Ex-Mullumbimby IGA worker sweeps the ARIA

MULLUMBIMBY-raised rocker Amy Taylor has taken home a swag of trophies at this year’s ARIA Awards, with her pub-rock-meets-punk outfit Amyl and the Sniffers dominating the night.

The band claimed Album of the Year, Best Rock Album and Best Cover Art for their latest release Cover Darkness, along with the coveted Best Group award at the ceremony held at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion.

Taylor – who worked behind the deli counter at the local supermarket after finishing high school before moving to Melbourne to chase her musical dream – joked that she would “probably never have to work at IGA ever again”.

An outspoken activist as well as a frontwoman, she added that winning Album of the Year made her feel like “the new prime minister of Australia”.

Taylor has often drawn on her Northern Rivers upbringing in her songwriting. The band’s track Snakes recalls rolling down hills in a billycart, swimming in the “Brunny”, spotting snakes at the beach and by the dam, as well as those early shifts at the IGA.

After relocating to Melbourne, she studied music business at TAFE and met her future bandmates through gigs and share-house living.

The group formed in 2016 and hit the road for their first tour in 2018. Their self-titled debut went on to win Best Rock Album at the 2019 ARIAs.

They repeated the feat in 2022 with Comfort to Me, also picking up Best Rock Group – momentum they’ve now more than matched with this year’s haul.