A DECADE is a long time in the music industry, and an even longer time to be away from your home town - but The Amity Affliction is about to end the drought with their huge Gympie show this Friday night. 

For the Amity Affliction's Ahren Stringer, the distance can feel even greater when considering the meteoric rise of the band he helped start - from high school act to metalcore veterans in their own right.

"It's really been so long since we've played in Gympie, almost a decade which is crazy to think about," he says.

"I'm really keen to head back home, I think it's going to be a great show - a lot of high energy rock 'n' roll."

Memories of Amity's last gig in Gympie are hazy, but Mr Stringer's recollections show how far the band has come as it heads into it's 14th year.

"I remember it was hot, naturally - something like 40 degrees," he says.

"There were about 400 people in total there."

Brought together by a love of punk, metal and rock music, The Amity Affliction was born from the dissatisfaction that often comes with being a teenager living in regional Australia.

Mr Stringer doesn't mix words about what he thought of the town he grew up in, but said he was grateful to Gympie.

"Honestly, I still think it's hard for a lot of people to grow up in somewhere like Gympie," he says.

"In a lot of ways, there can be a feeling that if you don't leave you'll end up staying there forever.

"We chose to leave, but with all of the experiences and friends I still have in Gympie, it's something I'll always appreciate."

With the departure of Troy Brady in 2014, Ahren remains the only founding member left in the band.

Does that permanence make him feel protective about the direction Amity takes? Not at all.

"We're all very like-minded and we have pretty consistent ideas about what we've wanted to sound like," he says.

"There's obviously been a lot of growth in our sound and there are different things we're trying with each record, but I know we're staying true to our sound."

Off the back of a massive year in 2016, which saw Amity collect ARIA nominations and release their fifth album, they're hoping to continue that momentum through the new year.

"Things have always been a little hectic, after these shows, we'll begin working on our next album," he says.

"After that we'll be heading to Europe, America and possibly South America - which is exciting because we've never been there before."

The Amity Affliction will be taking to the Gympie stage on Friday night at the Gympie Civic Centre from 7pm with supporting bands Hellion and Ocean Grove. 

Tickets to the show are still available at www.theamityaffliction.net