The Ending Is Just the Beginning Repeating (album)
Encyclopedia
The Ending Is Just the Beginning Repeating is the ARIA Award-winning sixth album by Australia
n rock band The Living End
, released on 22 July 2011 on Dew Process
. The album was produced by Nick DiDia
.
singer Craig Finn
, who he met through John Agnello
who had produced the band's previous album, White Noise
. With Finn, he cowrote the song "The Ending Is Just the Beginning Repeating". Cheney said that for the new album he "wanted to meet different people and gather some fresh resources and influences to hopefully take my writing and add a different element".
Later in the year, the band regrouped to begin rehearsals in a South Melbourne
recording studio. The band performed as The Safety Matches to road test new material. Cheney said that they had performed "a week's worth of gigs playing only new songs to see which ones would sink or swim" and that they had recorded fewer studio demos than for previous albums. They then went into the studio to record the album. They spent four or five weeks in Byron Bay and a further two to three weeks recording in Melbourne.
Cheney said that the album took "like a year and a half of writing" and that they always seem to "go through 30-40 songs" in rehearsal. He said that during writing the album they had "amassed something in the vicinity of 40-plus songs to choose from". During the writing stage he said he would be "working on 30 songs at the same time." When asked in a live webchat on what was different about this album, he replied, "I believe that there was a sense of not being able to top what we achieved with White Noise, so I was determined we'd create the best songs we've written. We ended up with more songs and at the end of it we went through every tune and picked the best ones that fit together."
Scott Owen
has said that for the album they "have taken a lot of inspiration from U2
and INXS
, particularly the ‘dancey’ rock stuff. Rage Against The Machine
as well. Something that those three bands share is the ability to get on a groove and stay on it, letting it pulsate and grow in a tribal sort of way, making it quite transfixing without changing the basic formula of each song."
Recording of the album, with Nick DiDia
, who came out from Atlanta to produce the album, was completed in May 2011 after which it was sent to Brendan O'Brien for mixing.
The album's producer, Nick DiDia
, suggested to the band that keeping the songs slower would increase their impact. "He taught us that in slowing the tempo down it makes the song have so much more impact and be so much more direct", said Cheney. "There was an openness and air surrounding the tunes that we didn't want to clutter up playing it too fast or trying to be too fancy with our parts."
Musically, Cheney has said that he used various effects to get a broader sound; "I have used more effects on this record vs others. There was the chorus peddle [sic] which gave songs an '80s flavour we were excited about. The good thing about a new guitar peddle [sic] is when it influences your writing. it's important for our songs to grow and sonically there's a broader spectrum now."
Cheney said that the album title "doesn’t mean anything, but it certainly suggests a theme. Everything must rejuvenate, everything goes in cycles, and we are all going through the same thing, really. It doesn't make exact sense, which is why I kind of like it"
For the first time, with the new album to promote, the band has hired a second guitarist to play live with them. When asked about this, Cheney said, "the songs on the new album aren't more complex but we felt there were some sounds and elements missing from our live show that are on our records. We plan to use him for some of the songs but not all, the idea is that it creates a fuller sound and you will hear parts of our record that have not been executed on stage. It will free me up to play some parts that have been missing from our gigs."
Breakfast on 3 June 2011. The single was then made available to stream on the band's official website. "Machine Gun" was also made available to download via the band's Facebook page. The whole album was made available to stream to members of the band's mailing list for 24 hours on 18 July 2011.
The album debuted at number three on the ARIA
Album Chart. It received four and a half stars from Rolling Stone
, saying it would "be fitting if this became the Living End's defining record". The album was Radar's
record of the week.
However, Doug Wallen of The Vine was not so glowing. Labelling the work a 'buffed clean record deprived of heft and depth', he criticises Cheney's lyrics, stating that they are generic and clichéd. Citing a 'radio gloss' on the songs, he feels that the record lacks 'the boiling blood of the best anti-establishment music'.
The album won Best Rock Album at the 2011 ARIA Awards.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n rock band The Living End
The Living End
The Living End are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, formed in 1994. The current lineup consists of Chris Cheney , Scott Owen and Andy Strachan...
, released on 22 July 2011 on Dew Process
Dew Process
Dew Process is an Australian independent record label based in Brisbane, Queensland founded by Paul Piticco. The label essentially develops talent from Australia as well as provide promotional, marketing and distribution services for foreign artists looking for a home for their music in Australia...
. The album was produced by Nick DiDia
Nick DiDia
Nick DiDia is an American record producer mostly known for his work with Australian rock group Powderfinger and American pop-rock group Nine Days...
.
