Hollywood Reporter, 20 March 2006

Article by: Erik Pedersen


LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) -

Their influences may be obvious, but the Living End's hard-charging music is all its own. Mixing the guitar-fueled glee of Stray Cats and melodious punk spite of Green Day with the reggae flirtations of the Clash and AC/DC arena rock, the Aussie trio manages to forge a new sound with an old soul.

And when they take it to the stage, that hard rockabilly din is hard to resist.

The band made its case Monday at the sold-out Troubadour with a ferocious 75-minute show that left the room buzzing. Radio-hogging pop punks should be taking notes when the Living End plays the Warped Tour in the summer -- and the South By Southwest music festival in Austin this week.

The exhilarating set spotlighted Chris Cheney's rangy guitar style -- combining and juxtaposing all manners of rock from '50s simplicity to near-metal solos. Often frenetic but never flashy, he balanced the sound with sly-to-shout vocals and a warm, engaging demeanor. Stand-up -- and occasionally stand-on -- bassist Scott Owen and drummer Andy Strachan steadfastly anchored the bottom, the former often dancing with his instrument and the latter mostly content to wear out his snare.

All sporting a workaday loosened-tie look -- "We dressed up for you folks," Cheney said -- the Living End bounced around its four-album catalog, featuring a half-dozen tracks from the new "State of Emergency," which bowed at No. 1 Down Under but has to and might not make it to U.S. shores. ("Why don't we come here more often again?" Cheney asked rhetorically. "Oh yeah, 'cause we lost the record deal.")

Following the misstep of 2003's "Modern ARTillery," which too often glossed over the band's deliberately rough edges and was a disappointing follow-up to its woefully overlooked 2001 album "Roll On," the new songs mostly revert to the meant-to-be-shouted-back pub rock mold. A pair from "Emergency" were among the many highlights: the rollicking album opener "'Til the End" and "Wake Up," a top-10 single back home that's a departure from the band's usual sound. Introduced by Cheney as an invitation to "start living," it combined quieter, Pink Floyd-leaning verses with a giant chorus and, well, was that a cymbal-grounded disco beat?

The intro to oldie "All Torn Down" featured an arena-type take on Delta blues, but many of the band's songs go for the immediate attention-grab -- an instant assault rather than some warning shot. Such is the case with the Living End's lone U.S. hit, "Prisoner of Society," which stands as one of the great radio singles of the late-'90s. Onstage, "Prisoner" built like youthful anger and its tempos swung like moods, eventually lashing out -- "We don't need no one like you to tell us what to do!" -- and ending like their side might have won. A classic performance of a classic song that drove the young and restless crowded into a lather. Like good rock should.