The Living End

Biography

In the mid-'90s post-punk era that gave the world groups like Offspring, Rancid, and the Presidents of the United States, Australia found itself the "punkabilly" the Living End -- rockabilly with a punk attitude.

The Living End started out jamming together and playing covers under the name Runaway Boys (after the Stray Cats song). Singer Chris Cheney had an obsession with the Stray Cats, to the point where once he found Scott Owen to form a group with, he talked piano-playing Owen into learning stand-up bass à la his American favorites. They met though their older sisters while attending the same high school, Wheelers Hill Secondary College in Melbourne. Until they left school they went though a succession of drummers, developing a healthy following and reputation in Melbourne's active rockabilly scene.

While that scene gave the renamed the Living End a couple of gigs a week, they quickly outgrew it, both in popularity and attitude. With 1995's EP/mini album Hellbound, they turned their back on '50s rock revivalism and adapted that instrumentation to original songs steeped in U.K. punk. Their next EP, 1996's It's for Your Own Good, provided the first alternative radio breakthrough with the song "From Here on In." During the six months the EP spent on the indie charts, they changed drummers for Travis Dempsey, still in rockabilly style, standing up at his kit.

The group now found themselves in such demand that they felt they needed a quick release to tide themselves over while touring. They recorded new songs, "Second Solution" and "Prisoner of Society"; continued the theme with their version of the theme from a cult Australian TV series Prisoner; and added live versions of songs from the Hellbound days their new fans might not have caught up with. The resulting EP was expected to equal From Here on In's success on the alternative scene. It did far better. "Second Solution/Prisoner of Society" was the biggest selling Australian-made "single" of the entire '90s decade. It spent 37 weeks in the mainstream Top 40.

When the Living End released their self-titled first album in October 1998, it entered the sales charts at number one and sold platinum. After global tours, the band issued Roll On in early 2001. Their slick fourth album, Modern Artillery, their first with producer Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World, Drive Like Jehu, appeared three years later.