PunkTV.ca, August 09 2006, Warped Tour with Chris Cheney & Andy Strachan

Article by: Johnny Chronix


Old-school rockers From Down Under

PunkTV.ca: We're here at Warped Tour talking to The Living End. First of all, can you introduce yourself for the Punk TV fans?
Chris: Hi, I'm Chris.

PunkTV.ca: And what do you do in the band?
Chris: I play guitar and sing.

PunkTV.ca: And...?
Andy: I'm Andy and I play the drums.

PunkTV.ca: I've noticed an accent. Where does it originate from?
Chris: We're from Melbourne, Australia. We've been on tour for a couple of weeks now and it's going good.

PunkTV.ca: So, is this your first time to Canada?
Chris: Ah, no. We've been to Canada before, but we've never been here.
Andy: And this Speedway Park is a different setting.

PunkTV.ca: And it's almost as hot here as back home, at least today, anyways. Here's a bit of an irreverent question, what do you think of a Canadian boy fronting INXS?
Andy: He's a Canadian, is he?
Chris: It's very difficult if you live in Australia to get past the fact that they're continuing on. You know, everyone loves Micheal Hutchence so much. On one hand you go, "Good on them" for continuing. It's their band as much as it's the world's and if they want to continue playing music, that's fine. On the other hand, there's always people that go, "Why don't they just give it away? Just let it go." Keep playing music, but call yourselves something else, you know? It is weird because they were such a massive band world-wide but they grew up in Australia.

PunkTV.ca: Speaking of which, what is it with Australian bands? You guys have a really hot scene. A lot of bands are known in their own country, but they don't really go much past their borders. and yet it always seems that at least two or three a year come out and go smoking up the billboard charts and they're from Australia. Is it a really healthy competitive nature over there or is it a very strong music scene? What do you think is the catalyst for that?
Andy: That's a hard one to answer. I mean I think it goes in waves, you know? Especially when you're back home, you notice every three or four years there's a big surge of great bands that sort of explode out of nowhere. But it's been really, really healthy internationally for Australian bands. There's Jet, The Vines...

PunkTV.ca: We can add The Living End to that as well...
Chris: Well you know, not to blow our own trumpet but ah... (laughs). It's such an effort for Australian bands to come overseas; it costs so much money -- as you know, we're a million miles away. It's a real challenge and it's always in the back of your mind that the ultimate goal is to break internationally and set up a career that allows you to tour for the rest of your band's life.

PunkTV.ca: Are you guys on for the whole Van's Warped Tour, or are you just doing select dates?
Chris: Only select dates. we did a couple of shows when we first got here, then we got on this tour and we've got a couple of weeks to go. Then we're doing a bunch of House of Blues type of shows. Then we go home for a massive Australian tour and then we're coming back here again.

PunkTV.ca: So it's "no rest for the wicked". You guys are pretty much touring straight through the fall?
Chris: Yeah. Like I said, we finish the American side on the 20th of August, go straight home and do a seven-week tour over there and then over to Japan and then back to America. Then it's Europe and the U.K. in January and February if things go well, and depending on how the record goes, we'll come straight back here. It's that during the course of the record we want to get as much out of it as we possibly can. We're really proud of it, so we just want to push it as far as we can.

PunkTV.ca: Speaking of which, what's your new single?
Chris: I think the single out here is What's On Your Radio, which is the first single back home. The album came out in February, so we're on single number three now, there.

PunkTV.ca: Are you getting a lot of rotation here in North America with it?
Chris: Honestly, I don't know. We're not really focused on that part at the moment. We're just sort of playing the best shows we possibly can.
Andy: I heard something the other day where a bunch of stations had picked up on it and are going to be playing it. It's done well back home, so I can't see why people wouldn't like it here.

PunkTV.ca: Are you finding that the audience over here is familiar with you guys on this tour and is it becoming more so?
Chris: Um, yeah. There's definitely a strong sort of underground following for the band. But it has been noticeable since the record came out, a week ago, I think, maybe only a day or two ago in Canada. The people are definitely starting to... there's definitely a vibe going on. The shows are getting bigger and better and I think the reception is, sort of, following suit. It's good.

PunkTV.ca: Alright, enough of the business end of things. Let's get down to brass tacks here. How's our beer compared to yours?
Chris: (laughs) Weak! Isn't it?
Andy: Yup.
Chris: For lack of a better word. Actually Canadian is (looks at can) 5.5 alcohol level, but American beer is like fucking water. So you've just got to drink more to get something out of it, but you end up really bloated. Australia is really good for beer. We drink Boag's Beer.

PunkTV.ca: Well, over here we get Foster's, but I don't think that's really indicative of what Australians actually drink.
Andy: It's funny, it's very, very hard to find Foster's in Australia. It's not really what we drink, it's more of an export beer. It's horrible.

PunkTV.ca: One thing I've noticed that's really changed in the past five or six years is bands are starting to go macrobiotic in their diets, they're starting to go vegetarian and drink Ginseng drinks, as opposed to the days of the decadence. Where do you guys stand on that? Are you still old-school decadence, or are you trying to eat healthy?
Chris: I think we are kind of old-school decadent. I mean I have a Jack and Coke before I go on stage, although I haven't had any on this stage of the tour. Hamburgers, hot dogs... the other thing that we do that is a little different is we drink a lot of coffee. I don't know whether that's a current thing or not, but we're not soy drinkers or anything like that. I mean good luck, it's great if you like it, but we're still pretty old school.

PunkTV.ca: So any pulling the red M&M's out of the bowl or trashing hotel rooms?
Chris: (laughs) Ah, nah. We'll try it one day, I'm sure, but it doesn't really sound like that much fun. It sounds more like a pain in the arse more than anything. We just have a good time and play rock n' roll music.

PunkTV.ca: What's your website and the name of the new album?
Chris: Our official website is www.thelivingend.com.au, and we obviously have a myspace site as well. The record label is Adeline. The new record is called State of Emergency.

PunkTV.ca: Final question, a Punk TV staple: Tell us something about someone in the band that your fans wouldn't know about you.
Chris: Alright. Seeing how our bass player is not here, we can talk about him. He has a nipple ring. I don't know, can you think of anything?
Andy: Not really. He does snore. He probably snores more than Chris and I put together..

PunkTV.ca: Thanks very much for your time. Have a great continued tour.