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The Living End is an Australian punk rockabilly band from Melbourne, formed in 1994. Since 2002, the line-up consists of Chris Cheney (vocals, guitar), Scott Owen (double bass, vocals), and Andy Strachan (drums). The band rose to fame in 1997 after the release of their EP Second Solution / Prisoner of Society, which peaked at No. 4 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. They have released eight studio albums, two of which reached the No. 1 spot on the ARIA Albums Chart: The Living End (October 1998) and State of Emergency (February 2006). They have also achieved chart success in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. The Band was nominated 27 times and won five awards at the Australian ARIA Music Awards ceremonies: "Highest Selling Single" for Second Solution / Prisoner of Society (1998), "Breakthrough Artist – Album" and "Best Group" for The Living End (1999), as well as "Best Rock Album" for White Noise (2008) and The Ending Is Just the Beginning Repeating (2011). In October 2010, their debut album was listed in the book "100 Best Australian Albums". Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane described the group as "one of Australia’s premier rock acts. By blending a range of styles (punk, rockabilly and flat out rock) with great success, The Living End has managed to produce anthemic choruses and memorable songs in abundance". History Beginnings (1994–1996) The Living End were formed in 1994 by Chris Cheney and Scott Owen, who had met years earlier in primary school through their older sisters and began performing together from 1990 while attending Wheelers Hill Secondary College in Melbourne. Cheney and Owen had their first public gig at The Rob Roy in Melbourne in 1991. Cheney was a fan of rockabilly group Stray Cats and this prompted Owen, who originally played piano, to switch to double bass. The pair formed a cover band, The Runaway Boys, which performed Stray Cats and The Clash material. That group were named after a track, of the same name, from the Stray Cats self-titled debut album (February 1981). The Runaway Boys initially played in the local rockabilly music scene but expanded their audience by performing in regional towns and backing popular Melbourne cover band Mercury Blue at the Wheelers Hill Hotel/Pub. Cheney later recalled "[w]e played to all the jivers and rock 'n' rollers ... And we slowly drifted into Melbourne's rockabilly scene". As Cheney and Owen persevered, the band went through several drummers, while they were still attending school. By 1994, Cheney and Owen were writing their own material and decided to change the band's name to The Living End – a reference to the film, Rock Around the Clock (1956). According to Cheney "It's an old '50s term, meaning 'far out', 'the greatest' ... We were still into the whole '50s thing, but we wanted a neutral name, one that didn't suggest any one style of music". With Cheney on lead guitar and lead vocals, and Owen on double bass and backing vocals, the group settled on Joe Piripitzi as their drummer. Cheney considered Piripitzi to be ideal due to his charismatic appearance. During that year they recorded a track, "Headlines", which had been co-written by Cheney and Owen. The group sent a T-shirt and demo tape to Green Day guitarist and lead vocalist, Billie Joe Armstrong, and landed a support slot for Green Day's 1995 Australian tour. After that tour, The Living End recorded additional tracks for their debut extended play, Hellbound, which received moderate support from community radio stations. It was produced by the group and included "Headlines" from the previous year. Ed Nimmervoll, an Australian musicologist, described the EP's sound: "they turned their back on '50s rock revivalism and adapted that instrumentation to original songs steeped in UK punk". In November 1995, the trio recorded their second EP, It's for Your Own Good, which appeared in the following June. The six-track EP was co-produced by Lindsay Gravina (Underground Lovers, Cosmic Psychos), Mike Alonso (Jericho) and The Living End for the Rapido label. It included their first radio airplay hit, "From Here on In", which was placed on high rotation by national youth radio network, Triple J. Shortly after, Piripitzi was fired as his lifestyle choices were holding back the band. He was replaced on drums by Travis Demsey (later in The Knockout Drops). With Demsey the group appeared at major festivals: Pushover and the Falls Festival. Demsey's drum style was compared with The Who's Keith Moon. "From Here on In" was used on the soundtrack for the 1998 film, Occasional Course Language. Breakout single to debut album (1997–1999) The Living End toured Australia for a year, then in August 1997 they recorded new material to sell at their live shows. Their double A-sided single, "Second Solution" / "Prisoner of Society", was issued in January the following year. Also that month they had supported The Offspring on the Australian leg of their tour. "Second Solution" / "Prisoner of Society" peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and was certified double-platinum by ARIA for shipment of 140,000 copies. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1998 it won the Highest Selling Single category; and eventually became the highest selling Australian single of the 1990s. It lasted a record-breaking 47 weeks in the Top 50. In October 1998 it peaked at No. 28 on the New Zealand Singles Chart. It was later featured in the game, Guitar Hero World Tour. "Second Solution" was used in the soundtrack for the 2002 movie, Cheats, which starred Trevor Fehrman, Matthew Lawrence, and Mary Tyler Moore. Early in 1998 "Prisoner of Society" was issued as a separate single in the United Kingdom and, the following year, in the US. The single appeared in the top 200 of the UK Singles Chart, and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard's Alternative Songs Chart. The band signed with Modular Recordings for the release of their debut self-titled album, which appeared on 12 October 1998, and was co-produced by Gravina with the trio. It peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, became the then-second highest-selling debut rock album in Australian music history and, by 1999, was certified 4× Platinum for shipment of 280,000 units. Their next Australian single, "Save the Day", was issued in September 1998, a month ahead of the album. It made the top 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart. It became their highest charting hit on the New Zealand Singles Chart, where it reached No. 10. From the album, a total of six singles were released including a live cover version of "Tainted Love", which was issued as a radio-only single on Triple J. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1999, The Living End won two more awards: Best Group and Breakthrough Artist – Album. At the ceremony they were also nominated for Album of the Year and Highest Selling Album. In October 2010 their debut album was listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums. Roll On (2000–2001) The Living End's second album, Roll On, was recorded during July 2000 with.... Discover the Matthew Hall Owen Strachan popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Matthew Hall Owen Strachan books.