The Living End formed in 1994 after lead singer/guitarist Chris Cheney and … Read Full Bio ↴The Living End formed in 1994 after lead singer/guitarist Chris Cheney and bassist Scott Owen were introduced to each other by their older sisters at Wheelers Hill Secondary College in Melbourne, Australia. Cheney, obsessed with 80s rockabilly group the Stray Cats, convinced Owen to learn the double bass instead of the piano and they started playing gigs under the name Runaway Boys after the title of a Stray Cats song. The group went through a succession of drummers before settling on Joe Piripitzi.

The Living End got their first big break in 1995 when, after sending a t-shirt and a demo tape to Billie Joe Armstrong, they landed a support slot in Green Day's upcoming Australian tour. After the tour, the group went into the studio to record their debut EP Hellbound which received moderate support from community radio stations.

In November 1995, the band went back into the studio to record their second EP (It's for Your Own Good which they released several months later. This recording yielded their first major radio airplay with the song From Here On In, which was placed on high rotation on the youth radio network Triple J. Shortly after the release of the second EP, drummer Joe Piripitzi left the band and was replaced with Travis Dempsey who was soon playing with the band at major festivals such as Pushover and the Falls Festival. After a year touring Australia, The Living End again headed into the studio to record something new to sell at their now very popular shows. The result was the Second Solution / Prisoner of Society double single.

Prisoner of Society quickly became a national hit and the band signed on to Modular Recordings for the release of their debut self titled album, The Living End. The album was an instant hit with Australian audiences and resulted in six Australian singles (counting the "Second Solution" release as two because both songs received major airplay). The Living End became the second-highest-selling debut rock album in Australian music history, now five times platinum.

The Roll On album in 2000 was a more creative work, but did not manage to achieve the status of their earlier album. Cheney later stated that he was trying to prove to critics that The Living End were not a band simply defined by their hit Prisoner of Society, and the album showed this by displaying other influences, as well as their traditional fast-paced rockabilly music. The album even garnered comparison, by a few critics, to seminal punk band The Clash's creative breakthrough, London Calling.

The band hit a quiet period after that during which Chris Cheney had a tragic car accident on the Great Ocean Road, rendering him unable to play for a significant period of time. He had been on the road to the house of a member of fellow Australian band Bodyjar.

In 2003, after Chris's recovery and with new drummer Andy Strachan, the band made a comeback, releasing One Said to the Other, Who's Gonna Save Us? and getting air play once again. This was followed by heavy touring (including Big Day Out) and a release of Modern ARTillery.

In late 2004, the band has released a singles collection From Here on In: The Singles 1997-2004 as well as a DVD, which included all video clips and a "supergig", collections of the band's most famous songs performed in Australia, Japan and the USA. The DVD also features the band's history- documented in interviews and home footage.

Recently, Chris performed at the 2004 ARIA awards as part of the supergroup The Wrights, featuring members of many other Australian rock bands.

Chris Cheney and Scott Owen have won the Best Guitarist and Best Bassist awards for 2004 and 2005, in the Jack Awards.

The band performs regularly in Melbourne, one performance recently was for the Channel V Music Bus at Federation Square Melbourne, Australia (15th of December 2005) which saw a capacity crowd of between 4,500 and 5,000 people attend. The event saw many under 18's get the chance to see their idols for free, and for a lucky few, the chance to sing with Chris Cheney, unplanned of course.

The Living End's fourth album, titled State of Emergency, was released on February 4 2006 and was recorded in Byron Bay after they played in the Splendour in the Grass festival. They had finished the recording and the artwork for State of Emergency in mid December 2005. The single "What's on Your Radio was released on November 20, 2005, and debuted at #9 on the ARIA singles chart. The second single, "Wake Up" was released on February 19 and debuted at #5 on the ARIA singles chart. The group is currently signed to Adeline Records, owned and run by Billie Joe and Adrianne Armstrong.

In 2008 The Living End released their fifth studio album titled as White Noise, showing more hard rock influenced sound of The Living End. First single from the album was a double A-side single White Noise/How Do We Know which was released physically and digitally 5 July 2008. The second single Moment in the Sun was released 25 October 2008. The third single, Raise the Alarm, was released 22 December 2008. In 2009 The Living End started the Raise the Alarm Tour.

Into the Red
The Living End Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Into the red, the hippie dream is dead
Like a light bulb blowin' a fuse inside me head

Gimme some speed to burn
Don't wanna wait my turn
And now the parties over but not a lesson learnt

Into the red

I'm goin' out of my head
Gotta go now but I'll never slow down
When the world outside is red
Into the red
Into the red
Into the red

Into the red, the sixties dream is dead
Like a low down juvenile getting high instead

Gimme some speed to burn
Don't wanna wait my turn
And now the parties over but not a lesson learnt

Into the red
I'm goin' out of my head
Gotta go now but I'll never slow down
When the world outside is red
Into the red
Into the red
Into the red

Into the red, the hippie dream is dead
Like a light bulb blowin' a fuse inside me head

Gimme some speed to burn
Don't wanna wait my turn
And now the parties over but not a lesson learnt

Into the red
I'm goin' out of my head
Gotta go now but I'll never slow down
When the world outside is red
Into the red

Into the red
Into the red

Overall Meaning

The Living End's song, "Into the Red," sets a frenzied and chaotic tone with the opening lyrics, "Into the red, the hippie dream is dead; Like a light bulb blowin' a fuse inside me head." The term "Into the red" could refer to the idea of going beyond one's means, and in this song, it appears to be referring to the excess and burnout of the sixties era. The song highlights the disillusionment and disappointment felt by those who believed in the utopian ideals of the counter-culture movement only to find that reality was bleak and unsatisfying. The second verse opens with, "Into the red, the sixties dream is dead; Like a low down juvenile getting high instead." This implies that while the hippie movement was meant to be a counterculture to mainstream society, it eventually became yet another dead end for youth culture to fall into.

Throughout the song, the lyrics repeatedly reference "gimme some speed to burn," which can be interpreted as a desire for energy and fast-paced living, as well as a literal reference to amphetamines. The chorus continually repeats the phrase "Into the red," highlighting the sense of chaos and instability that the song is intended to convey. The final lines, "Gotta go now but I'll never slow down; When the world outside is red," indicate that the singer of the song is resigned to a life of excess and chaos, perpetually barreling forward without regard for consequences.

Overall, "Into the Red" is an indictment of the failures of the hippie movement and the disillusionment that followed. The energy and frenzied pace of the song perfectly captures the sense of desperation and dissatisfaction that many young people felt after the sixties ended.

Line by Line Meaning

Into the red, the hippie dream is dead
The hope for a peaceful, countercultural revolution is no more

Like a light bulb blowin' a fuse inside me head
This realization hits hard and suddenly

Gimme some speed to burn
I want drugs to help me escape and feel alive

Don't wanna wait my turn
I'm impatient and unwilling to follow societal norms or expectations

And now the parties over but not a lesson learnt
I've indulged in excess without taking any meaningful lessons from it

Into the red
I'm going to go all out, with no regard for consequences

I'm goin' out of my head
I'm losing control and sanity

Gotta go now but I'll never slow down
I'm determined to keep living recklessly and destructively

When the world outside is red
The chaos and disorder around me only fuel my wild behavior

Into the red, the sixties dream is dead
The idealism and optimism of the 1960s has also vanished

Like a low down juvenile getting high instead
My behavior resembles that of a delinquent, turning to drugs to cope