Re-Evaluating Your Choices On The Road

As stirring as their achievements are both here and abroad, even The Amity Affliction have humbling moments occasionally. Such as their recent appearance at Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting festival, where The Music confesses to being among the masses who eschewed their set, which clashed with main stage heavy-hitters like Iron Maiden.

"I can't fault you for that," bassist/vocalist Ahren Stringer laughs. "We noticed we were up against someone big because it was probably the smallest festival show we've played." As beloved as the Gympie-reared metalcore act (members are now scattered throughout Melbourne, Sunshine Coast and Brisbane) are, it must have afforded a healthy ego-check. "That was honestly the only time (such a clash happened) though, but it was still an amazing show."

Outwardly, said obstacle may seem an anomaly for an outfit whose previous record, 2014's Let The Ocean Take Me registered platinum sales in Australia despite the industry's free-falling state. That LP was accompanied by extensive international touring and burgeoning popularity in those markets. However, rigours of the road were consuming screamer Joel Birch, whose grapples with depression and anxiety are well-documented. Following completion of new record This Could Be Heartbreak, Birch, 34, and now a father, began attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

When Birch presents his latest lyrical purging, does it take time for band-mates to process the emotional depths depicted? "He's been giving me dark lyrics like this since day dot, so it's nothing really new to me," Stringer reflects. "I might even be a little bit desensitised by it. But the darker they are, the more I enjoy reading them, think they're great lyrics full of passion. But I'm not his counsellor, so I'm not going to be like, 'is there something you want to tell me?' kind of thing. I think his way of letting out the demons are on paper. So once he's written these songs he's already, almost opened up to the world, and it helps him through whatever he's going through in his head."

It concerned Stringer that touring and its accompanying over-indulgence was exacerbating Birch's turmoil. "I would definitely be an enabler as well. It's just been kind of like that since the start. We've always gone on tour and just got pissed every night. Eventually that does come to a head, and you've got to go, 'alright, we're getting old now. Something's got to give'. I think definitely for him it was around the end of the recording process and it all kind of unfolded. He was, 'enough's enough, I've got to clean myself up'. We've all kind of taken that on board. That last tour he was completely sober and seems a lot happier. If you're struggling with depression or clinical depression like he does, you're just throwing gasoline on the fire by drinking… It's just part of the lifestyle we lead, it's hard to stay away from that. But he's got to eventually because you can't just get pissed every day forever or you're going to be headed to an early grave."

Meanwhile, 30-year-old Stringer and other members have seemingly made a concerted effort to take a more measured approach to partying. "I guess now, yeah. Back in the day… Playing the shows came second and getting pissed was number one priority half the time. But I think as we've gotten bigger as a band and older and wiser as humans that's definitely dawned on us. It definitely inspires you to take the job more seriously when it hits you, 'fuck, we're quite big', and playing big, important shows. 'Let's give this 110% and be the best band we can be'."

There's plenty at stake, including a new record that could elevate them a few additional rungs up the heavy music ladder worldwide. Re-teaming with producer Will Putney, a This Could Be Heartbreak discussion point is its crossover potential, particularly the title track. The Music queries if it has consciously entered Amity's mindset to craft a track that could introduce them to a broader audience who may then investigate further. "Not on purpose, no, but me and Dan [Brown, guitars] are huge pop fans… Dan's a huge pop-punk fan. It wasn't intentional, it wasn't our sell-out song by any means, 'cause it's still very heavy in the verses. I doubt we'll get much commercial radio play out of it anyway."

What exactly entails "selling out" nowadays confounds anyway — the term seems nigh on redundant. "Who knows? When rap stars make it, they start putting out garbage and making money, everyone's like, 'yeah, he made it'. It's applauded, whereas in this genre it's definitely not," Stringer states. "But back in the day… When punk bands suddenly got popular by not even changing, everyone decided they'd sold out. It wasn't the case at all, it just happened that more people started to like them because they were writing good songs."