Although that’s true for a good chunk of their career, the band was forced to take a year off when guitarist Chris Cheney was injured in a car crash in 2002.

They were at the height of their musical success, having wrapped international tours with AC/DC and Green Day, played the Big Day Out 2002, and were getting ready to work on album No. 3.

Although the break was unwelcome at first, the band soon realized that after several years on the road non-stop, they needed a break.

“We’d forgotten how to slow down or even how to enjoy what we’d accomplished,” singer/bassist Scott Owen said. “Our batteries were empty and we didn’t even know it.”

So, they took the time off, regrouped, and now they’re ready to hit the road again. They’ve got a mammoth Australian tour underway and it’ll keep the boys busy through the end of the year.

The Living End also have a new album out. Modern ARTillery – which also lends its title to the tour’s name – is the band’s third offering and said to be their best to date.

“It’s a combination of putting together great material and letting loose the energy we’ve been storing up for over a year,” Cheney said. “The music itself is right a natural progression from what we’ve always done, just more focused and directed. We’ve never sounded better.

“I hate to use the word, but maybe we’ve matured.”