Award-Winning Punk Band Defends Controversial Glastonbury Performances

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Award-Winning Punk Band Defends Controversial Glastonbury Performances originally appeared on Parade.

If there's one thing about being a punk, it's standing up for what you believe in. And that's what Amyl & The Sniffers did after the public backlash over some politically-charged performances at the 2025 Glastonbury music festival.

The Australian band, which has won multiple ARIA Music Awards in their native Australia, first burst on the scene in the mid-2010s. Amy Taylor (vocals), Declan Mehrtens (guitar), Gus Romer (bass) and Bryce Wilson (drums) have released three albums and has drawn comparisons to '70s rock groups like Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Death, and The Damned.

Amyl and the Sniffers perform on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.Photo by: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images

Amyl & the Sniffers were part of this year's Glastonbury festival, which included performances by Belfast hip-hop trio Kneecap and London rap duo Bob Vylan. Both groups delivered angry messages and chants about the Israel/Palestine conflict. Since then, many political figures have condemned the groups.

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On July 1, Amyl & the Sniffers posted a message to their Instagram Stories in solidarity with the bands. "The British media in a frenzy about Bob Vylan and Kneecap," they wrote, per Billboard, "but artists all weekend at Glastonbury from pop to rock to rap to punk to DJs spoke up onstage and there were [a ton] of flags on every streamed set."

Kneecap performing on the West Holts Stage during the Glastonbury Festival.Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images

"Trying to make it look like just a couple of isolated incidents and a couple of 'bad bands' so it appears the public isn't as anti-genocide as it is, and trying to make it look like Bob and Kneecap are one-offs, instead of that the status quo has shifted majorly and that people are concerned and desperate for our governments to listen," added Amyl & the Sniffers.

"And if you don't want politics in music, don't blame the musicians, blame the politicians and journalists, and the political landscape in general, for not doing their job, and there'll be more and more of [this] until it stops," they concluded.

Bob Vylan performing at Glastonbury.Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images

Amyl & the Sniffers also delivered a political message during their Glastonbury set. "They want us to shut the [explicative] up," said Taylor. "Because if we think about Palestine, then back home in Australia, we think about the Indigenous people there… and that's disgusting."

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The police have formally opened a criminal investigation into Vylan and Kneecap's performances, according to The Guardian, with the police considering "all appropriate legislation, including relating to hate crimes."

Related: Acclaimed Indie Rock Band Exits Spotify With Bold Political Statement

Award-Winning Punk Band Defends Controversial Glastonbury Performances first appeared on Parade on Jul 2, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 2, 2025, where it first appeared.