As the only original member of the band that cut their teeth putting on shows during lunchtime at Gympie High School – a town 170 kilometres north of Brisbane – the affable bass player and clean vocalist has grown up in the Amity Affliction, alongside his long-term bandmate and best friend Joel Birch – and he is just as down-to-earth in person as he appears onstage. “I’ve only just got home. I’ve barely even read any emails, so I’ve got that to look forward to.”
Stringer sounds genuinely happy to be back in Melbourne, but he says the band’s recent trip away was full of memorable moments. “It was the first time we’d been to South America and the shows were crazy. There was people waiting outside our hotel room and waiting outside the venue, and grabbing at us as we were going in and out. It’s something we’ve never really experienced at home before. The people are so starved for live music over there – we felt like the Beatles,” he laughs. “It was absolutely nuts – in a good way.”
It’s no secret that their highly emotional, and at times deeply personal lyrics often focusing on battling inner demons, loss and heartbreak, have touched the hearts of listeners all around the world, and their fan base here and abroad continues to grow. “The biggest shows we’ve ever headlined have been here at home,” Stringer says, reminiscing about 2015’s Big Ass Tour of Australia and New Zealand with A Day to Remember, which saw them pack Rod Laver Arena and Qantas Credit Union Arena in Sydney.
Their most recent regional Australian tour, in support of their fifth album This Could Be Heartbreak, sold out in record time, with the record debuting at number one on the ARIA chart for the third time – making them only the fifth Australian band to achieve such a milestone. “It’s unbelievably cool to play in front of so many people and the hometown crowds are always very welcoming. I feel like they know us better than anyone anywhere else,” Stringer says.
This month they will be back out on the road playing one night in every capital city on the east coast – and this time they’re bringing with them some new friends – Americans Beartooth and PVRIS, and locals Make Them Suffer. “We played the Vans Warped Tour with [them], so it will be really good to see them again and Make Them Suffer are an awesome Aussie band. There will be lots of camaraderie on this tour,” Stringer says.
In the past, the Amity Affliction garnered a reputation for raising hell while on tour. Stories of drinking venues dry post-show, and even swapping band merchandise for drugs were not uncommon – but these days the now sober Birch, along with the rest of the band, understand that the music and fans should always come first. “We don’t really have a lot of time nowadays. Between the press, navigating a new city and a new venue every night and we don’t have time to write on tour either, to be honest.
“We only just started writing new music when we got back [from South America],” Stringer adds. “Dan [Brown, lead guitar] sent me a couple of banging songs. We’ve found that writing while on the road is really hard because you aren’t in a good headspace. You just try to take each day as it comes and get through the tour. We definitely write better when we’re at home and chilled out.
“Joel writes the lyrics but he doesn’t really have anything to do with the actual music, and Ryan is all about the drums, which we really respect, and he always puts his own flavour on everything,” he says. “Dan and I compose, and we work really well together. We rarely disagree on anything. We’re really excited because we’re are all on the same page trying some new things, and it’s going exactly the way we want it to go thus far. But it’s still very, very early days.”
Historically the Amity Affliction have released an album every two years since 2008, so don’t expect to see an album released this year, but Stringer can confirm that this time around they won’t be working with their go-to producer Will Putney. “It’s not to say we’ve overdone it, but we’ve just done it enough that I think we need to find something new.
“I think a new producer is definitely something that will help us. Not to reinvent ourselves, but just to take a different step in a new direction.
“At the same time, we don’t want to reinvent the wheel,” he says. “We want to stay loyal to the fans who have been there the entire ride, and we also want to do what we do best and that’s doing us – so it’s going to be fresh but it’s still going to be Amity.”
