After nine albums and countless incendiary shows across Australia and the globe with his band The Living End, Chris Cheney launches his solo project with debut single “California”. Stripping back some of the distortion and overdrive we’ve come to expect from The Living End, on “California” Cheney instead evokes a sound somewhere between vintage Tom Petty and The Beach Boys’ ‘California Girls’, letting his voice and lyrics take centre stage, while still managing to sneak a duelling guitar solo in for good measure.

“California” is the first taste of Cheney’s upcoming album The Storm Before The Calm, a record which captures him in his songwriting prime and shows a deeper side to the guitar slinging, rock n roll wild man.

The forthcoming album offers an incredibly personal look at the singer-songwriter, as he details his struggles through a personal breakdown, substance abuse, the loss of his father, and the near dissolution of his marriage.

Due out June 17 through Liberator Music.