THE LIVING END ****

The Living End are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, formed in 1994. The current lineup consists of Chris Cheney (vocals, guitar), Scott Owen (double bass, vocals) and Andy Strachan (drums). The band rose to fame in the late 1990s after the release of their double A-side single, Second Solution / Prisoner of Society.

They have released five studio albums and one singles compilation in Australia; three of which have reached the #1 spot on the Australian Album Chart. They have also gained notable success in the United States and Europe. The band are annually adding to their collection of Jack Awards, consistently winning awards for Best Drummer, Best Male Performer, and Best Band.

History

Beginnings (1994-1996)

The Living End were formed in 1994 by Chris Cheney and Scott Owen, who met through their older sisters while attending Wheelers Hill Secondary College in Melbourne. Cheney was a big fan of rockabilly group Stray Cats and this prompted Scott Owen, who originally played piano, to switch to double bass. He was taught by Maddie O'Reiden, a classical upright bass tutor. The pair formed a cover band, Runaway Boys, named after a song from the Stray Cats' debut album. The band played in Melbourne's rockabilly music scene. While Cheney and Owen persevered, the band went through several drummers while still in school.

However, by 1994 Chris and Scott were writing their own material and they decided to change their name to The Living End, a reference to the film Rock Around the Clock. The group went through a procession of drummers, including Alex Sarris, before settling on Joe Piripitzi. Sarris played for several months, but was unable to remain in the band, as a result of irreconsilible creative differences with frontman Cheney. However, Cheney considered Joe an ideal drummer because of his charismatic appearance.

The Living End got their first big break in 1995 when, after sending a t-shirt and a demo tape to Billie Joe Armstrong, they landed a support slot in Green Day's upcoming Australian tour. After the tour, the group went into the studio to record their debut EP Hellbound which received moderate support from community radio stations.

In November 1995, the band went back into the studio to record their second EP It's For Your Own Good which they released several months later. This recording yielded their first major radio airplay with the song "From Here On In", which was placed on high rotation on the youth radio network Triple J. Shortly after the release of the second EP, drummer Joe Piripitzi was fired as his lifestyle choices were said to be holding back the band, being replaced with Travis Demsey. Demsey was soon playing with the band at major festivals such as Pushover and the Falls Festival, and was considered to drum very much in the style of Keith Moon.

After a year touring Australia, The Living End again headed into the studio to record something new to sell at their live shows. The result was the Second Solution / Prisoner of Society double A-side single.

Breakout (1997-1998)

Second Solution / Prisoner of Society quickly became a national hit, with the double A-side becoming the highest selling Australian single of the 1990s and peaking for several weeks at No.4 and receiving the 1998 ARIA Award for Highest Selling Single. It lasted a record-breaking 47 weeks on the ARIA Top 50 singles charts. It was later featured in the game Guitar Hero World Tour.

The Living End (1998-1999)

The band signed on to Modular Recordings for the release of their debut self titled album. The album was an instant hit with Australian audiences. The Living End became the second (now third) highest-selling debut rock album in Australian music history. It charted at #1, and is now 5x Platinum. During this period six singles were released including the previously stated double A-side, and in addition "Tainted Love", a live cover, was released as a radio-only single on Triple J.

The Living End were awarded two more ARIA awards in 1999 for Best Group, and Best New Artist.

Roll On (2000-2001)

The Roll On album in 2000 was a more creative work, but did not manage to achieve the status of their earlier album. Cheney later stated that he was trying to prove to critics that The Living End were not a band simply defined by their hit "Prisoner of Society", and the album showed this by displaying other influences, as well as their traditional fast-paced rockabilly music. The album even garnered comparison, by a few critics, to seminal punk band The Clash's creative breakthrough, London Calling.Much of the style was comparable to 1980s hard rock and pub rock, as well as many tracks being obscure mixes of many ideas, resulting in 'procrastinating' structures. This defined the album's creativity.

During this period, relative success was achieved in addition in the US, with the band receiving America-wide coverage by playing on both Conan O'Brian and David Letterman's major late-night variety shows. The album included "Carry me Home", which was included in the Guitar Hero II soundtrack.

However, singles and success for Roll On was limited because of a twist of fate. In 2001, the band hit a quiet period after Chris Cheney was in a car accident on the Great Ocean Road, rendering him unable to play for a significant period of time. He had been on the road to the house of a member of fellow Australian band Bodyjar.

