State of Emergency is the fourth studio album by Australianpunk rock bandThe Living End, released in Australia and New Zealand on 4 February 2006 and internationally on 11 July 2006. It debuted in the number one position of the Australian ARIA charts. The album's first single was "What's on Your Radio", released in November 2005. The follow-up single, "Wake Up" was released on 18 February 2006, and debuted at number 5 on the ARIA charts, making it the highest single debut position of the band. The limited edition comes with a DVD, documenting the stages of the album's production and shows footage of the band's concerts, including performances as The Longnecks and at Splendour in the Grass. They also released a live DVD of the State of Emergency tour, Live at Festival Hall. A limited edition vinyl of the album, limited to 500 copies worldwide, was also released. ARIA publicized that State of Emergency had officially achieved 2x platinum status in Australia in November 2007. The album is the band's second highest selling, behind the efforts of their record-breaking debut album.
Background
In December 2005, The Living End, as The Longnecks, played gigs in Sydney featuring tracks from the album. This was to test out audience reactions to new songs in order to ready themselves for the Big Day Out music festival. Tracks were also given a live airing in festivals of late 2005 and early 2006, such as the 2005 Homebake festival at The Domain, Sydney. The Living End played at Splendour in the Grass, a music festival in Byron Bay, the day before they were due to start recording State of Emergency. Band members decided that if they got positive reactions during their performance, they'd do well producing the record and be in the right frame of mind to do so.
Track listing
How to Make an Album and Influence People
How to Make an Album and Influence People is a documentary DVD covering the making of State of Emergency, showing live and behind the scenes footage of the band. Starting from laying down the basic tracks in a practice studio, to the re-introduction of Nick Launay and playing a gig at Splendour in the Grass in 2005, before heading to the studio to record and mix the album. The DVD came as a bonus with the limited edition album.
