The Living End

Australian punkabilly outfit the Living End first assembled as Runaway Boys, taking the name from a Stray Cats tune, and spent their initial sessions covering other people’s material. Frontman Chris Cheney’s fixation with the Stray Cats was so complete that, once he recruited pianist Scott Owen, he persuaded Owen to switch to standup bass in the style of Cheney’s American heroes. The pair met through their older sisters at Melbourne’s Wheelers Hill Secondary College and, while still students, cycled through several drummers, building a solid local audience inside the city’s rockabilly circuit.

Although that circuit supplied the newly renamed Living End with steady gigs, the group soon surpassed its stylistic and commercial limits. On the 1995 EP/mini-album Hellbound they abandoned fifties revivalism, applying the same instrumentation to original material rooted in U.K. punk. Their follow-up EP, 1996’s It’s for Your Own Good, cracked alternative radio with the track “From Here on In.” While the record lingered on the indie charts for six months, the band installed Travis Dempsey on drums, retaining the upright posture typical of rockabilly kits. Surging demand prompted a stopgap release that paired the new songs “Second Solution” and “Prisoner of Society,” included their reading of the theme from the Australian cult series Prisoner, and appended live versions of earlier Hellbound material. The resulting EP far exceeded expectations: “Second Solution/Prisoner of Society” became the biggest-selling Australian-made single of the 1990s and remained in the mainstream Top 40 for 37 weeks.

When the band issued its self-titled debut album in October 1998, the record entered the national charts at number one and achieved platinum status. After extensive international touring, the Living End returned with Roll On in early 2001. Three years later came the polished Modern Artillery, the first album recorded with producer Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World, Drive Like Jehu) and the first to feature drummer Andy Strachan, who had replaced Dempsey shortly before sessions began. Much of 2004 was spent on the road, including U.S. support slots for Jet and the Vines, followed by dates with blink-182 and No Doubt; the same year also saw the release of the singles compilation From Here on In. Early 2005 found the group back in the studio with Nick Launay, who had previously worked on Roll On. The resulting State of Emergency reached Australian stores in February 2006 and debuted at number one. North American release arrived that July through Adeline/East West, after which the band spent the summer on the Warped Tour before returning home in late August for headline shows alongside End of Fashion and Red Riders.