Totally Dublin 1
SCRATCH AND SNIFF Ahead of their performance at t
he Wider Than Pictures gig series in Collins Barracks, Super Furry Animals head honcho Gruff Rhys spoke to Des Traynor about the big issues; playing together again after 10 years, Welsh independence and Dublin audiences. WORDS Aaron Kavanagh This year’s Wider Than Pictures series kicks off on August 25th with the revered, astough-as-they-are-loving Aussie pub-rock revivalists Amyl and the Sniffers, who will headline two consecutive nights. The fiercely independent quartet cut their teeth in the Melbourne punk scene, and through anthems like “Hertz” and “Security,” they organically grew a global fanbase who loved their madcap, hard-hitting tunes. Through support slots for the likes of AC/ DC, Green Day, and Foo Fighters, their second album, Comfort to Me, became a massive hit that has brought nothing but perpetual growth since. Within Ireland, they have headlined the second stage at Electric Picnic, opened the Hella Mega Tour in Marlay Park, and sold out the Olympia Theatre. These upcoming shows will mark their first return to Ireland since they performed at the National Stadium in November 2024. Still on the same touring cycle for their major label debut and most recent record, 2024’s Cartoon Darkness, the band elected to take some time off for the beginning of 2026. “We screamed, ‘Stop, we want to get off!’” laughs their guitarist, Dec Mehrtens, when he spoke with TD. “We had just done this two-year album cycle with Cartoon Darkness, and we didn’t really feel like we got a break after the Comfort to Me album cycle, so it was important to us that we got this time off before going back onto the road.” With reference to the aforementioned support slots, their drummer, Bryce Wilson, adds, “It teaches you a lot about how to be on tour and what your limits are. We’re at the point, now, where we know that we’ll go absolutely mad if we go longer than four weeks or something!” In their home nation, the band have stormed all their national music awards ceremonies, such as the Australian Music Prize, the ARIA Music Awards, the AIR Awards, the J Awards, the Victoria Music Awards, the Rolling Stone Australia Music Awards, among many others (they, apparently, love a good music ceremony Down Unda’h!). This year saw them nominated for their first Grammy, with their song “U Should Not Be Doing That” up for Best Rock Performance. “It was really interesting,” Bryce says of their trip to L.A. for the ceremony. “It was really eye-opening. You feel like a small fish in a big pond there. It was a bit humbling! “It was nice to be nominated for an award and not win one, for a change!” laughs Declan. “We cleaned up at the ARIA’s, and go in and lose a Grammy! I’ve been nominated for more Grammys than any of my mates, so I don’t give a shit!” Having recently completed an amphitheatre tour of North America in June, supported by the soon-to-be-dissolved grunge legends L7, the Sniffers are coming back to Europe for a month-long tour in August. For this leg, they will be backed by the Epitaph-signed Philly punkers Mannequin Pussy, and the Dublin shows will also feature the Tallafornian experimental rocker Spider. Just ahead of their fifth trip to Ireland, Declan and Bryce half-remember some of their visits here, primarily comprised of stories from pubs they visited and the conversations they had with the locals, and, for fans who have seen them before, they promise something new. “I think it’s bigger,” Bryce says of their current show. “I think we’ve gotten a lot bigger and louder. We’re jamming on stage. We’re improvising. It’s a totally different vibe!” Playing the day after the second Amyl and the Sniffers show is the quirky Atlantan indie-pop artist Faye Webster, on the 27th, with support from the Dublin garage rockers Sprints and the smooth, Def Jam-signed London-based R&B singer-songwriter Amie Blu. While Faye’s music diverges from the Sniffers’, both have had a similar career trajectory: 19