Composition and recording
In early 2010, Chris Cheney went to New York for three months to begin writing songs for the album. While in New York, he met up with The Hold SteadyThe Hold Steady
The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...
singer Craig Finn
Craig Finn
Craig Finn is an American singer and guitarist. He is best known as the front man for bands Lifter Puller and The Hold Steady. He currently lives in New York City...
, who he met through John Agnello
John Agnello
John Agnello is a producer, recording engineer and mixer who has been involved with many albums throughout the last 25 years. Most recently, John has been involved with Kurt Vile, Sonic Youth, Sweet Apple, Dinosaur Jr...
who had produced the band's previous album, White Noise
White noise
White noise is a random signal with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal contains equal power within a fixed bandwidth at any center frequency...
. With Finn, he cowrote the song "The Ending Is Just the Beginning Repeating". Cheney said that for the new album he "wanted to meet different people and gather some fresh resources and influences to hopefully take my writing and add a different element".
Later in the year, the band regrouped to begin rehearsals in a South Melbourne
South Melbourne
South Melbourne may refer to*South Melbourne, Victoria, suburb of Melbourne*South Melbourne FC, a football club based in South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
recording studio. The band performed as The Safety Matches to road test new material. Cheney said that they had performed "a week's worth of gigs playing only new songs to see which ones would sink or swim" and that they had recorded fewer studio demos than for previous albums. They then went into the studio to record the album. They spent four or five weeks in Byron Bay and a further two to three weeks recording in Melbourne.
Cheney said that the album took "like a year and a half of writing" and that they always seem to "go through 30-40 songs" in rehearsal. He said that during writing the album they had "amassed something in the vicinity of 40-plus songs to choose from". During the writing stage he said he would be "working on 30 songs at the same time." When asked in a live webchat on what was different about this album, he replied, "I believe that there was a sense of not being able to top what we achieved with White Noise, so I was determined we'd create the best songs we've written. We ended up with more songs and at the end of it we went through every tune and picked the best ones that fit together."
Scott Owen
Scott Owen
Scott Bradley Owen plays the double bass in the Australian rock band The Living End. After playing the piano for many years, he decided that the keys would not work for a rockabilly band, so at age 17 he purchased and taught himself double bass, letting him play rockabilly with best friend and...
has said that for the album they "have taken a lot of inspiration from U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
and INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
, particularly the ‘dancey’ rock stuff. Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
as well. Something that those three bands share is the ability to get on a groove and stay on it, letting it pulsate and grow in a tribal sort of way, making it quite transfixing without changing the basic formula of each song."
Recording of the album, with Nick DiDia
Nick DiDia
Nick DiDia is an American record producer mostly known for his work with Australian rock group Powderfinger and American pop-rock group Nine Days...
, who came out from Atlanta to produce the album, was completed in May 2011 after which it was sent to Brendan O'Brien for mixing.
Music and lyrics
Chris Cheney has said that for the album, the "aim has been to construct something more direct, simple and therefore tougher and bigger sounding than anything we've done before." He also said that the band "spent a lot of time experimenting with the parts of the songs to achieve this. Also and most importantly this will be an album, not just a bunch of songs."The album's producer, Nick DiDia
Nick DiDia
Nick DiDia is an American record producer mostly known for his work with Australian rock group Powderfinger and American pop-rock group Nine Days...
, suggested to the band that keeping the songs slower would increase their impact. "He taught us that in slowing the tempo down it makes the song have so much more impact and be so much more direct", said Cheney. "There was an openness and air surrounding the tunes that we didn't want to clutter up playing it too fast or trying to be too fancy with our parts."
Musically, Cheney has said that he used various effects to get a broader sound; "I have used more effects on this record vs others. There was the chorus peddle [sic] which gave songs an '80s flavour we were excited about. The good thing about a new guitar peddle [sic] is when it influences your writing. it's important for our songs to grow and sonically there's a broader spectrum now."
Cheney said that the album title "doesn’t mean anything, but it certainly suggests a theme. Everything must rejuvenate, everything goes in cycles, and we are all going through the same thing, really. It doesn't make exact sense, which is why I kind of like it"
For the first time, with the new album to promote, the band has hired a second guitarist to play live with them. When asked about this, Cheney said, "the songs on the new album aren't more complex but we felt there were some sounds and elements missing from our live show that are on our records. We plan to use him for some of the songs but not all, the idea is that it creates a fuller sound and you will hear parts of our record that have not been executed on stage. It will free me up to play some parts that have been missing from our gigs."
Release and reception
The title track and lead single was premiered on triple JTriple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
Breakfast on 3 June 2011. The single was then made available to stream on the band's official website. "Machine Gun" was also made available to download via the band's Facebook page. The whole album was made available to stream to members of the band's mailing list for 24 hours on 18 July 2011.
