KEY POINTS:
Only a workaholic could come down with the flu on Australia's Gold Coast. "Everyone else is off surfing or in the sun," moans Living End frontman Chris Cheney, "And I've been taking painkillers."
Cheney's the first to admit it's his fault. The Living End are always on the road, always performing, writing, working. "When will we ever get back home?" Cheney sings on No Way Out, a song from latest album State of Emergency that makes you wonder why they do it.
"It gets to that point where you go home and everyone's that little bit older and fatter or greyer or whatever and you're living in this parallel universe," he says. "It's like a vortex. I feel like I'm missing out on a part of my life but at the same time what we're doing is what most people would kill to do."
They've been doing it longer than most. After emerging from Melbourne's punk scene 12 years ago - Scott Owen's double bass giving them a ludicrous but cool rockabilly silhouette - the Living End have pushed the limits of their genre and become Aussie rock favourites.
After getting a dream leg-up from Green Day, who famously invited them to play support in Australia, the Living End's first album, producing six singles, went to number one. Two more albums followed but they've always been shackled to their early success.
Until now. State of Emergency, a release that has come in their mid-30s, is giving them a second sweep of success, having debuted in Australia at number one. When they've played recent gigs there and in the United States and Japan, Cheney says it's the new material the crowd want, and not just the old songs.
"This album has been more successful than we imagined it would be. It's the most successful since our first one. It's quite bizarre seeing it's been so long."
It's also bizarre in that they couldn't be more musically different. Listening to songs such as All Torn Down, Second Solution and Prisoner of Society is like "looking at an old photo of yourself," he says. "There's a certain cringe-factor to it."
But Emergency, with its bigger dynamics, wall of sound production and less punkabilly approach, has the "maturity factor".
"It's a terrible word to use but we've definitely fixed some of the issues I think plagued us on the first album. Obviously that was very successful but to me it was very juvenile. That age, the kind of scene we came from - it's very punk-rock oriented so it gets away with it, it has a certain charm. With this album we really wanted to expand ourselves with the arrangements and show a depth of songwriting that I don't think we could capture on the first album."
If that sounds businesslike, talk to his friends from high school. As a teen Cheney was stubborn in his tastes, listening only to 50s rock'n'roll: Chuck Berry, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and bending the rules only for AC/DC. Eventually he opened his ears to the melodies of the Beatles and the metal of Iron Maiden. He made a typically ambitious and work-driven decision early on: to play guitar as well as Chet Atkins and sing like Brian Wilson.
"Not many people are gifted like that so I end up frustrated. But I'd rather be that way. I've still got a long way to go as far as that's concerned."
He reckons he's an "okay" rock'n'roll singer but needs to work on the ballads. He'd also like to think that when the living end of the band eventually arrives, he'll focus more on country music, jazz, and whatever else takes his fancy.
Touring takes its toll particularly because he has a wife and eight-month old baby. But for now he's happy being in one of Aussie's best-loved rock bands. Which means the heavy workload won't let up for a while.
"I just think we've got to challenge ourselves in this life. If I don't push myself then I'm dead in the water."
The cost is just as high otherwise. By the time the band had finished recording State of Emergency, Cheney had come down with shingles. "That proved to me I don't know how to do things by halves. It drives my bandmates crazy, my producer crazy, my friends and family. I got sick ... but if I had to do it again I wouldn't change anything. I know I'm stupid enough."
* Living End, King's Arms, Friday, Studio, Saturday (all-ages) with support from Goodnight Nurse