The Longnecks (2002)

In early 2002, Travis Demsey left the band shortly after Chris's recovery, so he could spend more time with his family, supported by a developed dislike of heavy touring. However, the dilemma was overcome when Andy Strachan was accepted as the new drummer. The Longnecks were formed to test out Andy Strachan and new material to be on the Modern ARTillery album, without attracting too much public attention. The name is a reference to 'Longneck' beer bottles, as can be heard on the band's Podcast on iTunes. Travis Demsey now plays drums in a punk/folk rock band called 'The Currency'. The Longnecks name has since been used by the band to try out potentially new album material for both State of Emergency and the band's fifth album,White Noise.

The band has also played under many different names such as Glen Waverley & The Mentones, The Dovetones, Roller Toasters, Doncaster & The Dandenongs and Redwings at various venues in regional Victoria.

Modern ARTillery (2002-2004)

At this time the band made a comeback, releasing "One Said to the Other" in late 2002 (originally released as an EP then later re-recorded for the album) and "Who's Gonna Save Us?" in 2003, and getting air play once again. This was followed by heavy touring (including Big Day Out) and the release of Modern ARTillery.

The Modern ARTillery album in 2003 was a return to musical simplicity in most tracks (the rock anthem "The Room" being an exception), but was certainly of a different style to the 'punkabilly' of the self-titled album, and the jazzy rockabilly of Hellboundand It's For Your Own Good. Instead, punk pop, computer-generated sounds, country music, and 1960s style rock'n'roll had their share on Modern ARTillery, among other styles.

Because of the quiet period, their return was initially received with much hype compared to Roll On, with "One Said To the Other" becoming a top 20 hit, the album debuting at #3, and the promotion of three singles and one radio release. However, the long run saw their stylistic change to be less popular, with overall sales of albums and singles being comparatively less than that of the self-titled album and Roll On.

From Here on In (2004-2005)

In late 2004, the band released a singles collection, From Here on In, as well as a DVD, which included a collection of their music video clips and a "supergig" of the band's most famous songs performed in Australia at Splendour In The Grass and Big Day Out in Sydney, and from Summersonic festival in Japan. The DVD also featured the band's history, documented in interviews and home footage. The CD featured two new tracks: "I Can't Give You What I Haven't Got" and "Bringing It All Back Home". Some editions were released with the bonus 'Under The Covers' CD, which featured six covers from various parts of their career.

State of Emergency (2005-2007)

The album's tracks are even simpler than Modern ARTillery's tracks, but with a more raw sound, so as to assimilate even further with the early releases and the self-titled album; also being aware that they sound best live and raw. Nevertheless, the new styles and other styles experienced in Modern ARTillery remain in State of Emergency to a small extent; arguably most dominantly pop punk, rockabilly now being a less met blend of The Living End's 'punkabilly' style.The Living End's fourth album, titled State of Emergency, was recorded in Byron Bay with Nick Launay, following the band's appearance at the Splendour in the Grass festival. The recording and the artwork was completed in mid December 2005, and the album was released on 4 February 2006, debuting at #1 on the ARIA Albums Chart.The Living End again played gigs under the name The Longnecks before recording the album, to test out new material.

The single "What's on Your Radio?" was released on 20 November 2005, and debuted at #9 on the ARIA singles chart. The second single, "Wake Up", was released on 19 February and went straight to number #5. The third single from the album, "Long Live the Weekend", was released 20 May, but did not enter the top 20, whilst the other two singles had entered the top 10. The fourth single, "Nothing Lasts Forever", was released in Australia on 19 August and was not as successful as the first two. Nevertheless, State of Emergency continues to hold onto its position as a generally very successful album, enhanced by the great success of the first two singles. The album was also nominated for the 2006 J Award.

The album was released in the United States through Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong's Adeline Records along with Eastwest Records on 11 July 2006 and Canada on 18 July 2006. Further releases in support of the album was the DVD Live At Festival Hall on 30 September, which captured a Melbourne performance of the State of Emergency Tour, featuring many songs from the album, and many classics.

In 2006 the band took 4 Jack Awards; Best Live Band, Best Live TV Performance, Best Performer (Chris) and Best Drummer (Andy). This means that The Living End has being awarded the most Jack Awards each year and overall so far.

During the 2006 State of Emergency tour, the Living End's show in Milwaukee was cancelled, so it was rescheduled on 2 December as a supporting act for +44.

On 6 October, Chris Cheney left the band because he felt enormously burnt out, and was sick of the constant touring, as well as experiencing writers block. Chris felt that his life was going nowhere and that he needed to get away from the band, and gain experience in other areas of life. This information was kept confidential until 2008.

