All Roads Lead To MUNDI MUNDI BASH With CHRIS CHENEY From THE LIVING END

Interview by Kyra-Jade Coombs
In my opinion, The Living End are a staple in the Australian music
scene. They have graciously given us 8 albums and if you break them
down over the years, you find hit after hit. Their debut album
(self-titled) is one of those albums you can play start to finish
and happily immerse yourself right into their music and feel
nothing but pure joy.
HEAVY took the chance to have a chat with singer/ guitar player
Chris Cheney to see what’s new in the world of The Living
End…
From the 15-17 of August The Living End are playing the sold-out
Mundi Mundi Bash in Broken Hill with a few other huge names like
Baby Animals (my absolute favourite!), James Reyne, Jon Stevens,
Ian Moss, Daryl Braithwaite and Diesel to name a few. The fact that
it has sold out in outback Broken Hill is amazing news for a health
check of our Australian music industry. We are slowly getting back
on track.
Chris immediately laughed, saying it’s surreal that although he
grew up listening to most of these guys; he never thought he would
see the day where he could call them mates and share the stage with
them. A far cry from starting out and playing the front bar of the
Epsy!
Fans would be happy to hear that they are chipping away at creating
their 9th album, and it’s said to be ‘the most aggressive album’
they have put together in years. If you jump onto The Living End
social media, you can see a few behind the scenes shots that look
like a bunch of fun.
I must admit, I was absolutely stoked to be able to interview
Chris. I had 1000 questions to ask him and could honestly chat for
hours. We covered lots of cool shit like playing in Australia’s
golden days of the Big Day Out tours, getting rotation Triple J and
appearing on Recovery – Channel [V] to having that telepathic
connections with his band mates, giving way to improve jams that
can either be a trainwreck or magic, in his words! You’ll get a
glimpse into his creative space, where he’s got a set-up to appease
any creative mood. An area for producing music, painting and even a
bar. What more could you want, really?
Being someone who’s so passionate about music, I wondered what band
or album Chris would give his younger self, or bring to his
attention earlier if he could go back in time. To my surprise, he
said early Cold Chisel… I guess I just assumed that would have been
a staple. Yet of course being someone who grew up smashing the
shredders of the world like Eddie Van Halen then going onto 50s
music, Aussie pub rock wasn’t the path they were on, nor wanted to.
Which is interesting to think about the full circle moment from
starting out as a young band being told to ‘play Aussie rock’ to
being put on the huge bills with the original Australian pub rock
music pioneers and staying true to who they are.
Chris is a very humble guy and genuinely - so stoked to have
reached the status that they have today with The Living End. He is
the kind of person you want as a role model for young musicians and
says there’s a space for every type of music, which sings true to
his kind nature. The Living End boys still have “a lot of fuel in
the tank” and thankfully aren’t showing signs of slowing
down!
If you were lucky enough to secure a ticket to the Mundi Mundi Bash
then get out there and have the time of your life! And if you
didn’t then that will teach you not to sleep on a good thing!


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