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Modern Artillery

Author: Joe Student

“Modern Artillery”
The Living End

With a punk sound laced with oodles of pop and rockabilly, Australian trio The Living End, is still hoping that its sound will connect as well with Americans as it has with its countrymen in The Land Down Under.

On its latest release “Modern Artillery.” tracks such as “Who’s Gonna Save Us?,” “Tabloid Magazine” and “Short Notice,” the band delivers with scintillating hooks and anthemic choruses.

For most of the record, vocalist/guitarist Chris Cheney, bassist Scott Owen and drummer Andy Strachan meld well to present a kinder, gentler pop punk.

Sometimes though, it’s too gentle. On “In the End” and “Putting You Down,” the group’s sensitive side is much less entertaining than the one that allows it to take the best of blink 182 and the Stray Cats and make the marriage work.

TLE can do better.

Rating: B-

Joe Student, Weekender Editor

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Modern Artillery

Author: Kenneth Partridge

The vice president isn’t the only Cheney dissembling about weapons these days. By naming his band’s third full-length album “Modern Artillery,” Living End singer and guitarist Chris Cheney promises a laser-guided rock ‘n’ roll adventure but in reality only fastens a dull bayonet to the head of his Gretsch guitar for some pop-punk field exercises.

The album wouldn’t be so disappointing if the group’s previous two efforts hadn’t been so dynamic. On the leadoff track, “What Would You Do,” the rockabilly reverb that made the band’s self-titled debut so fresh is reduced to an afterthought. The double-bass gallop returns on “End of the World,” but it’s ditched on most songs for generic Warped Tour-style wailing.

Even when the rhythm section really starts to pop, it can’t match the pace of the band’s own frantic backpedaling. Regression of this kind is common among punk groups looking to reaffirm their roots after ambitious albums, but in this case the betrayal stings.

The Living End performs Saturday with Blink-182 and the Used at ctnow.com Meadows Music Theater, Hartford. Information: 860-548-7370.

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Living End Hits The Target With ‘Modern Artillery’

Author: Rustin Reber

“Modern Artillery”

The Living End have released three full length albums in the past six years. Yet I’ve never heard of them before. I did break my antenna and give up on radio a few years ago, but I don’t think TLE has probably got much air play anyway. That’s why I love this gig. I get turned on to a lot of great music, including The Living End.

I have to say, when I first got this disc for some reason I just figured it for another faux punk-pop CD. Wrong.

The first track is the epitome of rock and roll. But the Aussies always get it right with rock music. I know they’re classified as punk, and listening to this album you right off think of The Ramones or The Clash or old rockabilly, but I think this punkabilly trio are serving up good old rock and roll at it’s best. 

It’s no surprise that they claim influence from acts such as The Clash, The Cure, Elvis Costello and the Stray Cats. In fact Chris Cheney plays a lot in the similar high octane be-bop style of Brian Setzer.

Oh yeah, by the second time through this CD I was hooked. There’s even a full-on country tune and a few nods to AC/DC. Again it’s just something about down under. Australia rocks.

Anyone who believes rock is dead would do themselves a great service by getting this album.

A lot of critics are drawing comparisons to Green Day, but I say no. These guys are five times the band Green Day is. Which is also a reason they may never be as well known.

There is some fine musicianship on this album. The music is poppy and fun, happy music. Not quite as commercially friendly as they were likely trying for, but for that I’m glad. A bit of diversity is good.

Anyway, as soon as I get a little extra cash I’m going down to Eden Music and buying a copy of “Modern Artillery.”

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Returning Strong, With No End In Sight

Author: Raymond A. Edel

The Living End
“Modern ARTillery”
(Reprise)

A serious car accident involving vocalist-guitarist Chris Cheney and the departure of drummer Travis Demsey contributed to the three-year hiatus between albums for the Australian pop trio.

With Cheney healthy and a new drummer, Andy Strachan – bassist-vocalist Scott Owen rounds out the lineup – the band returns with a potent blend of pop and punk.

The punk-edged kick-in-the-teeth “What Would You Do?” opens the album. Want pop? Try the hooky “One Said to the Other.” Eat your heart out, Good Charlotte.

Laced with an AC/DC-like intro (a tribute to a homeland band perhaps?), “Who’s Gonna Save Us?” is a catchy, jangly “call for help.”

“Jimmy” is a harmony-filled reminder of how good another Australian band, Midnight Oil, really was.

“Tabloid Magazine” sounds eerily similar to another anti-gossip song, “Sunday Papers,” Joe Jackson’s 1979 hit.

“So What” is a gorgeous bitter-sweet love song reminiscent of tunes by fellow Aussies Hoodoo Gurus.

“The Room,” another song with just a hint of AC/DC, is a mini epic. It’s sure to end up as the foundation for the band’s rock opera someday. Let’s hope that someday is sooner than later.

(The Living End is slated to open for No Doubt and Blink 182 on June 3 at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.)

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Three’s Company

Author: Eric Schelkopf

It might not be as big as the British invasion.

But three Australian bands – the Living End, the Vines and Jet – will take the stage at 7 p.m. today in a sold out show at the Vic Theatre in Chicago.

The Living End has been touring this month with their fellow country mates as part of the aptly named the Australian Invasion Tour, which will continue through April.

Scott Owen, who plays up- right bassist in the trio, has been enjoying the experience.

“We’ve never really done that before,” Owen said. “We’ve been on the Warped Tour where there have been one or two Australian bands, but never such a big gang of Australians in a foreign country. It is kind of cool. It’s working out well, three bands together.”

