Ahead of their first visit to Australia and New Zealand, Upchuck’s Mikey Durham and Kalia ‘KT’ Thompson sat down with Amyl and the Sniffers’ Declan Mehrtens for an artist-on-artist interview with Rolling Stone AU/NZ.
The provocative Atlanta punk five-piece will kick off their run in Brisbane this Wednesday (March 4th), before tearing through Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, and Wellington, bringing their raw live energy to local stages for the first time. More details can be found here.
The connection between the bands runs deep, having toured together overseas. Upchuck have also toured with fellow Australian favourites King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and C.O.F.F.I.N, and have a deep appreciation for music coming from Down Under. Despite coming from opposite sides of the world, the Georgia band and Amyl and the Sniffers are navigating the same restless musical world.
Upchuck had a killer 2025 – signing to Domino, releasing their album I’m Nice Now, and headlining tours across the US, UK and Europe – and are set for a bigger 2026. They’ve recently released “Last Breath”, a new single written and recorded during the I’m Nice Now sessions, and are back in the studio working on something new.
Meanwhile, Amyl and the Sniffers are taking a well-deserved break before a mammoth touring schedule in 2026. They’ll kick off their North America tour in June, before heading to Europe and the UK through August.
Gathered together in an Atlanta studio, Mikey and KT talk candidly with Declan about the realities of life on the road, what they’re looking forward to in Australia, and hilarious fan interactions.
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Rolling Stone AU/NZ: Declan starting with you, how did you meet Upchuck?
Declan: Yes, Amyl and the Sniffers, we met Upchuck at the Earl. Is that right?
Mikey: Yeah.
Declan: At the Earl in 2018 or ’19?
Mikey: 2019.
Declan: Yeah, 2019. So that’s a few years of friendship now. Yeah, that’s how we first met.
And did you meet in America on tour? Was that correct?
Declan: Yeah, the Earl is a venue in East Atlanta, Georgia, which is where we are now.
So what were your first thoughts when you met Amyl and the Sniffers, from your end Mikey and KT?
Mikey: It was fun. We just had a good night. Our friend DJ’d across the street from the place we played – it was called Living After Midnight. Our friend Chase had a little after-party and we got to meet the band and just hang out and become friends.
What’s the difference between playing a US audience and an Australian audience? Declan, what can Upchuck expect their first time coming to Australia?
Declan: I’d like to think Australian audiences get drunker – in a nice way. I don’t think anyone should be going to AA or anything in the Australian audiences, but that’s our passion and live music is kind of the vessel for the drinking compared to what I’ve seen in US audiences. The drinking age is higher in the US, so you’ll have some younger people in the crowd too, which is exciting.
KT and Mikey – what are you looking forward to about coming to Australia? What have you heard from Declan and the rest of the band?
Mikey: I’m really excited to see some of our friends, especially like C.O.F.F.I.N because I never get to see them. I’m excited to travel and see the different parts – like, are we going to the desert at all or anything like that?
Declan: We’ll find out. We’ll definitely be dehydrated – it’ll feel like we’re going to the desert. You guys have played with King Gizzard and C.O.F.F.I.N now, so you’ve been interacting with Australians for a long time.
KT: We love Australians!
Declan: Exactly, I feel like there’s probably a curiosity about where the hell we come from.
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After this tour, what are the plans? What’s next for both of you?
Mikey: We’re currently working on a record. That’s the most important thing we need to accomplish and finish right now – is this new record. Other than that, maybe a few shows in America and Europe, but the main focus is writing and recording.
Declan: We have some time off until June – well, I don’t know if that’s really time off, but for us it is. Then we have a North American tour, some festival dates, and some of our biggest headline shows in that territory coming up. Then a European tour in August as well.
KT: Maybe we’ll be there at the same time!
Declan: Yeah! Maybe we’ll meet up underneath the Eiffel Tower.
Between the bands, what are your favourite things on your riders? Anything that overlaps?
KT: I need tequila… I need my crack in a can.
Declan: Crack in a can is great.
Mikey: I like my soda waters, a good Topo Chico.
Declan: Yeah, I like mineral water. I’m at that level… I have my Evian, San Pellegrino… and peanuts. I’m a big peanut person. We have beer, we used to have tequila, we change spirits like every tour, I think everyone does too much…
KT: I remember one tour y’all had hella Jäger.
Declan: Yeah, Jäger was a big one. The bottle of Jäger’s smaller now, thank God. Because if we don’t finish something it goes on the bus, then we end up just having too much Jäger – too much of a very bad thing.
Has anyone ever cracked it when their rider hasn’t been what they’ve actually asked for?
Declan: I don’t think so. I’ve definitely gone into other bands’ green rooms and cracked it when their rider looked better.
A rider spider – we used to call them.
Declan: Yeah, a rider spider, that’s me. Drink all the beers.
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Outside of each other, what artists are you like that might surprise people or that you’re listening to right now?
KT: I’ve been listening to… I mean I just love George Clanton a lot.
Mikey: I also really like Françoise Hardy, I’m obsessed with older French music.
