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The Living End

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For other uses of the term, see The Living End (disambiguation).

The Living End are an Australian punkabilly band. To date, they have released four studio albums in Australia, with two going to the number 1 position on the ARIA charts. They have also gained notable success in the United States and Europe.

Contents

Beginnings

The Living End formed in 1994 after lead singer/guitarist Chris Cheney and bassist Scott Owen were introduced to each other by their older sisters at Wheelers Hill Secondary College in Melbourne. Cheney was obsessed with 80s rockabilly group the Stray Cats. Owen decided to learn the upright-bass in favour of the piano and they started playing gigs under the name Runaway Boys after the title of a Stray Cats album. The group went through a procession of drummers before settling on Joe Piripitzi.

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 left the band and was replaced with Travis Dempsey who was soon playing with the band at major festivals such as Pushover and the Falls Festival. After a year touring Australia, The Living End again headed into the studio to record something new to sell at their now very popular shows. The result was the Second Solution/Prisoner of Society double single.

Breakout

Prisoner of Society quickly became a national hit and 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 and resulted in six Australian singles (counting the "Second Solution" release as two because both songs received major airplay). The Living End is the highest-selling debut rock album in Australian music history, now 5 times platinum.

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 [[Citing sources citation needed]].

The band hit a quiet period after that during which Chris Cheney had 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.

In 2003, after Chris's recovery and with new drummer Andy Strachan, the band made a comeback, releasing "One Said to the Other"/"Who's Gonna Save Us?" and getting air play once again. This was followed by heavy touring (including Big Day Out) and a release of MODERN ARTillery.

In late 2004, the band has released a singles collection as well as a DVD, which included all video clips and a "supergig", collections of the band's most famous songs performed in Australia, Japan and the USA. The DVD also features the band's history- documented in interviews and home footage.

Recently, Chris performed at the 2004 ARIA awards as part of the group The Wrights, featuring members of many other Australian bands.

Chris Cheney and Scott Owen have won the Best Guitarist and Best Bassist awards for 2004 and 2005, in the Jack Awards. In 2006 the band took out 4 Jack Awards including, Best Live Band, Best Live TV Performance, Best Performer (Chris) and Best Drummer (Andy).

State of Emergency

The Living End's fourth album, titled State of Emergency, was recorded in Byron Bay after they played in 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 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 staight 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. Based on the success of these singles and the album, one can expect a 4th or 5th single from the album. The album has recently been nominated for the 2006 J Award.

The album will be released in the United States through Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong's Adeline Records along with Eastwest Records on 11 July 2006.

Discography

Albums

Image:Living_end.jpg|
The Living End
(1998)
Modular/EMI
#1 Australia (5x Platinum) Image:Roll_on_a.jpg|
Roll On
(November 19,2000)
EMI
#8 Australia (2x Platinum) Image:The_Living_End-MODERN_ARTillery.jpg|
MODERN ARTillery
(October 12, 2003)
EMI
#3 Australia (Gold) Image:Fromhereonin19972004.jpg|
From Here On In
(September 26, 2004)
EMI
#10 Australia (Gold) Image:TLESOEFCOVER.gif|
State of Emergency
(February 4, 2006)
EMI
#1 Australia (Platinum)

EPs

Image:Hellbound.jpg|
Hellbound
(1995)
Mushroom Records
Image:Ifyog.jpg|
It's For Your Own Good
(1996)
Rapido
Image:Secondsolutionprisonerofsociety.jpg|
Second Solution/Prisoner Of Society
(1997)
Rapido
#1 Australia (2x Platinum)

Singles

From The Living End: From Roll On: From MODERN ARTillery: From From Here On In: From State of Emergency: See a full list of The Living End's songs here

DVDs and videos

  • (2006)

