Chris Cheney

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Christopher (Chris) John Cheney (born January 2, 1975) is the guitarist and lead vocalist in the Australian rock band, The Living End. A talented guitarist, his trademark guitar is a Gretsch White Falcon and he uses mainly distortion and modulation effects.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 The Living End 3 Trivia

[edit] Early life

Cheney attended Jells Park Primary School in Wheelers Hill, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and Wheelers Hill Secondary College. He later studied jazz at Box Hill Institute of TAFE.

[edit] Career

He began his career with double bassist Scott Owen in the nineties, in a Melbourne cover band, The Runaway Boys, who took their name from a Stray Cats song of the same name (a group that Cheney regularly cites as one of his favourites)

[edit] The Living End

In 1995, Cheney and Owen produced their own material and formed The Living End. They released 2 successive EP's, Hellbound and It's For Your Own Good, which contained their first single From Here On In. In 1996, while Green Day were touring Australia, The Living End sent their EP to them, and gained the support spot on their tour, which then led to Triple J playing their first single. In 1998 they released their self-titled album, with success sparked by the youth anthem Prisoner of Society, as well as other hits Second Solution, Monday, All Torn Down and Save The Day.

[edit] Trivia

• On December 17th 2005, Cheney joined the band Green Day on stage at the Telstra Dome to play I Fought The Law, a song originally by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets, and later covered by The Clash as well as the Dead Kennedys. Cheney was also not the Green Day bunny as was rumoured, it was Tré Cool, drummer for Green Day.
• Cheney appears in the supergroup The Wrights who put out a re-recorded version of Stevie Wright's epic "Evie". Also appearing in the supergroup were members of Grinspoon, Jet, Spiderbait and You Am I. He also played in another supergroup, who featured at the 2006 Jack Awards in Sydney Australia. They performed a Rose Tattoo Classic Bad Boy For Love as a tribute to Peter Wells from Rose Tattoo.
• Cheney has performed alongside Australian rock veterans You Am I at the 2003 Big Day Out in Melbourne Australia. They performed a track from The Clash as a tribute to Joe Strummer.
• Cheney won the award for best male performer at the 2006 Jack Awards in Sydney, Australia.
• Cheney has been rated as one of the 'hottest' Australian musicians, coming in slightly behind Grinspoon's Phil Jamieson, Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale, Magic Dirt's Adam Robertson and his own Andy Strachan^{[citation needed]}
• Cheney had a 'near death experience' when someone forced his 77 Holden Kingswood off the road on a sharp turn along the Great Ocean Road. While lucky to survive after the car rolled down an embankment, he was in hospital for several months with a crushed leg and confined to bed and later a walking stick for the next six months.
• Fender Guitars are currently producing a Chris Cheney Signature Series Gretsch® Guitar (the Chris Cheney 6126CC). Chris has been working closely with Fender to refine the guitar. Chris plays this guitar in the music video for 'Rising Sun'.