State of Emergency

State of Emergency towers above anything else The Living End have done so far

It's been 10 years since The Living End broke into the musical scene, blowing crowds away with their fierce live rockabilly/punk fusion performances. They have since evolved into one of Australia’s hardest working rock bands. Playing with the likes of AC/DC, The Offspring and Blink 182 just to name a few, they have become renowned for their blistering live sets. And now here it is, their fourth full-length release, State of Emergency. Some bands go through life trying to discover and rediscover something new about their sound. Sometimes it's to maintain their own interest, and sometimes it's just because they're wankers, but The Living End are an exception. They know who they are, they know what they're good at and they know that we know... and we like it. Spoilt for choice with a list of over 40 possible tracks to record, The Living End certainly weren't experiencing a State of Emergency with this latest release. Who would have thought a rockabilly covers band from Melbourne in the mid nineties would go on to produce a quintuple-platinum album, two platinum and five gold albums? Yet ten years and three albums later, The Living End are still rockin’. State of Emergency certainly towers above anything else they’ve done so far. Its slick, its smooth, its fast paced rock’n’roll that doesn't stray for a minute.

Once again The Living End turned to producer Nick Launay

The first thing you notice when you hear State of Emergency is the return to hard rock that was so evident on Roll On. Not only does it contain some balls to the wall rock but some very signature The Living End anthems like the very feel good tune Nothing Lasts Forever that will give you shivers up your spine when you hear it. Opening with ‘Till The End you'll immediately feel at home – it's that signature rhythm, it gets you every time. No Way Out and Nothing Lasts Forever shift the tempo slightly, with a smoother melody line and plenty of harmonies for a really fresh break in the beats. If What's On Your Radio wasn't really doing it for you, there's plenty that outshine it across the 14 tracks. Once again the lads turned to producer Nick Launay who has worked with a world of talent including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tim Finn and Silverchair, just to name a few. He worked with the band on their second album Roll On and although it shows, its not to say State of Emergency sounds exactly the same. What is evident is the amount of hard labor that went into making sure each song went in a particular direction without detracting too far from the big picture. What Launay promises is loud guitars, loud drums, maximum bass, in your face vocals, glued together with as much color as the ears can hear!

The Living End – rockabilly with a punk attitude

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 a la his American favorites. Until they left high 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. So they turned their back on '50s rock revivalism and adapted that instrumentation to original songs steeped in U.K. punk. They also changed drummers for Travis Dempsey, still in rockabilly style, standing up at his kit. 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 third album, Modern Artillery appeared three years later.