Music videos

  • "Prisoner Of Society" 1997 (Aus)
  • "Second Solution" 1997
  • "Save The Day" 1998
  • "Prisoner of Society" 1998 (USA)
  • "All Torn Down" 1998
  • "West End Riot" 1998
  • "Trapped" 1998
  • "Pictures In The Mirror" 2000
  • "Roll On" 2000 (2 videos made for this single)
  • "Dirty Man" 2001
  • "One Said To The Other" 2003
  • "Who's Gonna Save Us?" 2003 (2 videos made for this single)
  • "Tabloid Magazine" 2004
  • "I Can't Give You What I Haven't Got" 2004
  • "What's On Your Radio" 2005
  • "Wake Up" 2006
  • "Long Live The Weekend" 2006

Band members

Current Members

Past members

Other People Who Have Appeared On Living End Records

Horn Sections

  • On The Living End
  • *Alistair Shepherd (from AREA-7) - Saxophone
  • *Tody Dargaville (from AREA-7) - trumpet
  • On Roll On
  • *Jack Howard - trumpet
  • *Aidan McArtney - trombone
  • *Jereny Smith - French horn
  • *Butch Lee - percussion
  • On State of Emergency
  • *Justine Jones
  • *Jack Howard
  • *Jeremy Smith
  • *Michael Waters

Backing Vocalists

Collaborations

The Living End have made recordings with many popular bands and artists. In 2005, the band recorded a version of Ashton, Gardener and Dyke's "Resurrection Shuffle" with Jimmy Barnes on his duet album "Double Happiness". The Living End also appeared on Australian country and western music artist Kasey Chambers' album "Barricades & Brickwalls", contributing the music and backing vocals to "Crossfire". Lead singer and guitarist Chris Cheney was also a member of the "super group" The Wrights who released covers of Stevie Wright's songs, "Evie parts 1, 2 & 3" after performing "Evie part 1" at the 2004 Australian Music Industry's ARIA Awards. Cheney also played guitar and contributed backing vocals to "Private School Kid" on Sarah McLeod's (formerly of The Superjesus) debut solo album. Chris Cheney also played "I Fought The Law" with Green Day at their Melbourne Concert on the 17th of December 2005.

Trivia

  • The name of the band was taken from the movie Rock Around the Clock.
  • The Living End hold the record for the most consecutive entries in Triple J's Hottest 100. The band have made the chart every year since 1997.
  • At the time of its release, The Living End was the highest-selling debut rock album in Australian music history, now 5 times platinum.
  • Chris Cheney appeared with label mates Green Day in Melbourne on December 17th 2005 at the Telstra Dome performing Bobby Fuller's hit I Fought The Law (although the re-worked version by The Clash was played).
  • The Living End have also appeared on Jimmy Barnes's album Double Up. They played the old rock n roll classic Resurrection Shuffle, which featured Jimmy Barnes on vocals.
  • Bassist Scott Owen appeared on Australian legend Paul Kelly's Foggy Mountain Highway album. Playing bass on Song of the Old Rake. Scott also appeared in the film clip for the track.
  • Chris Cheney has also appeared onstage and on cd with the follwing artists: Jet, onstage in Melbourne. Played guitar on That's Alright Mama and is on the Jet dvd Right Right Right. Chris Cheney has also performed alongside Australian rock veterans You Am I at the 2003 Big Day Out in Melbourne Australia. They performed a track from The Clash as a tribute to the late great Joe Strummer. And has also performed as a member of The Wrights.
  • The Living End performed along side Normie Rowe performing 2 of Normie's hits Que Sera Sera and Shakin' All Over at an awards ceremony.
  • The Band has also performed on Rove Live 5 times, more than any other Australian band.
  • The Band has recently (June '06) won the Best Live Band Award at the Jack Awards
  • The Living End have won 8 gongs at the Jack Awards (for Australian live music) since the first ceremony in 2004. This is more then any other artist as both a whole and individually each year (except 2004, in which the Living End and Powderfinger tied on 2 awards). Of these, two awards were Best Guitarist (Chris Cheney), one award was best live male performer (Chris Cheney), two awards were Best Bassist (Scott Owen), one award was Best Drummer (Andy Strachan), one award was Best Live Band, and one award was Best Live Performence (on channel V).
  • The Longnecks was the name that The Living End played gigs under in late 2005 to play tracks from their 4th album, State of Emergency, without attracting too much attention.

External links

 

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