The Living End
The Living End saved the day filling in for Stone Temple Pilots who withdrew from Soundwave 2014. The Living End have pretty much done everything and continue to exceed expectations of fans. Across The Ocean had the opportunity to talk to front man Chris Cheney backstage in Adelaide before their set about Soundwave and the future of this great Aussie band.
How has Soundwave being going for The Living End?
It has been great, so good, the crowds have been really big which is good for us because when you are a local band people have more opportunity to see us at other times. It has been huge and we have been playing well so we’re stoked.
It would be easy to go on about all the controversies with Soundwave but was it big shoes to fill replacing one of the top tier acts The Stone Temple Pilots and did the band cop much stick?
Not directly, not that I have seen but I know that there would be disgruntled Stone Temple Pilots fans but that’s not our fault. We didn’t think about it – they pulled out so we have to fill that spot and when you’re on something like this you just get up there and do what we do. There was a little concern as it is a hard rock festival and there is that thought as to whether we’re hard enough and whether we can bring it.
Is there much thought to the stick you may cop from the fans of that the band who are next on that stage who in securing their spot maybe not that in to The Living End.
We’ll do what we do and I think there is diversity in what we do that gives people a break because we do have some pop tunes like White Noise. It has been epic!
Playing Soundwave must feel like a walk in the park or a training run compared to the last tour of Australia?
Kind of, at least with this gig we’re not hurting but it still is one hell of a work out. We try and give it two hundred percent as does every band. That tour was like a marathon and more of a sport than playing music.
Do you think that tour will create unrealistic expectations from fans about how many shows you’ll play in future or whether you’ll play for three or four hours?
You know what, I don’t if that’s just a Green Day or Springsteen thing but it seems to be a trend that if you have been around long enough and have enough songs to play to do two hours we’re getting to that point here. Every time we write up a set list we go for an one hour slot we end up playing the same songs all the time. When you’re put on a bill you’re not there to play a whole lot of b-sides but rather play what people know and are going to get in to. There may be a couple of left of centre ones but for an extended set on our own headline tour I reckon it’s getting to that point where we want to play track six from that record because we like it rather than just the same songs again. I don’t know about doing four hours like Springsteen.
Have you been able to touch base with mates from Green Day?
We haven’t seen them yet as we have to fly out straight after we play to get to the next city. It would be nice to say hello but it’s coming in and leaving again, it’s no big deal. We’ve played three or four tours with those guys and they gave us our very first big break.
Is it harder getting together as a band nowadays giving that you’re living in Los Angeles?
Everything is easier, we get along better and it hasn’t hindered the show, I don’t like calling it the show but that’s what it is. When we get together we just mean it more and slam it out because we’re not playing every day or getting sick of each other. At the moment it’s just better and the few shows that we have done have been really good. It does put more pressure on when I fly in and meet up for a show is it like ‘yep, we got to make this one count’.
Do you also think being older, wiser and having families now, that the perspective is different?
It has changed, back then between 1998 and 2005 we were just endlessly on the road. There was a period where I was away for nine months straight, which was great. Would I do that again? Probably! At the same time we have families now and its just different. It is like everyone has grown up together and there is a maturity there now. We’ve been through everything together as a band and stayed together. Sometimes it is beyond me! We get along well but because we went through everything together like the ex-girlfriends, drug shit, too much booze and just living on top of each other on a bus for nine months straight it is like I don’t want to see you again. Now, we’ve got through all of that and it is a special band and we all really appreciate that. I still feel that we have something really unique and tend to appreciate it more.
Is the move to LA for a change of scene?
Yeah that and I wanted to do more writing with other people and think about doing film work or scoring things for film or film trailers. I have made a bunch of contacts there and I have a lot of friends there from when the band toured there. It is a bit of an adventure, I lived in New York for three months in 2010 and loved it. It’s like right, let’s go over to the States and live for a few years. Eventually I’ll end up back here but we’re settled in LA and when I do come back I do think Australia is the greatest country in the world but it isn’t going to go anywhere.
Is this also the precursor to the Chris Cheney solo album?
I am working on something and have been for two years now. Every second of the day is being devoted to that and I have got about sixty songs that I have written. I’m going through them now and I hope to get in to the studio in the next couple of months and putting it down properly. I’m working with Frank Tetaz (who did Gotye’s album) and getting the songs up to the right level and pushing me. It’s different to The Living End but it’s not a singer songwriter album. There is one song like that where it is just guitar and vocal, totally stripped back. There are some strings and pop moments. I’m really excited about it. The band will make another record but I’ve got to do this first.
Do you write specifically for the band or yourself in mind or just write a song?
Both really, most of the time I’m writing a song where I’ll say that’s good and just pleases me then I’ll decide if that’s for the band. I did write a couple of songs with a girl from Brisbane and after listening to her stuff thought do I write something imagining her singing it or do I write a typical TLE tune. That was good putting myself in someone else’s shoes and I like that, being pushed in a different direction that I wouldn’t normally go.
Have you thought much about the next TLE album given that there has been some subtle changes over the last couple of years?
Not as drastic as Silverchair but we have dabbled in a few things and gone off the beaten path a few times maybe. The essence of the band is that now we want to go full circle and go back to the beginning and make a raw, three weeks in the studio, one take and slam it out. It’s what people want from the band, that’s cool and I get that but we wanted to push ourselves as song writers.
Do you think you would ever contemplate a crowd funded album project?
I don’t know enough about it at this point and that sits a bit weird with me. I get that if people want the record they’ll help pay for it but I guess I’m just old school in that it is our responsibility to make the record. If people like it they’ll buy it or steal it. It depends on what financial position we are in at the time. It seems a bit cheeky to me to get people to pay for it and that’s not our style.
The Living End play The Big Pineapple Festival in Queensland on the 17th May www.bigpineapplemusicfestival.com for tickets/more info.
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
- Aversions Crown - January 27, 2017
- Sick Of It All - January 19, 2017
- Refused - January 11, 2017
