As one of the finest Australian rock guitarists of his generation, Chris Cheney admits there have been occasions during his 30-year career when he's overplayed his hand.
An extra guitar solo here. A complicated riff there.
But in between The Living End's seven-year break between albums, easily the band's longest stretch without a record, Cheney came to the realisation that simplicity rocked the hardest.
For last year's I Only Trust Rock n Roll, Cheney and bandmates Scott Owen (double bass) and Andy Strachan (drums) got back to the essence of what ignited The Living End on their beloved 1997 No.1 single Prisoner Of Society.
Frenetic rockabilly-infused punk, capped off with energetic pop hooks and a sprinkling of political dissent.
"I don't think we could have asked for a better reaction, really," Cheney says of the reception to I Only Trust Rock n Roll.
"It's not like we disappeared, but it definitely feels like it was sort of a rebirth of the band.
"It's given us this whole other avenue, a new lease on life in our career, somehow.
"It's the kind of record that people have wanted us to make for a few years. It's more back-to-basics, straight-up rock'n'roll, as opposed to some of our records that have been more song-based. This was more based on the energy."
Songs like Alfie, Strange Place and Misery have minimal fat. Just blasts of straight-ahead rock riffage that the Australian pub scene was famous for in the '70s and '80s.
"I was trying to keep it simple and keep it really aggressive," Cheney says. "You've always got to have the hooks. That's really important for me, to make sure that the songs have got good choruses and good hooks and good parts.
"Not just energy; you've got to find that balance. It was definitely a bit of an experiment. When I was writing it, I was seeing whether we were still capable of making a record that had that kind of bare-bones energy to it."
Cheney says he's been guilty of overcomplicating Living End albums in the past.
"The better musician you are, the more dangerous it is when you're a rock'n'roll band because you can overplay all the time," he says.
"Too many notes; it clutters everything up. With too many fancy chords, you become too accomplished. That can be the kiss of death for any rock'n'roll musician.
"We've been guilty of that in the past. Just because you can play something doesn't necessarily mean that you should.
"So this was almost like tying one hand behind your back and going, 'Okay, limit yourself; put some parameters on it'.
"Just see how simple you can make it, because the more simple that it is, the harder that it rocks."
It sort of solidifies the fact that we've connected with people here and all around the world in a way that I never imagined we would.
All nine studio albums by The Living End had peaked in the ARIA top 10, and their self-titled debut in 1998 and 2006's State Of Emergency topped the charts.
Along the way, the band has delivered a raft of classics like Prisoner Of Society, All Torn Down, Save The Day, Roll On, Wake Up, White Noise and Who's Gonna Save Us.
The Melbourne band's success and influence were recognised in June when they joined Spiderbait, Kate Ceberano, Gurrumul, Jenny Morris, and Vika & Linda in being inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Cheney says he was honoured to be inducted alongside fellow '90s alt-rock band Spiderbait and join Sydney's You Am I, who joined the prestigious group in 2025.
"It was people like Kate Ceberano and John Farnham who would get awards like that, which, funnily, Kate Ceberano actually got inducted the same night as us," he says.
"But it was those sorts of people, really, for me, that were the ones that would get awards, not alternative rock bands like us.
"I just felt it was a nice recognition. It sort of solidifies the fact that we've connected with people here and all around the world in a way that I never imagined we would."
The Living End's breakthrough success in 1997 famously followed their opportunity supporting US punk heavyweights Green Day on their Australian Insomniac tour.
On their regional I Only Trust Rock n Roll tour, The Living End have been affording that opportunity to young local acts.
The band's Newcastle show will feature Maple's Pet Dinosaur fronted by Merewether 15-year-old Maple Johns, who went viral with their debut single Lego last year.