The album debuted at number three on the ARIA
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
Album Chart. It received four and a half stars from Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, saying it would "be fitting if this became the Living End's defining record". The album was Radar's
Radar (radio)
Radar Radio is an Australian national Digital Radio station. It is run by Austereo and was launched on 11 December 2008.-History:Radar started broadcasting online before Digital Radio launched in Australia on 11 December 2008...
record of the week.
However, Doug Wallen of The Vine was not so glowing. Labelling the work a 'buffed clean record deprived of heft and depth', he criticises Cheney's lyrics, stating that they are generic and clichéd. Citing a 'radio gloss' on the songs, he feels that the record lacks 'the boiling blood of the best anti-establishment music'.
The album won Best Rock Album at the 2011 ARIA Awards.
Track listing
Band
- Chris CheneyChris CheneyChristopher John Cheney is the guitarist, main songwriter and lead vocalist in the Australian rock band, The Living End. His trademark guitar is a Gretsch White Falcon and he uses mainly distortion and modulation effects...
– vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Scott OwenScott OwenScott Bradley Owen plays the double bass in the Australian rock band The Living End. After playing the piano for many years, he decided that the keys would not work for a rockabilly band, so at age 17 he purchased and taught himself double bass, letting him play rockabilly with best friend and...
– double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, backing vocals, keys on "Universe" and "Song for the Lonely" - Andy StrachanAndy StrachanAndrew Douglas Strachan is the drummer of Australian rock band; The Living End.-Biography:Andy started drumming at the age of 12, and is self-taught.He graduated year 12 at Aberfoyle Park High School in Adelaide and went on to study Natural Therapies for 3 years...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, backing vocals
Additional musicians
- Nick DiDiaNick DiDiaNick DiDia is an American record producer mostly known for his work with Australian rock group Powderfinger and American pop-rock group Nine Days...
- keys on "Resist" and "Ride the Wave Boy" - John F. Strachan - spoken word introduction on "Away From the City"
Production
- Nick DiDiaNick DiDiaNick DiDia is an American record producer mostly known for his work with Australian rock group Powderfinger and American pop-rock group Nine Days...
– producer - Nick DiDia; Jordan Power - engineers
- Brendan O'BrienBrendan O'Brien (music producer)Brendan O’Brien is a record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician.At age 14, O'Brien played guitar for the Atlanta-based cover band Pranks. In the late 1970s, he moved on to writing, performing and recording with the Samurai Catfish band...
– mixing - Kory Aaron; TJ Elias - assistant mixers
- Leon Zervos - mastering
- Andrew Jackson; Paul Pilsnenkis - recording assistants
Chart performance
Album| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Album Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
3 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 36 |
The Ending is Just the Beginning Repeating Tour 2011
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 September | Brisbane Brisbane Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of... |
Australia | |The Tivoli |
| 2 September | Brisbane Brisbane Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of... |
The Tivoli | |
| 3 September | Sydney Sydney Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people... |
Enmore Theatre Enmore Theatre The Enmore Theatre is a theatre and entertainment venue in Sydney. It is located on Enmore Road in the suburb of Enmore, south-west of the adjoining suburb, Newtown. It is a medium-sized venue... |
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| 4 September | Sydney Sydney Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people... |
Enmore Theatre Enmore Theatre The Enmore Theatre is a theatre and entertainment venue in Sydney. It is located on Enmore Road in the suburb of Enmore, south-west of the adjoining suburb, Newtown. It is a medium-sized venue... |
|
| 7 September | Canberra Canberra Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne... |
ANU Bar | |
| 8 September | Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater... |
Palace Theatre Palace Theatre -Canada:* Palace Theatre, Calgary, Alberta* Palace Theatre , Montreal, Quebec - see Robillard Block-United Kingdom:* Palace Theatre, London, England* Palace Theatre, Manchester, England* Palace Theatre, Mansfield, England... |
|
| 9 September | Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater... |
Palace Theatre Palace Theatre -Canada:* Palace Theatre, Calgary, Alberta* Palace Theatre , Montreal, Quebec - see Robillard Block-United Kingdom:* Palace Theatre, London, England* Palace Theatre, Manchester, England* Palace Theatre, Mansfield, England... |
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| 10 September | Adelaide Adelaide Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million... |
Thebarton Theatre Thebarton Theatre The Thebarton Theatre , is an entertainment venue located in the inner-western Adelaide suburb of Torrensville, South Australia. Constructed in 1926, it is one of the most popular medium size venues in Australia. With a capacity of 2000, it is often used by newly formed bands and established... |
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| 16 September | Perth Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000.... |
Metro City Metro City Metro City can refer to:*Metro City , a R&B group*Metro City , a private housing estate and a shopping centre in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong*MetroCity AVM, a shopping mall in Istanbul, Turkey... |