By GRAHAM REID
Late afternoon and the affable Chris Cheney - singer, songwriter and guitarist with Oz post-punk outfit the Living End - is in Broken Hill. It's a long way from his hometown of Melbourne, indeed a long way from anywhere, but Cheney's happy.
"I'm a big fan of playing small pub gigs. I prefer playing indoors but obviously, selling as many records as we do, we've either got to do 25 nights at a pub or we do a couple of bigger shows."
The Living End are in much demand. Their 1998 debut album went five times platinum, spawned five hits, won three Aria awards and hooked a major label contract.
They've subsequently toured the United States on the Vans Warped bill, played the Reading and Leeds festivals in Britain, toured Japan twice, recorded new album Roll On with famed producer Nick Launay (Inxs, Midnight Oil) and opened for AC/DC.
What a short, strange trip it's been. And they've loved it.
"I like the fact we're popular and have sold records," says Cheney. "A lot of people think that's daggy, but it's not a bad problem to have."
The Living End formed at high school with Cheney, Scott Owen on double bass and drummer Trav. They may have made it big, but on their last Australian tour they took in country towns just as they used to when they did the weddings and 21st birthdays routine.
"I missed those days. I don't really like it when bands just play capital cities. The only gripe I've got about Melbourne audiences is they are spoilt and so are very hard to impress. But at the same time I'm glad we came from there, because if you can win an audience in Melbourne you can go anywhere in the world."
Cheney sees all the End's playing experiences as part of their learning. Playing with the Offspring and others across the States, however, proved how far away they were from the Cali-punk scene. As their new album illustrates - in tracks such as Don't Shut the Gate, about Australian immigration policy, and Revolution Regained, inspired by events in East Timor - Living End have something uniquely Australian to say.
"As much as rock'n'roll should be fun, it's great to be able to get a message across as well. It appeals to me more than having songs about ex-girlfriends."
The new album is a leap forward in other ways too. With Launay on the production desk there are strong sonic dynamics and Cheney says the three weeks of pre-production allowed them to get a clearer focus on what they wanted the album to be like.
"He had ideas on arrangements and we had to think, 'Do we leave it as it is or did we bring in this guy to listen to what he's got to say?' Well, the idea was for him to have an input and for us to learn. He was great at trying different arrangements and would say, 'That verse sounds funny, let's take it out and put it after the lead break.' Things we wouldn't have thought about."
The album also impresses for its diversity, from flat-tack thrash through Jam-styled power-pop and a touch of reggae in Blood on Your Hands.
"We don't want to play one particular style, that's never been us. Because of our background we have a good understanding of old styles of playing, whether it be Chet Atkins guitar that I love or Trav doing his Keith Moon 100-mile-an-hour fills.
"Blood on Your Hands started off as a punk tune, just four on the floor and nothing new. Then we were jamming it in a reggae way and Nick said, 'Play it like that because for the first time I can hear the melody, it's a beautiful melody.' Which almost put me off, we don't want beautiful melodies on Living End records - but that was the mentality, not getting stuck in rut.
"Nick was pushing us to play as we did live. We were trying to make it sound too good. A rock'n'roll record has got to be dirty and sleazy and out of time. Without him we would have thought too much - and rock'n'roll's not about thinking," says one of Australian rock's thinking men.
* The Living End play Massey University, Palmerston North, Sat Feb 24 and the Auckland Town Hall, Sun Feb 25.
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