STACK #167 Sept 2018

MUSIC NEWS

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THE AMITY AFFLICTION Joel Birch explains why re-plantingThe Amity Affliction's Aussie roots is so important to the metalcore band's current mission, as the three-piece release their sixth studio album Misery .

anyone need convincing? That was an accident. Our producer put it in there as a placeholder while we were trying to figure out what to go in its position,

Your previous three albums have all been ARIA #1 releases – do you spend any time (consciously or not!) thinking about chart debut pressure? Not at all. The music industry and landscape is forever changing, and a reflection of that is obviously the move from buying records to streaming; thinking about where we will chart just seems to be quite pointless to me. It’s out of our control how people respond to our music, so it’s not something that crosses my mind in regards to our success – or more accurately our perceived success.

Misery by The Amity Affliction is out now via Warner.

and it ended up being the hook. We set out to take risks on this record, and that’s about as risky as you can [be] in my mind. We actually toned it down from where it was headed; I kinda wish we had kept the wilder version to show people somewhere down the line, but we didn’t.

The three-part short film (starring the band, and written and co- directed by yourself and Ryan Mackfall) is set back in the 1980s.Why did you decide on this? It certainly gives a distinctly Chopper feel to proceedings. Two reasons: firstly I wanted to connect to the mythicism of the Australian Criminal, and secondly I wanted to really make a statement about where we are from. For years we have... not pandered, but perhaps leaned towards making a mark on the American music industry, and we’ve felt like we have

had to almost Americanise our look and feel. This time around I was hell-bent on making sure people know where we are from, and that we are proud of it. There are larger messages within the clips themselves, but as with most music and film I like to leave that open to interpretation. There are many electronic touches across the album, but the little wiggly synth in the chorus of Feels Like I’m Dying was totally unexpected.Who decided on that, and did

Which of these tracks are you most looking forward to playing live for your home crowd? I would honestly be happy to play the album start to finish live, and that’s the first time I can say that about any Amity record. Usually there are a couple of songs that I wouldn’t consider filler, but also wouldn’t really want to play live. I guess we’ll see what everyone thinks of this record once it’s out and make a decision from there. ZKR

WHAT'S THE STORY?

This month: She's So Unusual, Cyndi Lauper (1983) We have a look back at the fascinating tales behind some of our favourite album covers.

I n 1983, photographer Annie Leibovitz was already a household name – three years prior she’d photographed John Lennon on the day he was assassinated, in the now-iconic curled embrace with his partner Yoko Ono, and subsequent projects landed her a job at Vanity Fair . Art Director Janet Perr knew Leibovitz was the person to capture the cover image for the debut album of an emerging and intriguing new pop vocalist with punk stylings, Cyndi Lauper. ”Cyndi kept saying how she wanted peeling paint and walls that looked distressed," Perr has said, "and I thought: Coney Island. I knew that there were a lot of abandoned, boarded up buildings there. And

of course, because it was by the beach, the lighting would be really beautiful.” Perr, Leibovitz and Lauper set up outside the dilapidated and long-vacated wax museum The World In Wax Musee on Henderson Walk; as soon as Perr cranked the boom box they’d brought, Lauper began dancing wildly, kicking off her heels and swinging her vintage prom dress about. Leibovitz snapped the cover shot in a matter of minutes. She’s So Unusual spawned several hits including international successes Girls Just Want To Have Fun and Time After Time , while Perr went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package in 1985.

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SEPTEMBER 2018

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