2007 saw Chris Cheney isolated from his band mates trying to write the follow up to "State of Emergency". He was disappointed with the results so he took up yoga, spent time painting and being around his baby daughter whilst taking a break from music for the first time in 10 years. During this period the band released a radio-only single, the Cold Chisel cover "Rising Sun", available on the Standing on the Outside Cold Chisel tribute album. After Chris was convinced not to leave the band they played The Great Escape in May and re-started work on their fifth studio album, though they toured the UK in August, releasing State of Emergency there on 13 August through Deck Cheese Records.

White Noise (2008-2009)

Two new songs were debuted at the EG Awards in Melbourne, "Raise the Alarm" and "How Do We Know". These tracks were well received by the audience who witnessed the performance, although a few days after the performance Chris Cheney sent an email to everyone in The Living End mailing list talking about the EG Awards show and expressing how far away these new tracks are from being recorded. He also stated that they were only a week or so old. The band announced a short tour under their pre-release alias The Longnecks to try out new songs before they went into the studio. The new material played during these gigs are said by Cheney to be the most exciting of their career, saying "there is a heaviness and depth to the new stuff that we simply haven't had before".

The first track released from the album was the title track, "White Noise". The song, "How Do We Know", was simultaneously released as a radio-only track on Triple J, but was also heard on such radio stations as Nova 969. These two complimenting tracks came together to form the first single from the album. The White Noise/How Do We Know? double A-side single was released both physically and digitally on 5 July 2008.

The Living End released their fifth studio album, White Noise, on 19 July 2008. Recording of the album took place at Water Music Studios in Hoboken, New Jersey, on the week beginning 31 March. The producer was John Agnello, whom Cheney felt "[could] capture the energy and attack we are after". Brendan O'Brien mixed the record at Silent Sound Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

The White Noise album had almost a year and a half of solid writing behind it, with the end result revealing "more of a hard rock influence." The band self proclaimed the album as "the best thing we've ever done."

The band launched the album on 19 July 2008, with an in-store appearance at the Virgin Megastore in Sydney. The band spent almost 2 hours signing copies of the album for fans. In support of the album, the band made many television appearances in Australia, including their performance on 5 October at the 2008 NRL Grand Final at ANZ Stadium. White Noise was awarded the ARIA for Best Rock Album of 2008, over such competition as Gyroscope and Faker.

On 25 September 2008, "Moment in the Sun" was released to Australian radio as the second single from White Noise. It was physically and digitally released on 25 October 2008.

On 22 December 2008, "Raise the Alarm" was released to Australian radio as the third single from White Noise. A music video has been released containing footage of live performances during the white noise tour and some others.

In February 2009, the band made a secret appearance in Melbourne supporting the Stray Cats on their Farewell Tour.

On 27 February 2009, tickets were released for the Raise the Alarm Tour which happened in May.

Next album (2010-present)

During September and October 2010, The Living End performed a few secret shows under the alias "Safety Matches", testing new material, much like what they did under The Longnecks, the new album is planned to be out March/April 2011. The main songs they played were "United", "Universe", "Black and White", "The Beginning Is Just The End Repeating Itself", "Postcard American Town" and "Heatwave"

In the January edition of The Living End's News, Chris says, "Having spent all of 2010 writing album 6 we have amassed something in the vicinity of 40+ songs to choose from... There are some really different ideas kicking around this time but the emphasis has been on creating a cohesive album that is heavy, melodic and overall very anthemic."

Musical style and influences

The Living End consider themselves to be a rock 'n' roll band based on punk ethics, citing the Clash, Iggy Pop, The Who and The Jam as influences and bands with whom they share the same ideals, making a social commentary on what's going on around them. They have also been compared favorably to 1990s punk revivalists Rancid. However, the band do not consider themselves a punk band, more a rock 'n' roll band who are influenced by punk.

Chris Cheney regards 1950s rock 'n' roll as his greatest influence and first musical love which, along with 1980s rockabilly revival band Stray Cats, the band's sound was based on. They also regard Australian pub rock as an important influence on the band, something the members grew up with and appreciated. Other rockabilly influences include Reverend Horton Heat and Eddie Cochran.

Scott Owen has said that his favorite bands include Stray Cats, Reverend Horton Heat, Midnight Oil, The Clash, The Jam, Green Day, Sublime, Bodyjar, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Rancid, The Beatles and Supergrass. He regards Lee Rocker of Stray Cats as the main musical influence of his, mimicking his right hand movements on the upright bass when he first learnt how to play.

Amongst other bands, ex-Sum 41 guitarist Dave Baksh has suggested that it would be great if he could tour with The Living End, saying that they're all "really good musicians"