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GET TO KNOW THE BAND . . .




The Beginning


INTRO:

As you all may know, silverchair consists of three band members: Daniel Johns (Vocalist/guitarist) Ben Gillies (Drummer/Percussionist) and Chris Joannou (Bassist). They all currently live in Newcastle, Australia where they live very happy lives. As young as 13 and 14, they never thought they'd get this type of break.. hell, who thinks about that at that age? Obviously.. a phenominon happened..


HOW IT STARTED:

Daniel Johns and Ben Gillies got together to form a sort of "rap group" since neither of them new how to play instruments. While during that time, Ben and Daniel were called "Short Elvis." They thought up that name because Ben was infauated with Elvis, and Ben was short. Soon, they found Chris Joannou while they started learning how to do some rad stuff on their instruments. There was a fourth member, but Tobin Finnane moved overseas, and the band became a trio again. "We were all friends at school. We've known each other since we were little kids. We used to go to the beach a lot and play pool and video games and go surfing together and stuff. Then we decided to start a band because we were bored," says Daniel. Within eight months, Chris learned how to play bass from lessons with Ben. Daniel tought himself how to play guitar, and Ben learned how to play drums periodically. "I remember playing when I was about eight years old and I bought my first drum kit for $75.00 from a kid across the street. It wasn't too bad and later I went to sell it for $380.00, so I got a pretty good deal. I got lessons for a few years and learned all the technical stuff. When we started getting more into Led Zepplin, I use to try to copy the simpler John Bonham parts on their records," says Ben Gillies. Once they were all together, on Thursday, June 15, 1994, they decided to go on a show in Australia called "Nomad Pick Me" and performed "Tomorrow" (Which is number two on their "Frogstomp" album.) Announced on Friday, June 24, 1994, silverchair won! During the beginning, Ben, Daniel, and Chris wanted to be called GRUNTTRUCK. They soon found out that was taken though. There's a big story of how they came about 'silverchair.' "One day Ben, Daniel, and Chris wanted to request "Berlin Chair" by You Am I (Another former Australian band) and "Sliver" by Nirvana, but Ben ended up writing it as "silverchair" and it stuck with them." .. Well, NOT TRUE! They actually just made up that story so everyone would think it's true. They actually had a list of band names, and "silverchair" looked most appealing. They did however choose between "Warm Fish Milkshake" and "silverchair." Some of their biggest influences are: Alice In Chains, Deep Purple, You Am I, TOOL, Iron Maiden, and Led Zepplin. "So this young guy from silverchair looks like my dead husband Kurt and sings like Eddie Vedder. How lame," says Courtney Love, widdow of Kurt(d) Cobain. They've been called "Nirvana Wanna-be" a lot of times, and that really pisses them off. The only reason they've been called that is because Daniel's hair looks similar to what Kurt(d) Cobain's hair looked like. "We get compared to Nirvana a lot and that just pisses us off totally," Ben recently declared. "The only thing that makes Daniel looks like Kurt Cobain is the hair. The sound is not there. The guitar sound and drum sounds are completely different. The bass sounds a little similar, but to compare them is just stupid." I think that says it all.


