STACK #240 October 2024

FEATURE MUSIC

CARTOON CLASSIC “B ig ups to bogan chicks,” Amy Taylor declared Amyl and the Sniffers become cartoon heroes – and heroines – on their rocking third album. Darkness is about climate crisis, war, AI, tiptoeing on the eggshells of politics, and

IN GOOD NICK Amyl and the Sniffers made Cartoon Darkness at Foo Fighters’ 606 Studios in Los Angeles with Nick Launay, who was born in the UK, lives in LA, but has spent a lot of his life in Australia. Launay has produced a stack of Aussie classics, including Midnight Oil’s 10-1 , Models’ The Pleasure of Your Company , INXS’s The Swing , Silverchair’s Neon Ballroom , Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ Push the Sky Away and The Living End’s Roll On .

when she delivered the keynote address at this year’s Bigsound music conference. “And big ups to anyone giving it a crack. You can endure, way more than you think you can. “Life is a meaningless playground, and you should just enjoy it.” Taylor’s band, Amyl and the Sniffers, turn up the fun factor on their third album, though they’re not afraid to address some serious subjects. “ Cartoon

people feeling like they’re helping by having a voice online when we’re all just feeding the data beast of Big Tech, our modern-day god,” Taylor explains. But it’s not all bleak. “The future is cartoon,” Taylor concludes. “The prescription is dark, but it’s novelty. It’s just a joke. It’s fun.” As she said at Bigsound, “turn the volume down on the bad stuff, turn the volume up on the good stuff”. Jeff Jenkins

Cartoon Darkness by Amyl and the Sniffers is out Oct 25 via B2B/Virgin

Amyl and the Sniffers

THE WILD BOYS – AND GIRLS

The Aussie punk scene is going off. And it has an unlikely fan – Simon Le Bon. “I’m really getting into contemporary punk,” the Duran Duran singer said recently. “And the Australians are doing that better than anybody else.” He particularly highlighted Melbourne band Stiff Richards. As for Amyl and the Sniffers, Le Bon said: “They’re very good, but they’re quite different from the very raw traditional punk I like. By my standards, Amyl and the Sniffers are quite sophisticated!”

SHE’S THE BOSS

SOUL BROTHER Kasey Chambers usually works with her brother Nash. But Backbone features another brother – Sam Teskey, of the Teskey Brothers. “I’ve always loved Sam’s guitar playing,” Chambers says. “I knew I wanted the songs to have a real soul to them, so I asked if he wanted to come and play and he was super keen.”

“We sure ain’t no Johnny and June,” the couple sing, referencing The Man in Black and June Carter Cash, who were married for 35 years until June’s death in 2003. “It’s a long road to get to the gold, we made it through paper and wood/ We couldn’t survive as the marrying kind, but we do divorce pretty good.” “It’s a song neither of us could have written even a few years ago,”

namechecks a stack of Springsteen songs, focusing on cuts from his biggest album, Born in the U.S.A. “Don’t mind if I’m on fire,” she sings. “You’ve been dancing in darkness, I’ve been fading away, so give me a love like Springsteen and we’ll live out our glory days.” The bonus track is Chambers’

Kasey Chambers reveals her love for Springsteen, Eminem, and some old partners on her lucky 13th album.

I t’s been a big

year for break-up albums, with

explosive cover of Eminem’s Lose Yourself , recorded live at Newcastle’s Civic Theatre. She brings some banjo to the hip-hop classic, turning it into an 8.15-minute epic. “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance,” she sings. And Kasey Chambers hits. Jeff Jenkins

the chart-topping success of Missy Higgins’ The Second Act . But Kasey Chambers shows that divorce is not necessarily the end on her new album, Backbone , which includes a surprising duet with ex-hubby Shane Nicholson.

Backbone

Chambers says.

by Kasey Chambers is out Oct 4 via Essence/MGM

The album also includes A Love Like Springsteen , where the singer

CHART FACT Kasey Chambers has had five number one albums – the most by an Australian country artist.

WORDS TO LIVE BY Backbone coincides with the release of Kasey Chambers’ new book, which tells the tale of her remarkable life, the lessons she’s learned along the way, and recounts the best advice she’s received. It’s called Just Don’t Be a D-ckhead . Another Aussie country legend, Keith Urban, contributes the foreword, writing, “Who knows, maybe there was an 11th Commandment and it simply stated: ‘Just don’t be a d-ckhead.’”

Photo credit: Chloe Isaac

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