When Melbourne punk-rock firebrands Amyl and the Sniffers spoke to Rolling Stone AU/NZ in late January 2025 as part of their cover story for the March-May 2025 issue, Amy Taylor revealed that she wanted to take the band in a more “country” direction. Considering she’s written a song called “Caltex Cowgirl” – also her Instagram handle – we probably should’ve seen it coming.
“We’ve had three really successful punk and rock albums, but I’d love to make an Aussie country album,” she told us at the time. “Chad Morgan, Slim Dusty, that kind of stuff. You know, just shake shit up.”
Shake shit up she has.
In April 2025, Taylor and the rest of the Sniffers – guitarist Declan Mehrtens, bassist Gus Romer, and drummer Bryce Wilson – hit the famous El Coyote Mexican Restaurant in Los Angeles to perform countrified version of their songs in front of a small audience of close friends.
Truth or Consequence, directed by regular collaborator/Taylor’s fiancé John Angus Stewart, captures the ragged, raucous show in all its unhinged glory.
Any doubts as to how Amyl and the Sniffers are going to transform blistering rock & roll into country are dispelled with opener “Big Dreams”. This hoedown version ups the pace with galloping drums and some good old fashioned hootin’ and hollerin’, the band looking like they’re having the time of their lives.
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By the time “Bailing on Me” and “Jerkin’” arrive – the former featuring Taylor singing through a megaphone – the band have transformed the red-hued restaurant into the world’s most sweary roadhouse dive bar, the only thing missing being some protective chickenwire in front of the stage.
Fun updates like “Little Bit Punk, Little Bit Country” (a rechristened “Don’t Need a Cunt (Like You to Love Me)”) and “Me and The Girls (Are Drunk at the Pig Farm)” are great, but it’s the two new songs that really sell you on the concept of Amyl and the Sniffers getting their cowpoke on.
“I guess you could call it a love song” Taylor says of “Fella”, a hilarious and catchy as hell tale of a woman taking extreme actions to get a man (“Fella, fella, we oughta be together/gun against his head he said he’d do/I said ‘you better’). It’s the kind of track you can easily imagine getting played at weddings for any bride and groom with a twisted sense of humour.
Taylor has no shortage of “I can’t believe she just said that” lyrics, and the ones found on “Bag of Cocaine” are the latest to join that esteemed list. Essentially a blow by blow – pardon the pun – account of getting on the gear in LA, it’s a ribald singalong that is destined to be a future live favourite.
The knee-slapping fun is infectious, but there’s also evidence the band can still make the country pivot work when it’s played with more of a straight face.
A stripped-back “Caltex Cowgirl” arrives with a surprising amount of emotional weight, and a faithful cover of Slim Dusty’s “Lights on the Hill” is delivered with sincerity and heart, making it one of the film’s highlights.
There are occasional behind-the-scenes cutaways to the band hanging out together, giving an insight into their best mates/dysfunctional family dynamic. There’s a parade of dirty jokes, lots of taking the piss out of each other, and even discussion about who in the band has copped a black eye from someone else in the band (spoiler alert: more shiners have been dished out than you’d expect).
Shot on Kodak film to give it an appropriately seedy Seventies look, Truth or Consequence is essentially an MTV Unplugged performance with a dive bar aesthetic and way more booze and C-bombs. It acts as a rollicking proof of concept that yes, Amyl and the Sniffers have indeed found a sweet, foul-mouthed spot between rock and country. If you’re after a good time, best grab a shot of whiskey and a 10-gallon hat and join them there.
Truth and Consequence hits Australian cinemas today. Check out cinema screenings here.
