Ben Gillies, an Aussie to the heart (yeah baby!) comes from a relatively averaged-size family of a Dad (David) and a Mom -- Mum -- (Anette) and an older sister (Kristy). Apparently, unlike his animal-loving buddy Daniel, he has no pets, but I think his sister used to have two parakeets. Amazing what I know about people.
Now, here, I would like to complain real quick about how there's much mixed information. As I was looking for Ben's life, I got about a million different dates for his birthday, and people claiming he has all sorts of siblings and giving his parents different names. The ones I wrote are the ones that surfaced the most. I apologize for any false information I have included.
His childhood was apparently uneventful and quite normal (whodathunkit?). His mother was a cafeteria worker, I'm not sure if she still is or just lives off of Ben/Silverchair's earnings. His father was and still is (so I've been told) a plumber. His family is a part of the Surfrider foundation, an organization that supports clean ocean waters.
As for some useless facts, he used to be on a cricket team with Daniel . . . haha, I have to laugh . . . and used to have braces as well (poor him, I have them now and I hate them with a passion . . .). He started playing drums when he was about eight and went on from there. Supposedly he had two different drum teachers in five years and he also knows how to play guitar and bass, though all the members of Silverchair claim that, "you never want to hear Ben sing."
Amazing as it sounds, Ben was a genius child in school, with the exception of English. He claims he hates reading! However, he took advanced math and all sorts of advanced science classes (including Marine Biology according to some).
As for his personality . . . well, he's the pervert, the animal, and the madman of the group. So it's told. He's the one that Chris and Dan have to hold back from molesting the ladies and he apparently has a fascination with breasts. Sounds like any other teenage boy I know.
And of course, I can't go through a biography without mentioning Ben's hair. It started out long, then one day, he shaved it off. There are many stories as to exactly how it was shaved. There's some who say he was drunk, others who say the hair got in the way of his drumming, and even others who say that Daniel cut it off with nail clippers . . . Believe what you will.
After it was shaved, it grew back and he apparently shaped it into a mohawk. That didn't last long and now he's down to the spiked-up look. I like the new look (the long hair was neato too . . . so was the mohawk).
And that, my friends, is all I have to tell about Benjamin David Gillie's life.