by on

Single Of The Week

Author: BZ

Kasey Chambers
On a Bad Day

After leading with the bluesy rock single, the Chambers camp have a reminder for its heartland country audience that Kasey Chambers hasn’t gone over to the dark side completely. On a Bad Day is a gentle back porch strummer that seems slight but is just structured ingeniously. It’s given added warmth by Lucinda Williams’s earthy backing vocals. This single also includes a duet with neo-rockabilly punks the Living End on Crossfire and a Living End-free version of the same song which more obviously shows its debt to Steve Earle. And her take on Paul Kelly’s Everything’s Turning to White, with evocative guitar and fiddle, is eerie, stark and stunning.

by on

CD REVIEW

Author: Kathryn Tucker

The Living End: Roll On

There aren’t many bands out there today that can mix punk and rock ability and make it sound good. It doesn’t exactly go together, but the guys of The Living End pull it off nicely.

On its latest album, Roll On, The Living End keeps its gritty edge while sounding more cohesive. This CD has great energy and is one that you can listen to over and over again.

This Australian band has been together for seven years with Chris Cheney on guitar and lead vocals, Scott Owen on upright bass and Travis Demsey on drums. Cheney writes about rebellion, protest, rioting, human angst and a lot of drinking.

On “Uncle Harry,” which basically talks about a lonely old man who drinks too much and relieves himself in his bath, it’s apparent that these guys have the brash spirit of punk, much like the Sex Pistols, in them.

Although not all the songs are about drinking, most have some reference to it. Take, for instance, “Staring at the Light” “Some may relish in the afterlife, dancing slowly on the edge of a knife, sipping wine of the poisonous kind, overdose on loneliness”

The Living End’s original sound and dirty vocals have gotten it quite a following. Many fans are big-name bands such as Blink 182, Silverchair, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Rancid.

The Living End’s Roll On with its infectious choruses and great electric guitar riffs is definitely an album to get if you’re in the mood to listen to some really awesome punk. But one thing you should know: They are nowhere close to sounding like Blink 182, so if that’s the kind of so-called punk you like, look elsewhere.

KATHRYN TUCKER SOUTH LAKE HIGH

by on

Cheney Recovering

Author: Unknown

Chris Cheney, 26, singer and guitarist of the Australian punk band The Living End, broke his leg in a car crash last weekend in his hometown of Victoria. According to reports, a car hit Cheney’s car head-on and sent it over an embankment and into a tree.

“We have been told that Chris is extremely lucky to be alive and if he hadn’t swerved at the last minute, he wouldn’t have been so fortunate,” a statement by management company Crucial Music said.