‘I see the scars at every show — it sucks’
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Amity Affliction launch their new album <i>Let The Ocean Take Me </i>this week.
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AUSTRALIAN hardcore heroes The Amity Affliction should have every confidence of slaying their opposition for a coveted No. 1 debut for their new record, Let The Ocean Take Me.
Incumbent chart kings Coldplay, along with fellow new album contenders Jack White and Passenger, are likely to be swept aside by this unlikely opposition.
Chart coup: Social media helps Chasing Ghosts debut at No.1
Local heavy rock acts have been enjoying a purple patch on the ARIA charts in the past few years, with The Amity Affliction’s mates In Hearts Wake going straight to No.5 recently with their Earthwalker record.
Demand for Amity’s fourth record was so strong it leaked two weeks out from release.
“That’s a flattering mishap,” frontman Joel Birch says.
Amity Affliction frontman Joel Birch uses the band as a “cathartic platform” with the new album.
Source: Supplied
No one can nail down a defining reason for the mainstream success of these acts beyond the obvious — there is a sizeable audience for quality heavy rock recordings and an almost insatiable demand for their live presence.
The proof extends from the charts to the festivals, with Soundwave and similar rock-focused events managing to endure while those with something for everyone are struggling to keep their crowds.
And at the heart of their appeal is that you can scream along to songs with meanings.
Just as emo gave disenfranchised youth an outlet for their angst in the late 1990s, so hardcore and heavy rock is proving to be the cultural voice of a generation whose musical tastes have been ignored by the mainstream.
Birch has been sharing his personal battle with anxiety and depression through The Amity Affliction’s music since the band formed more than a decade ago.
And while their third album, 2012’s Chasing Ghosts, which debuted at No.1, was written mindful of the band’s loyal fans, Let the Ocean Take Me was all for Birch.
“This time around I wanted to use the band as the cathartic platform it is for me,” he says.
Birch even posted an open letter on the band’s website to explain the latest single, Don’t Lean On Me
, in case fans mistook its meaning.
The bottom line is, while Birch considers it a blessing that his music has helped fans with their own mental health battles, it is a curse if they look to him for all the answers.
And spotting those in the crowd with the scars of self-harm or reading and hearing the stories of fans who contemplated suicide in the depths of their mental anguish provoked Birch to write Don’t Lean On Me.
“I see those scars at every show; it sucks,” he says. “It’s just something you have to deal with but I have missed entire lines looking at some people.
“I have obviously put something so personal out there so publicly, and I have to take responsibility for the messages I put out there.”
■ Let the Ocean Take Me (Warner) is out Friday