Declan: Beethoven came to mind when I saw this question. I don’t know all his stuff, but I like a lot of it. And Stevie Wonder, I think he’s obviously one of the best artists of all time.
KT: I agree!
Declan, I liked the stuff you were playing in the car too KT.
KT: Oh yeah, the Afrobeat stuff for sure. African rappers, some are from the UK. Hard to remember the exact names right now.
Declan, any Australian venues you’re excited for them to play?
Declan: The Tote in Melbourne, I’m really excited for them to play there. We’ve done heaps of shows there, it’s probably the venue that I’ve partied at the most, across my years in Melbourne. It’s got incredible history going back to the ’80s, a lot of great American bands have played there, it’s great Upchuck can follow in their footsteps. Like the White Stripes and Dead Moon, off the top of my head.
The other one, the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre for Golden Plains. That’s a very special event and very special location for music. It’s awesome they get to see a venue we started off in and one of the best venues in Australia too.
KT and Mikey, do you prefer outdoor or indoor venues? Do you have a favourite?
Mikey: I like to change it up, I like to do both, you know.
KT: Yeah, I don’t really have a preference. Sometimes it’s pretty hot outside for them outside shows. I’m not gonna lie. I get hot anyways. We’ll sweat regardless.
What are your expectations for Australian weather?
Mikey: Pretty hot, right?
Declan: I hope it’s still hot!
Mikey: We’re used to that in Atlanta, it gets extremely hot here.
Declan: The weather in Brisbane is the most similar to Atlanta, where it’s humid and wet in summer. Sydney can be humid too. Melbourne can be hot but overcast. Should be interesting… hopefully no rain.
Do you binge anything on tour? TV shows or anything?
KT: We all sat around and watched that Monster documentary together.
Mikey: I’m more of a sports person, I like watching football on the road.
Declan: We always have South Park on the bus and in the green room. That way we can stay up in touch with what’s happening in the world, is to chuck a new South Park episode on.
On tour together, have you had any standout hilarious fan experiences?
Mikey: The night in Philly when we all had our shirts off on stage and we were dancing.
Declan: We were DJing after the show in the same venue, and more than just our two bands ended up topless on stage. There’s been loads of crazy moments… just none we can really go into Rolling Stone, unfortunately. Use your imagination everybody.
You’ve mentioned C.O.F.F.I.N – any other Australian bands you like?
Mikey: I really like ORB a lot. C.O.F.F.I.N are our really good friends. Ben from C.O.F.F.I.N also plays in a band called Research Reactor Corp., I really love those guys.
KT: I used to listen to Last Dinosaurs a lot when I was in high school.
Declan: What about the big artists, like AC/DC?
Mikey: Oh yeah.
KT: Oh yeah, Gizzard too!
Declan: The Chats?
Mikey: Oh yeah.
Declan: We could go down Australian artists we hate too… Iggy Azalea, Keith Urban, I don’t know, Tame Impala? Nah I’m just kidding, obviously this is all in jest. Hey, do you know know any Australian slang for ‘up chuck’? So, we have chunder, we have spew, I could see you guys having an Australian name. Like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizards or Amyl and the Sniffers, you guys could be like, ‘Chunder and the Spewers’ or ‘Spewie and the Chunder Down Under’.
KT: That’s good.
What have you guys been getting up to together now?
Declan: Nothing really. At night they’ve been showing me the best parts of Atlanta, I love Atlanta now thanks to Upchuck. We got into a ping pong tournament on Monday, saw a Flat Iron gig at the Earl, went vintage shopping in Little Five Points.
KT: JJ’s too.
Declan: Yeah, JJ’s. They’ve shown me the best of Atlanta, which there’s a lot of.
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Where are the best places to eat in Atlanta? And Declan, where should they eat in Australia?
KT: Oh my God, this is hard.
Mikey: Gene’s is really good, the Local has the best wings.
KT: That’s debatable…
Declan: Yeah wings are really debatable in Atlanta because you guys are known for wings, right?
KT: Yeah, you’re gonna get good wings here.
Mikey: Declan and I have been Uber Eats-ing this place called Hungry AF, that’s really good. There’s this new place called the Westwood that’s really good too. What’s that other one, OK YAKI?
KT: Oh I love OK YAKI oh my gosh!
Declan: There was that barbeque spot on the corner…
Mikey: That was Gene’s!
Declan: Oh, well that’s a great spot.
Declan: Now I got to think of where to take you in Melbourne and Sydney. I need to get these guys to have meat pies in Australia. It’ll be Mikey’s birthday in Sydney, I’ll take you to the pub or something.
What are the birthday plans?
Mikey: I’m just going to follow these guys around. Go with whatever.
Declan: Your birthday is on the Friday?
Mikey: Yeah, I think we’ll have a show that night.
Declan: So if you have a Friday birthday that means it’s like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is your birthday. So really the whole week. It’ll extend into Golden Plains too, it’ll be a big one. We’ll lose some people at the end of it. We’ll just show you the best Sydney and Melbourne pubs really.
