Joey Valence & Brae Recast Amyl and the Sniffers’ “Security” as a Hyperactive Dance-Rap Workout on Like A Version

Joey Valence & Brae’s Like A Version turn landed in the middle of the Australian leg of their HYPERYOUTH World Tour, and they used the slot the way they tend to use most opportunities: by making a lot of noise and making it look easy.

Joey Valence & Brae on triple j’s Like A Version
ABC

For the session, the duo chose Amyl and the Sniffers’ “Security” and flipped the 2021 punk track into something far closer to their own orbit: a bass-heavy, synth-led blast of dance-rap with rapid vocal trades and an engine that barely seems to idle. The guitars that give the original its pub-rock bite are mostly gone, but the tension stays intact. If anything, the pair double down on it.

In the studio, Brae explained the appeal in plain terms. “Just has so much energy. As soon as you hear it, you want to bounce off the wall,” he said. “So we knew we had to cover that one.” It’s the kind of answer that fits the song and the duo’s own approach, which has always been about speed, momentum and a certain gleeful refusal to overthink the point of a hook.

They also pointed to Amy Taylor’s performance and the rough-edged feel of the recording, qualities that helped make Comfort To Me a breakthrough release beyond Australia. Released in 2021, the album took “Security” into the top 25 on the Australian albums chart and widened Amyl and the Sniffers’ global reach, eventually landing the Melbourne band on international festival bills and larger touring routes. Taylor, meanwhile, emerged from that run as one of contemporary punk’s most visible frontwomen.

Joey Valence & Brae don’t so much imitate that energy as redirect it. Their version pushes the song into a different register entirely, pulling from dance music, early Beastie Boys-style cadences and the hyperactive electronic palette that has come to define their catalog. It’s less a straight cover than a genre collision, one that makes clear how closely they understand the mechanics of momentum.

The pair released HYPERYOUTH last year, with guest spots from JPEGMAFIA, Rebecca Black and TiaCorine. The album was produced, mixed and mastered entirely by Valence from his bedroom studio in Pennsylvania, a detail that says as much about the project’s DIY shape as the music itself. Their Like A Version performance, now available alongside