THEIR ALBUMS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

In 1995, they released "Frogstomp." "I was at a guy from our record company's house one night, and I was looking through his CDs because he's got a really good collection. I found this '60s pop collection record and I was just going, "Why do you have this?" I looked at the back and there was this song that some guy did called "Frogstomp" and I said, "That's a pretty good name." I just rang up Ben and Chris and we just thought it was really funny so we used it for the album," says Daniel. Daniel lost his voice half-way through the recording of "Frogstomp," but even so the album is beautifully well done. It's got awesome songs on there like "Tomorrow," "Iseral's Son," "Suicidal Dream," and "Undecided." During this portion of their career, they were fourteen and fifteen. They had a lot of grunge-punk chemistry going on. In 1997 they came out with "Freak Show." "It seemed like a good theme for an album and a tour. Being in a band is a lot like working in a circus or freak show. You set up and play, and then pack up and move to the next city," says Daniel. "Frogstomp was recorded in nine days. For Freak Show, we took three weeks. We rushed the first album a lot, recording it in a lot of eight-track places, places where you've got like six hours to record six songs, so we were used to doing it fast. In a way it was good 'cause it sounded pretty live. On the second one, we went in and really focused on what we wanted to do this time, spent more time getting the sounds right. Three weeks was the perfect time. We got all the best takes of the song," says Ben. "On the first album, the lyrics were fictional. Of dreams, the tele and stuff. With this one, the lyrics were a lot more personal. Some were actually changed 'cause they were just too personal. But they're a lot more real this time around. We've had a lot more experiences, lotsa crap that's happened to us that was bad but it was worth it 'cause it made the music better," says Daniel. This album is once again done completely awesomely, and it's totally off-the-wall. This album has great hits such as: "Cemetery," "Pop Song For Us Rejects," "Roses," and "The Closing." A lot of their songs are more mellow than theirs on "Frogstomp," but they still managed to dish in some grunge as well. During 1999, they put out "Neon Ballroom." The album’s title is intended to reflect the collision of new sounds ("Neon") and old sounds ("Ballroom") which are found in the music. "With this album I really wanted to just do something that no one else was doing. From the very start I was determined to make an album that sounded different," says Daniel. "When we finished touring the Freak Show album I really thought we’d taken the three-piece rock thing as far as we could. I was just getting a bit bored with it. I decided that I wanted to make an album that combined lots of different sounds and instruments that you don’t usually hear being played together." "These songs are definitely a lot more personal. On the first album we were only 14 or 15 so we hadn’t had many experiences to inspire songs. With the second one it was really about the aggression and hate that I was feeling toward certain people at the time. On this album there’s probably a wider range of moods and themes in the lyrics and they’re more based on direct experiences," says Daniel. During this era Daniel Johns was suffering from anorexia, depression, fear of leaving home, and being in large crowds. By far, this has to be one of their most emotional albums they have out. They've grown a lot from "Frogstomp" and "Freak Show." This album has rad songs on it like "Ana's Song (Open Fire), "Miss You Love," "Paint Pastle Princess," and "Anthem For The Year 2000." Though Daniel went through some horrible times, Ben, Chris, and Daniel all survied and knew their purpose in life was making music, so they stood strong and ventured into 2002, where "Diorama" came alive. Again, another very emotional album. I think this album is one of the most insperational alumbs I've got. "I'm over it. I don't get any enjoyment in concentrating on the darker aspects of my life. It's been done and I don't feel fulfilled by it. I'd rather concentrate on writing music that is based on a feeling of ecstacy, the most inspiring emotion there is," says Daniel Johns. He's grown so much the past years, as have Ben and Chris. Through all their work that is beautifuly done, "Diroama" makes it complete. There are awesome mellow songs on there like "Luv Your Life," "The Greatest View," "Across The Night," "Without You," and "After All These Years." There are also grunge-type songs as well, bringing in their old stuff, like "Tuna In The Brine," "One Way Mule," and "The Lever." All in all, "Frogstomp," "Freak Show," "Neon Ballroom," and "Diorama" are all beautifully done, and I don't think any other band can make the effective sounds on me like silverchair can. silverchair also has a bunch of singles out, a "Diroama" box set, and a "B-Sides" album. On October 15, 2002, silverchair was at the ARIA's on Channel V in Sydney. silverchair won 6 awards: "Artist of the Year", "Best Group", "Best Rock Album," "Best Producer," "Best Artwork," and "Best Engineer." During the televised award show, silverchair returned to the center stage for the first time in six months and performed "The Greatest View." Their performance received a standing ovation from the 5,000 people in attendance at the ARIA's. silverchair has won V's "Artist of the Year" Award every year since it was established in 1997. "Hopefully the ARIA's will bring some focus back to 'Diorama.' A lot of time was spent on creating the album and I'm really proud of how it sounds. Most of the focus this year has been on things other than music, so hopefully, the ARIA's will remind people about the album," says Daneil. "It was particularly great to win Channel V prize again, it's the one that's decided by public voting so it means a lot that the people who like the band have stuck with us through the year," says Ben.

MY INSIGHT ON SILVERCHAIR:

All right, there you go; hopefully you've learned more about the band and you've enjoyed it as well. From what you read, I guess you can see somewhat why I am so obsessed with silverchair. All in all, they're three great, awesome, beautifully talented young men that deserve all the recognition that I give them certainly every day of my life. Being dedicated to them has opened my eyes a lot more to appreciate different types of music because their style isn't just about one style. You've really got to take into consideration all the different genres of music before you begin to like silverchair. I hope they stay together for years to come because I don't think my life would be complete without them. They've shown me that if you want things in your life to get better, you've got to make them work instead of standing around wishing they would. I love you, Daniel Johns, Ben Gillies, and Chris Joannou. My life would not be complete without any of you.


*NEWS:* In recent rumors.. Natalie and Daniel are engaged, finally. They took long enough, hehe. I hope that they will be happy together, and I hope the best for both of them, but I think I'll always love Daniel a little more than Natalie will. He He he.


^^Frogstomp Era ('94)^^



^^Freak Show Era ('97)^^



^^Neon Ballroom Era ('99)^^



^^Diorama Era ('02)^^

^^Live In 2003^^



^^Daniel Live In 1999^^



^^Ben Live In 1999^^



^^Chris Live In 1999^^