Playboy has just dropped the first teaser for its upcoming Amy Taylor feature – confirming that the Amyl and The Sniffers frontwoman is set to appear in the next issue.
Just when we thought the news circus around Aussie punk legends Amyl and the Sniffers had died down, what with the free Melbourne show getting the chop and the subsequent surprise gig where they covered the entire crowd’s $35,000 bar tab. That’s a big week for any band. But now comes the news that outspoken lead singer Amy Taylor will be making an appearance in an upcoming issue of that most esteemed of men’s magazines, Playboy.
Playboy broke the news on Instagram today with a post highlighting an upcoming feature article by Douglas Greenwood, with pics by Byron Spencer.
That’s massive news for Taylor after a week of her band absolutely dominating local and international music press, and a typically provocative move from Taylor. Playboy as an institution may be juuuuuust about respectable these days, but merely appearing in an interview for a magazine that will always be known for its centrefolds is sure to ruffle the feathers of a certain stripe of punter (puriteen or conservative wowser, they sing in the same key).
But on the other hand, ruffling such feathers is perfectly on brand for Amyl and the Sniffers, who stirred up some fun controversy with the extremely NSFW video for their 2024 tune, “Jerkin'”. Sex- and body-positivity have always been baked in from the jump.
And on yet a third hand, there’s from for legendary punk women appearing in Playboy – the Plasmatics’ Wendy O. Williams posed for a pictorial back in 1986.
Amy Taylor, however, is doing a feature interview here – an in-depth look at her, the band, and the city that helped shape them. Much as we observed recently, Melbourne’s punk scene is having a hell of a moment right now. As Playboy notes:
Not much happens in Balaclava, a pleasant-enough suburb of Melbourne, Australia. But every generation or so, the region births a punk band that shakes the firmament. In the mid ’70s, it was Nick Cave and the Birthday Party. In 2016, it was Amy Taylor’s turn.
Back then, a gang of friends lived together in a modest apartment, opposite a police station and down the street from a nightclub that never closed. At any given time, you could have found Taylor, the group’s then 20-year-old fateful leader, “fucking around” with friends, going out and hitting the beach in nearby St. Kilda. They all liked punk music and, less enthralled by legends and more by the scene that surrounded them, figured: “Why don’t we make it ourselves?” So in one single sitting, Taylor — alongside her then flatmates Bryce Wilson, Declan Mehrtens and Calum Newton — recorded Giddy Up, a thrashing EP, and posted it on SoundCloud under their decided stage name. That day, they became Amyl and the Sniffers.
No word on when this will drop, but this is at least one issue of Playboy with an interview worth reading.
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