The Living End | State of EmergencyEmpty Bottle Evenings

Sep102015September 10, 2015September 10, 2015No Commentby Bake

State_of_Emergency_(The_Living_End_album_-_cover_art)

The Living End | State of Emergency

Posted in Music

I want to go to Australia. So what? Everyone wants to travel to Australia. But I don’t want to see kangaroos. Or eat them. Or to see that crazy looking amphitheater (Opera House?). Not having so many handguns there must be nice but that’s not the reason either. I don’t NEED to go swimming around the Great Barrier Reef or check out the cool landscapes all around the country. And I’m not mixing it up with New Zealand so you won’t see any weird Lord of the Rings shit on my wish list. I just want to see The Living End.

I don’t say all this just because they’re Australian but because I feel like they never tour in the US. Granted, it’s pretty far away and they’re probably treated better at home, but the last time I was able to see them perform live was opening for Green Day on the Warning Tour. That was over 14 years ago! I was still a virgin, I couldn’t drive, hell, I hadn’t even had alcohol yet. Such innocent times. If I see a show now the chances of me remembering so well a decade and a half later are slim, but watching those guys rock out then still sticks in my brain. If I have to fly halfway across the world to go see them play their punkabilly I will. They’re touring wineries in Australia soon. Wineries! Where the hell is my passport?

Truthfully their sound has changed a lot in the time since I last saw them. The punkabilly from Hellbound and their self-titled album morphed over time into a more alternative rock kind of sound. Back in the late ’90s when they released their eponymous (that’s the word!) record Chris Cheney’s guitar and Scott Owen’s double bass were creating a sound that I had never heard before and I thought it was awesome. To be fair I was born after The Stray Cats’ peak and hadn’t listened to Reverend Horton Heat until about 10 years ago. I loved the great fast-paced punk songs like “I Want a Day”, but what I loved more was that this band created songs that didn’t sound like the other punk bands I listened to. While everyone in America seemed to know the Living End from their ubiquitous single “Prisoner of Society”, I fell in love with the whole album, especially on songs where they took things for a walk like “Second Solution”, “All Torn Down”, or “Fly Away”.

After the the worldwide success of their full length debut, The Living End followed it up with Roll On. The more polished sequel was a good album but I was initially off put a little by the change in sound from punkabilly to a more straightforward rock sound. Not that it disappeared completely ; “Riot on Broadway” and “Carry Me Home” in particular bring the billy (rocka, punka, and psycho). But it was joined by pop-rock tracks like “Dirty Man” and “Pictures in the Mirror” that weren’t exactly what I was hoping to hear. This sound carried over to their next (and worst) album, Modern Artillery. In a way it plays a little like former tour mates Green Day’s Nimrod; a little bit punk, a little bit pop-rock, and a smattering of experimentation. Listening to it again now after a good deal of time away reminds me that it wasn’t a bad album at all, just not their best. And at the time I wasn’t too excited to see what the band came out with next.

But what did come next was State of Emergency and it was fucking awesome. From the opening build up of “’Til The End” to the balls-to-walls closer “Into the Red” this album is like a swift kick in the teeth. In the good way. It’s smoothy produced but the album doesn’t suffer from it, instead it helps add variety to SoE‘s ass kicking sound. Songs like “No Way Out” and “Wake Up” are different from anything I’d heard from The Living End up to that point but still fit well within the sound of the album. Everything about the album sounds BIG like it deserves to be played in arena instead of a punk club. The guitars are bigger, there’s some horns here and there, and there is a much bigger reliance on backing vocals but the stylistic changes work 100% here. Sure, there’s not much punkabilly on State of Emergency, but it stomps ass all the same.

Both musically and lyrically they couldn’t have picked a more fitting title. Themes of confusion, disillusionment, and wanting to escape are everywhere on the disc. The album has this rush of panic and noise bursting through it as a way to help us face these fucked up realities. It’s as if Cheney is pleading with us to hurry the fuck up and make some damn changes before its too late. While a lot of punk records tap into the anger and the resentment we have against “the system”, State of Emergency is smart, presenting these songs through sounds and words signaling the emotions and avoiding the punk cliches. You don’t have to tell someone to rage against the system, just wake them up to what it going on around them and let them do something other than eat that anxiety. Listening to it now makes me want to get off my ass and make a difference before its too late. I don’teven know what I want to make a difference doing, but dammit I’m pumped!

After State of Emergency, The Living End released White Noise in 2008 and The Beginning is Just the Ending Repeating in 2011. Both albums are solid and continue both the band adding to their sound and delivering needed progressive themes in music. They’re universally lauded as great musicians and I would recommend any album that they’ve released with State of Emergency being the top. Really I just want to see what they do next and hopefully one day see them live again. Even if I have to fly to Australia to make that happen. And while I’m there maybe see all that other cool shit that the country has too.