country album,” she told Print Editor James Jennings. “Chad Morgan, Slim Dusty, that kind of stuff. You know, just shake shit up. If you don’t think about it and talk about it, again, we would just end up touring until we drop dead, basically.”
So don’t be alarmed if you hear Amyl swapping thrashing punk noise for acoustic twang in the future; and if any musician in Australia has the charisma and stage presence to be a country music star, it’s Taylor.
The Australian punk-rock band grace the cover of our March-May issue, which hit newsstands in Australia and New Zealand earlier this month.
In their cover story, Taylor and bandmates Bryce Wilson, Declan Mehrtens, and Gus Romer shared an under-the-bonnet exploration of their careers and the special glue that binds them. The foursome also posed for an exclusive shoot with Michelle Pitiris, the ARIA Award-winning music and fashion photographer.
Check out exclusive behind the scenes footage of the band’s instantly-iconic cover shoot above.
Alongside Dom Dolla and Thelma Plum, Amyl and the Sniffers lead the shortlist for the 2025 Rolling Stone Australia Awards, racking up multiple nominations across key categories. The band will compete for Best LP/EP (Cartoon Darkness), Best Single (“U Should Not Be Doing That”), Best Live Act, and the prestigious Rolling Stone Global Award.
The March-May 2025 issue of Rolling Stone AU/NZ is on newsstands now.
Whether you’re a fan of music, you’re a supporter of the local music scene, or you enjoy the thrill of print and longform journalism, then Rolling Stone AU/NZ is exactly what you need. Click the link here for more information regarding a magazine subscription.