Despite the fact the three bands all hail from Australia, they each have their own unique sound and style.

“We all have different kinds of audiences,” Owen said. “We get to play in front of each other’s audiences, It’s interesting for the people in the crowd. They get to see three different styles of music and three different kinds of attitudes on stage.”

The Living End formed in the early ’90s as a punkabilly band. U.S. band the Stray Cats had a stronger influence on lead singer Chris Cheney, and he taught Owen how to play upright bass.

“When me and Chris starting playing together, we were into rockabilly music,” Owen said.

But the band’s musical style has matured since then, and more influences can be heard on the Living End’s latest release, “Modern ARTillery.”

“There are so many other different influences now. There’s definitely not just that,” Owen said.

Well-known producer Mark Trombino, who has worked with Blink 182 and Jimmy Eat World, produced the album.

“Those records that he has produced are really heavily produced albums, really clean and really slick,” Trombino said. “We didn’t necessarily want exactly what we heard in his previous albums, but we wanted a sense of that. We like our sound to be a little dirty and a little bit rough around the edges. We thought with our attitude, and with his attitude, it might be a good marriage, a good happy medium.”

“Modern ARTillery” storms ahead in furious fashion, giving listeners a taste of the band’s energetic live shows.

Unlike many albums that are released, “Modern ARTillery” is far from a one-note album. And that’s just how The Living End makes music.

“We are definitely into switching styles,” Owen said. “I think all of the songs have our identity within them, but we don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into playing one style of music. We kind of want to mix it up.”

Owen feels “Modern ARTillery” is the band’s best effort.

“It’s the next step for the band,” Owen said. “I feel like we’ve moved forward as we’ve recorded each album.”

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Modern Artillery

Author: Dan Nailen

THE LIVING END
“Modern Artillery”
Grade: B

Australia’s The Living End was well on its way to becoming a fixture of the pop-punk scene a couple years back when a car accident forced the trio to take an extended break before recording this, its third American release. The break did nothing to dull the band’s chops; this album is 14 songs full of hooks and just a dash of punk attitude. The opener, “What Would You Do?” is reminiscent of the band’s state-side breakthrough, “Prisoner of Society,” while “Who’s Gonna Save Us? is a shout-along anthem. A solid album.

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Modern Artillery

Author: Ed Masley

While the look and the instrumentation have always shouted “Rockabilly!,” these guys hit the Warped Tour sounding like Australia’s answer to Rancid’s California answer to The Clash.

But this time out, the sound is more like early 1980s power pop – big hooks and sugar-coated harmonies reviving the heart of the British Invasion with punkish abandon. At times, it could pass for the Vapors. Or early Joe Jackson. Or even the Jags. But almost never Rancid. And they still look just as rockabilly – even sound a little rockabilly on occasion.

But the best songs here are purer pop than that.

A record this outragously infectious only comes along so often, and it’s rarely half as sweet. You’ll wish you were falling in love, it’s such a perfect soundtrack for it. But for falling out of love, you’ll want to stick with “is She Really Going Out With Him?” Or “Back of My Hand” by the Jags.

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Modern Artillery

Author: Mark LePage

The Living End
Modern ARTillery
Reprise/WEA

Girded by “world’s greatest band” hype, an Aussie outfit matures without having decided whether it wants to be Blink 182 or Nick Lowe – and frankly, the Nick Lowe category could use some volunteers. The Living End begins with the requisite punk-pop energy, but the breakout album has an ensemble polish that may be too slick. The Room closes the album making this case clear – a finely honed assembly of precision-tooled moves from the Who to ska-billy to (practically) Dire Straits. Jury out until live show.

The Living End performs Mon- day at Metropolis, 59 Ste. Catherine St. E., with fellow Aussies the Vines and Jet. Tickets cost $25.50. Call (514) 908-9090.

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Modern ARTillery

Author: Edna Gundersen

After hitting a seeming dead end, the Living End is rebounding with vitality to burn and the poppiest punk this side of Green Day. The Melbourne trio shut down in 2001 after a car crash sidelined singer-guitarist Chris Cheney, who used time in rehab to write his catchiest songs to date. This third album unleashes an arsenal of punk firepower that appropriates the hyperactivity of The Ramones, the melodic thrash of Rancid and the pop crunch of Aussie brethren The Vines. The band hits the bull’s-eye in the malicious humor of “Short Notice,” rockabilly romp “End of the World,” galloping “Hold Up” and the explosive snap of first single “Who’s Gonna Save Us”? Striking a wily balance of art and arson, “Modern ARTillery” is a blast.

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Living End Comes Back With Renewed Vigor

Author: Edna Gundersen

The Living End, “Modern Artillery”

After hitting a seeming dead end, the Living End is rebounding with vitality to burn and the poppiest punk this side of Green Day. The Melbourne trio shut down in 2001 after a car crash sidelined singer-guitarist Chris Cheney, who used time in rehab to write his catchiest songs to date.

This third album unleashes an arsenal of punk firepower that appropriates the hyperactivity of The Ramones, the melodic thrash of Rancid and the pop crunch of Aussie brethren The Vines. The band hits the bull’s-eye with the malicious humor of “Short Notice,” the rockabilly romp “End of the World,” the galloping “Hold Up” and the explosive snap of first single “Who’s Gonna Save Us? Striking a wily balance of art and arson, “Modern ARTillery” is a blast.